Thunderbird:Help Documentation:Finding Information in Messages

Using the Quick Search Box

Thunderbird makes it easy to search your messages.

To quickly search the contents of a folder, simply start typing in the Quick Search Box near the top right corner of the main application window [screenshot].

Click the magnifying glass icon [screenshot] to search for messages with specific properties. The Quick Search Box allows you to search the following:

• Subject
• Sender
• Subject or Sender
• To or Cc
• Entire Message
• Find in Message

As you type, Thunderbird searches your messages for those which fit the search criteria, and displays them in the main message list. Messages that do not fit your criteria are temporarily hidden. To clear your search criteria and show all messages again, click on the Close button [screenshot] which appears in the Quick Search Box.

Using Mail Views

Thunderbird also allows you to view all the messages in a folder which fit the criteria you specify. For instance, you can quickly show only messages which are unread, or which you have labelled as Important.

To do this, click on the View: list right above the main message list, then click a view. In the main message list, Thunderbird immediately displays all the messages which match the criteria you choose, and temporarily hides the other messages.

Thunderbird provides the following pre-set views:

• All: Shows all messages.
• Unread: Shows unread messages only. Messages which you have already read are hidden.
• Label views: Shows only those messages which you have previously labelled as Important, Work, Personal, To Do or Later. (You can also create your own labels: [link to help topic].) Unlabelled messages are hidden.
• People I Know: Shows only messages from people in your address book. Messages from other senders are hidden.
• Recent Mail: Only shows messages less than a day old. Older messages are hidden.
• Last 5 Days: Only shows messages less than five days old. Older messages are hidden.
• Not Junk: Only shows messages which have not been marked as junk mail (either by Thunderbird or by you). Messages marked as junk are hidden.
• Has Attachments: Only shows messages which have attachments. Other messages are hidden.

Customizing Views

You can create your own views and add them to the View: list. For instance, you could create a view which displays only those messages from a list of senders that you specify, or which shows only unread messages labelled as To Do from the last 5 days. You can also modify or delete views that you have already created.

To create, modify or customise views, click Customize… in the View: list or choose View > Messages > Customize….

For more information about customizing views, [click here].

More Complex Searches: The 'Search Messages' Window

Thunderbird supports more complicated searches in the 'Search Messages' window, accessible through

• the Edit > Find > Search Messages... menu item

• right-clicking in the preview pane on any account or mailbox name and then clicking 'search messages'.

To quit the search window, click the window's close button, press Ctrl+W or press Esc

Specifying Location

In the 'Search Messages' window, first specify where to search. In the 'Search for messages in:' list, select the account (and folder, if any) to search in. Say you have an account called 'mail.isp.net' and you want to search the Inbox. Drop down the list, move the mouse over the account name, then click on 'Inbox' when the folder list appears as a sublist of the account list. If you want to search the entire account, click 'choose this folder' from the sublist.

Next, uncheck the 'Search subfolder' checkbox if you do not want to search subfolders. A mail folder can contain other mail folders called subfolders. Mail folders are subfolders of account 'folders'.

Specifying Criteria

Next, set up criteria for matching messages, such as a specific sender, send date or unread status.

Criteria are presented as a table of drop-down lists with three columns. Each row represents a single criterion. Add or remove criteria by clicking the 'More' and 'Fewer' buttons just below the criteria table.

The columns of the table are:

The name of the criterion

That is, what you want to check. This may be the subject of the message, the sender, the age in days, priority, attachment status, recipients, and so on.

The comparison

That is, whether the subject is the same as, different from, more or less or equal, and so on. For different criteria, the available comparisons are different.

The value that you specify

For example, if you want to specify that a message must be less than 6 days old, you would type '6' here.

Example:

You want to match all messages which are precisely 6 days old. Select 'Age In Days' in the first drop-down list, 'is' in the second and type '6' in the third column box.

Multiple Criteria

When you set up more than one criterion, you have the choice of matching any or all the criteria by using the button near the top of the 'search messages' pane (immediately under the search subolders checkbox). For example, suppose you specify the criteria 'Age in days is 6' and 'From contains dave'. Then if you specify 'Match all of the following', the search will list only those messages where both criteria are met. If you specify 'Match any of the following' the search is for messages where either criterion is met, so it will list all messages where the From field includes the letters 'dave' and all those which are precisely 6 days old.

Results

Once you've specified the criteria, click the 'Search' button on the top-right corner of the window and the search results will appear as a list of messages in the lower half of the window. (There is a divider between the criteria and the results that you can drag to adjust the space taken up by the two parts.)

The results list is a message list like in the main Thunderbird window, except there is no context menu for the messages.

Below the results list is a row of buttons to manipulate the search results. The buttons are:

Open

Opens a message; same as double-clicking it.

File

A drop-down menu which lets you move messages to another folder.

Delete

Deletes a message; same as pressing the Delete key.

Open Message Folder

Opens a new Thunderbird main window, goes to the message's folder, and selects the message.

Save as Search Folder

Saves the search as a virtual folder where all matching messages appear. The practical effect of this is that these messages show up both in their original folder and in the search folder, and that each time a new message arrives that fits the search criteria, it automatically shows up in the search folder.

The 'Clear' button right below the 'Search' button erases all the criteria you have chosen.