Advanced search operators are query words or symbols that perform special actions in Gmail search. These operators allow you to find what you’re looking for quickly and accurately. They can also be used to set up filters so you can organize your inbox automatically. Some of the most useful operators are listed below.
You can also refine your search by clicking the arrow in the search box.
| Operator | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| from: | Used to specify the sender | Example: from:amy Meaning: Messages from Amy |
| to: | Used to specify a recipient, including “cc:” and “bcc:” fields | Example: to:david Meaning: All messages that were sent to David (by you or someone else) |
| subject: | Search for words in the subject line | Example: subject:dinner Meaning: Messages that have the word “dinner” in the subject |
| OR | Search for messages matching term A or term B* *OR must be in all caps |
Example: from:amy OR from:david Meaning: Messages from Amy or from David |
| – (hyphen) |
Used to exclude messages from your search | Example: dinner -movie Meaning: Messages that contain the word “dinner” but do not contain the word “movie” |
| label: | Search for messages by label | Example: from:amy label:friends Meaning: Messages from Amy that have the label “friends”Example: from:david label:my-family Meaning: Messages from David that have the label “My Family” |
| has:attachment | Search for messages with an attachment | Example: from:david has:attachment Meaning: Messages from David that have an attachment |
| list: | Search for messages on mailing lists | Example: list:[email protected] Meaning: Messages with the words [email protected] in the headers, sent to or from this list |
| filename: | Search for an attachment by name or type | Example: filename:physicshomework.txt Meaning: Messages with an attachment named “physicshomework.txt” Example: label:work filename:pdf |
| ” “ (quotes) |
Used to search for an exact phrase* *Capitalization isn’t taken into consideration |
Example: “i’m feeling lucky” Meaning: Messages containing the phrase “i’m feeling lucky” or “I’m feeling lucky” Example: subject:”dinner and a movie” |
| ( ) | Used to group words Used to specify terms that shouldn’t be excluded |
Example: from:amy (dinner OR movie) Meaning: Messages from Amy that contain either the word “dinner” or the word “movie” Example: subject:(dinner movie) |
| in:anywhere | Search for messages anywhere in Gmail* *Messages in Spam and Trashare excluded from searches by default |
Example: in:anywhere movie Meaning: Messages in All Mail, Spam, andTrash that contain the word “movie” |
| in:inbox in:trash in:spam |
Search for messages in Inbox,Trash, or Spam | Example: in:trash from:amy Meaning: Messages from Amy that are inTrash |
| is:important label:important |
Search within messages thatPriority Inbox considers important. | Example: is:important from:janet Meaning: Messages from Janet that were marked as important by Priority Inbox |
| is:starred is:unread is:read |
Search for messages that are starred, unread, or read | Example: is:read is:starred from:David Meaning: Messages from David that have been read and are marked with a star |
| has:yellow-star has:red-star has:orange-star has:green-star has:blue-star has:purple-star has:red-bang has:orange-guillemet has:yellow-bang has:green-check has:blue-info has:purple-question |
Search for messages with a particular star | Example: has:purple-star from:David Meaning: Messages from David that are marked with a purple star |
| cc: bcc: |
Used to specify recipients in thecc: or bcc: fields* *Search on bcc: cannot retrieve messages on which you were blind carbon copied |
Example: cc:david Meaning: Messages that were cc-ed to David |
| after: before: older: newer: |
Search for messages sent or received during a certain period of time (using the date format yyyy/mm/dd) |
Example: after:2004/04/16 before:2004/04/18 Meaning: Messages sent between April 16, 2004 and April 18, 2004.* *More precisely: Messages sent after 12:00 AM (or 00:00) April 16, 2004 and before April 18, 2004. |
| older_than newer_than |
Similar to older and newer, but allows relative dates using d, m, and y for day, month, and year | Example: newer_than:2d Meaning: Finds messages sent within the last two days. |
| is:chat | Search for chat messages | Example: is:chat monkey Meaning: Any chat message including the word “monkey.” |
| deliveredto: | Search for messages within a particular email address in the Delivered-To line of the message header | Example: deliveredto:[email protected] Meaning: Any message with [email protected] in the Delivered-To: field of the message header (which can help you find messages forwarded from another account or ones sent to an alias). |
| circle: | Search for messages that were sent from someone who you added to a particular Google+ circle | Example: circle:friends Meaning: Any message that was sent by a person in your “Friends” circle. Examples: circle:”soccer friends (team blue)” or circle:”my \”fab four\”” |
| has:circle | Search for all messages that were sent from someone who you added to your Google+ circles | Example: has:circle Meaning: Any message that was sent by a person in any of your circles. |
| category: | Search for messages within a category | Example: category:updates Meaning: All messages in the Updates category. Example: category:social Mindy |
| size: | Search for messages larger than the specified size in bytes | Example: size:1000000 Meaning: All messages larger than 1MB (1,000,000 bytes) in size. |
| larger: smaller: |
Similar to size: but allows abbreviations for numbers | Example: larger:10M Meaning: All messages of at least 10M bytes (10,000,000 bytes) in size. |
| + (plus sign) |
Match the search term exactly | Example: +unicorn Meaning: Finds messages containing “unicorn” but not “unicorns” or “unciorn” |
| rfc822msgid: | Find a message by the message-id header | Example:rfc822msgid:[email protected] Meaning: Locates the exact message with the specified SMTP message-id. Learn more about headers. |
| has:userlabels has:nouserlabels |
Search for messages that have and have not had labels that you created applied to them. NOTE: Gmail applies labels to individual messages, not to conversation threads. |
Example: has:nouserlabels Meaning: Finds all messages without any of your own labels (excludes automatic labels like inbox, spam, and trash). Since Gmail applies labels to individual messages, you might see results that appear to have labels; in this case, another message in the same conversation thread has had a label applied to it. |
Boolean operators
You can use boolean operators such as ‘OR’ when searching in Gmail.
For example, to look for messages from [email protected] and messages that contain the subject line ‘Meeting reminder’, you can enter ‘[email protected] OR meeting reminder’ in your Gmail search box.
Using these along with Gmail’s advanced operators can be a great way of making your search criteria more powerful.
The ‘or’ function in Gmail is represented by ‘OR,’ and the ‘not’ function is represented by a minus (-). You also can use quotes (” “) to specify an exact phrase.