How does Gmail search work?

Answer

With Gmail, you have the full functionality of Google search in your email account. By saving your messages and using Google search, you don't have to spend time filing or creating an elaborate folder system to keep yourself organized. Choose your search terms, and Google will do the rest for you.
The simplest type of search involves entering a word (or multiple words) that appears anywhere within the message for which you're searching. For example, if you're looking for a message from a friend that contains the word shopping, then simply type in the search query shopping.

Gmail search is just like Google's web search -- it supports several advanced operators, or query words, that have a special meaning. Typically, these operators modify the search in some way, or even tell Google to perform a different type of search. For instance, from: is a useful Gmail operator. Let's say your friend's email address is listed as "Jennifer Smith" . To find messages from Jennifer, you could search for from:jennifer or from:googlegal (note that the query from:jen would not work because the word jen does not appear in the listed email address).

Once you get more comfortable with searching, you may want to combine terms or use more advanced operators to make your searches more accurate. Suppose you're planning to go shopping with Jennifer and you want to review conversations only about shopping. You can then use the query from:jennifer shopping. Or, suppose you want to find a message you sent to Jennifer, and to which you've applied the label "fun-stuff". Then you can use the query to:jennifer label:fun-stuff.

There are many more options available. If you're interested in finding out more, check out advanced search operators. Don't worry if you can't remember every single special operator. You can always click 'Show search options' just below the Gmail search box to refine your search without having to remember any special operators.

It’s important to note that, at this time, Gmail search doesn’t recognize matches to partial strings or matches that are 'similar' to your query, including plurals and misspellings. If you search for 'travel,' Gmail returns emails containing instances of 'travel,' but does not return emails including 'travels' or 'travles.'

updated 5/28/2004