Search Outlook Items

Outlook is the central hub for many people in their daily work. Corporate communication has changed noticeably over the past decade. When internal emails, attachments, calendar entries, and tasks are combined with customer communication, it can quickly become difficult to keep track of Outlook items.

Searching for Outlook Elements

Yet email communication is also becoming increasingly important for private users: As of October 1, 2016, a text-form email suffices to terminate most contracts concluded from that point onward. There is no doubt that digital communication holds the future. This makes it all the more important to maintain an overview and know how to search specifically for Outlook elements.

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The Instant Search in Outlook

Outlook’s Instant Search helps you search specifically for Outlook elements. The Instant Search field is always displayed centrally to you, even when you switch to other overview areas such as Mail, Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts.

1. To begin your search for Outlook elements, you can either click directly into the search field with your mouse or press the keyboard shortcut „CTRL“+“E“.

2. If you want to search within the current mailbox, you only need to enter a term or the name of the Outlook element you are looking for into the search field. However, if you want to search all Outlook elements, click on „Current Mailbox“ and expand the search to „All Outlook Elements“.

3. As soon as you enter a letter, suggestions will already appear. If these suggestions contain elements you were looking for, they will be highlighted in the text. To close the search after a query, you must click the X next to the search field.

Narrowing Down the Search Results

Some Outlook elements occur more frequently than others. Therefore, it is possible that you will receive an above-average number of results for some search queries. Nevertheless, to quickly find the desired Outlook element, you can narrow down your search using search criteria.

Simply use the „Search Tools“ tab that appears as soon as you click into the search field. This visual aid helps you narrow down your search using criteria options. The Outlook search parameters can be applied faster and more directly. These are defined combinations of parameters that are entered directly into the search field.

To reuse a search you recently performed, click on „Recent Searches“ in the „Search Tools“ tab. There, you can select from the last ten searches. If you open „Advanced Search“ in „Search Tools“ or via the keyboard shortcut „Ctrl“+„Shift“+„F“, you can further narrow down your search using a variety of criteria such as „Only these items“, „Size“, „Only in field…“. Additionally, „Advanced Search“ allows you to save your search and apply it repeatedly.