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Demystifying Gmail Search - I
Posted On July 17, 2007 by Rose Mary filed under Internet
Anyone who uses Gmail as his/her mailing client will be aware of the search facility, labels and filters. However, I am doubtful as to how far one uses this search facility. These utilities (except search), which are available only in Gmail, facilitate easier maintenance of mails than any other email client.
The most useful is the search facility. If one would have experienced the usage of labels and filters, then the search operation makes the process easier. First of all, let me say a few descriptive words regarding the jargons I have used:
· Labels: A name, like a file folder, given to some set of mails, automatically or manually, either by filter or manual;
· Filter: Set of rules used to filter out incoming mails. Filters do serve the purpose of filtering and have a few operations that should be done after filtering, such as: Forward to another mail id, Apply a label, Star the mail to display that the mail is important, Archive it or even trash the mail if you think that some mails match the filter criteria; and
· Search: After one creates the filters, labels, etc. you are now ready to demystify the power of search.
Let us see how to search for mails that have been sent only to you. There are two ways to input your search query, one is through the default search and the other is the simple search option.
For a beginner, let us go for the simple search option, which by default has its separate section of inputs.
From:
If you want to search your mailbox on the basis of ‘from’ address, i.e. searching for a specific mail sender.
Example 1: Let us assume that you have received a lot of mail from yahoo groups, your friends, your boss, your love, etc. Now you need to extract mails that have arrived only from yahoo groups.
*You have to note one thing here, when a mail is sent to you from a group, the TO address of the mail is the yahoo group address and the FROM is the one who sent you the mail. If the mail arrived from the group moderator, then the FROM address will contain the "yahoogroups.com" id.
Type in
TO: yahoogroups.com
Example 2: To extract mails from friends, say abc, abc1, abc2…, your query goes like this.
FROM: abc@hotmail.com OR abc1@yahoo.com OR abc2@gmail.com
If you are not concerned about the mail service, i.e. either yahoo or Gmail, etc., you may neglect the text after @. Let me assume that your friend has several mail accounts with different service providers, but uses the same username i.e. abc (abc@hotmail.com, abc@gmail.com, abc@yahoo.com, abc@xyz.com, etc.)
FROM: abc OR abc1 OR abc2@yahoo.com
The above query fetches all the mails with the email id username as abc or abc1, irrespective of the mail service and mails from abc2@yahoo.com. It is a really cool feature.
Example 3: Extract mails based on your subject. Say, if you have a number of mails with the subject names containing Chennai, Kolkatta, Mumbai, etc. You now need only mails that have the subject Chennai and Mumbai.
SUBJECT: chennai OR kolkatta
or
SUBJECT: -mumbai
Example 4: Extract all the mails that have a word or set of words. Say if your mailbox has a lot of 'fresher job' related matter, which have arrived from groups. However, you now need to extract mails that have the word "fresher" and not the word "experienced".
HAS THE WORDS: FRESHER -EXPERIENCED
Example 5: Extract mails that do not have the words you want. In the previous example, we did not need mails containing the word "experienced".
HAS THE WORDS: FRESHER
DOESN'T HAVE: EXPERIENCED
Example 6: Search mails that only have attachments. Now, let me assume that you have received mails from your friends, groups, etc. with pictures, documents, etc. You need to extract mails only from your friends (i.e. considering mails not from yahoo groups) with attachments.
TO: -yahoogroups.com
Has Attachment: Check box should be in CHECKED Status.
From the above list of examples, you may have found a few that would make you feel comfortable while searching. We shall now explore another important feature of Gmail search. The search based on date.
In the simple search, Gmail provides DATE search facility. In the textbox, you have a provision for typing the month, year, date and day, which ever you like to search based upon your wish.
Format:
1. September OR Sep;
2. September 2005;
3. 2005;
4. 5th September;
5. 6th September 2005;
6. 09/6/2005, note it's in the format of MONTH/DATE/YEAR;
7. today;
8. yesterday; and
9. 2005/09/25 ( YEAR/MONTH/DATE), this is the format that the search engine widely uses.
Then you have a dropdown list, namely "DATE WITHIN". It is used to expand the range of date from the given date.
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Example: Type “today” (without quotes) or the current day’s date. Then, in the dropdown list, select “1 day”. Now the search returns mails that have arrived during the one-day span, i.e. yesterday and tomorrow (and even day after tomorrow). Though tomorrow sounds absurd, but the search engine accepts it. I hope there will some improvement on this account!
This is a very basic search facility that one can make use of while searching. It would be easy for novices and, of course, those who feel bored from trying the search query. However, this search lacks a few important and cool search features. Let me explore those in my next article.
The most useful is the search facility. If one would have experienced the usage of labels and filters, then the search operation makes the process easier. First of all, let me say a few descriptive words regarding the jargons I have used:
· Labels: A name, like a file folder, given to some set of mails, automatically or manually, either by filter or manual;
· Filter: Set of rules used to filter out incoming mails. Filters do serve the purpose of filtering and have a few operations that should be done after filtering, such as: Forward to another mail id, Apply a label, Star the mail to display that the mail is important, Archive it or even trash the mail if you think that some mails match the filter criteria; and
· Search: After one creates the filters, labels, etc. you are now ready to demystify the power of search.
Let us see how to search for mails that have been sent only to you. There are two ways to input your search query, one is through the default search and the other is the simple search option.
For a beginner, let us go for the simple search option, which by default has its separate section of inputs.
From:
If you want to search your mailbox on the basis of ‘from’ address, i.e. searching for a specific mail sender.
Example 1: Let us assume that you have received a lot of mail from yahoo groups, your friends, your boss, your love, etc. Now you need to extract mails that have arrived only from yahoo groups.
*You have to note one thing here, when a mail is sent to you from a group, the TO address of the mail is the yahoo group address and the FROM is the one who sent you the mail. If the mail arrived from the group moderator, then the FROM address will contain the "yahoogroups.com" id.
Type in
TO: yahoogroups.com
Example 2: To extract mails from friends, say abc, abc1, abc2…, your query goes like this.
FROM: abc@hotmail.com OR abc1@yahoo.com OR abc2@gmail.com
If you are not concerned about the mail service, i.e. either yahoo or Gmail, etc., you may neglect the text after @. Let me assume that your friend has several mail accounts with different service providers, but uses the same username i.e. abc (abc@hotmail.com, abc@gmail.com, abc@yahoo.com, abc@xyz.com, etc.)
FROM: abc OR abc1 OR abc2@yahoo.com
The above query fetches all the mails with the email id username as abc or abc1, irrespective of the mail service and mails from abc2@yahoo.com. It is a really cool feature.
Example 3: Extract mails based on your subject. Say, if you have a number of mails with the subject names containing Chennai, Kolkatta, Mumbai, etc. You now need only mails that have the subject Chennai and Mumbai.
SUBJECT: chennai OR kolkatta
or
SUBJECT: -mumbai
Example 4: Extract all the mails that have a word or set of words. Say if your mailbox has a lot of 'fresher job' related matter, which have arrived from groups. However, you now need to extract mails that have the word "fresher" and not the word "experienced".
HAS THE WORDS: FRESHER -EXPERIENCED
Example 5: Extract mails that do not have the words you want. In the previous example, we did not need mails containing the word "experienced".
HAS THE WORDS: FRESHER
DOESN'T HAVE: EXPERIENCED
Example 6: Search mails that only have attachments. Now, let me assume that you have received mails from your friends, groups, etc. with pictures, documents, etc. You need to extract mails only from your friends (i.e. considering mails not from yahoo groups) with attachments.
TO: -yahoogroups.com
Has Attachment: Check box should be in CHECKED Status.
From the above list of examples, you may have found a few that would make you feel comfortable while searching. We shall now explore another important feature of Gmail search. The search based on date.
In the simple search, Gmail provides DATE search facility. In the textbox, you have a provision for typing the month, year, date and day, which ever you like to search based upon your wish.
Format:
1. September OR Sep;
2. September 2005;
3. 2005;
4. 5th September;
5. 6th September 2005;
6. 09/6/2005, note it's in the format of MONTH/DATE/YEAR;
7. today;
8. yesterday; and
9. 2005/09/25 ( YEAR/MONTH/DATE), this is the format that the search engine widely uses.
Then you have a dropdown list, namely "DATE WITHIN". It is used to expand the range of date from the given date.
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]-->
Example: Type “today” (without quotes) or the current day’s date. Then, in the dropdown list, select “1 day”. Now the search returns mails that have arrived during the one-day span, i.e. yesterday and tomorrow (and even day after tomorrow). Though tomorrow sounds absurd, but the search engine accepts it. I hope there will some improvement on this account!
This is a very basic search facility that one can make use of while searching. It would be easy for novices and, of course, those who feel bored from trying the search query. However, this search lacks a few important and cool search features. Let me explore those in my next article.