The search field sits at the top of the inbox on a computer, in the filter bar above the message list. It reads plain words and filters like from:, subject: and after: in the same box, and it searches all of your mail by default, not just the folder you are looking at.

The field is the first control in the inbox filter bar, to the left of the folder tabs, and reads Search all mail until you type. Press / anywhere in the inbox on a computer to jump straight into it.

Mail search is part of the inbox on a computer. The phone layout of the inbox does not show the field, so on a phone open the navigation menu and tap the search icon in its top row, announced as Search or run command. It searches your mail alongside everything else in your account, and takes plain words only: the filters below, the scope control and the filter row are part of the inbox search on a computer.

• Results narrow as you type. Press Enter to run the query exactly as written.
• Esc works in three steps: it closes the suggestion list, then clears the field, then leaves the field.
• The Clear search button at the right of the field empties it and returns you to the folder you were in.
• A very long query is trimmed: only the first 512 characters are searched, and the field says Searched the first 512 characters.

Focusing the field opens a suggestion list with up to three groups:

• People lists up to five of the people who have sent you the most mail recently. Someone you only write to does not appear here. Picking one inserts from: with that address and runs the search.
• Filters lists the filters below, each with an example value. Picking one drops the filter into the field and waits, because a filter with no value is only half a query.
• Recent lists your last ten searches. They are stored per person, inside your organization, and are never shared with teammates. The list is forgotten after a week without a search.

↑ and ↓ move through the list. Tab accepts the highlighted row into the field without running it. Enter accepts it and runs the search.

Five names that look like filters are not filters here: filename:, larger:, smaller:, bcc: and around:. Search recognizes them, tells you it cannot use them with a Not a search filter line under the results, and lists them at the bottom of the More menu rather than quietly ignoring them.

Anything else you write with a colon is treated as ordinary words, and the line under the results says so, for example priority: searched as text. The same line also names a real filter that was dropped for sitting inside an OR. That one was not searched as words either: in this version it did not run at all.

• Wrap words in quotes to search for the phrase: “quarterly report”.
• Put a minus in front of a word or a filter to exclude it: -receipt, -from:alice@example.com.
• OR and parentheses group the words you type: (invoice OR receipt) acme.
• Filters combine with and. Two from: filters in one query ask for a message sent by both people at once, which usually finds nothing.
• A filter written on either side of an OR does not run in this version, whether or not it sits inside parentheses. The words still run, so acme (from:alice@example.com OR from:bob@example.com) searches acme across all of your mail rather than narrowing it to those two senders, and the line under the results names the filter that was dropped. A query whose only filters sit inside an OR has nothing left to run and comes back empty. Run those as two searches instead.

A row of controls appears under the field while a search is active: Scope, From, To, Date, Attachments, Unread, and a More menu holding Subject, Cc, Label, Category and the remaining status values. The row disappears again when the search is cleared.

The row and the field are the same query. Every control rewrites the text in the field, so you can start by clicking, carry on by typing, and never end up with two versions of what you asked for. Backspace with the cursor at the start of the field removes the last filter you added.

• Search starts at All mail. Searching from the inbox does not keep you inside the inbox, so a message you sent still turns up. The Scope control shows where you are searching and switches to Inbox, Sent, Archive, Trash or Snoozed.
• Results come back newest first, with the most recent message at the top. There is no order control today: the filter row ends at More. A Best match order joins the row once ranking by relevance is switched on.
• Messages from one conversation are counted, not merged. Each matching message keeps its own row. When more than one of them lands in the same page of results, each of those rows carries a plain note reading 3 in this conversation. A conversation whose matching messages fall on different pages carries no note.
• Matching words are picked out in the preview line under the subject, in a heavier weight rather than a highlight colour.
• There is no result count. Page through results with the pager at the bottom of the list, the same one the inbox uses.
• Cold outreach replies stay out of search unless you ask for them with is:cold, which matches what the inbox itself shows.

A search looks at the subject, the sender name and address, the people the message was sent to, and the text of the message once its body has been stored. Mail is stored as it syncs, and message bodies arrive when a message is opened or when the mailbox catches up in the background, so a very old message that nobody has opened may be findable by its subject and sender before it is findable by a word in the middle of it. The preview line, the short extract shown under the subject, joins the search once preview line search is switched on for your workspace, and from then on a word that appears only there can turn a message up. Mail that synced before that joins after a one time catch up pass over your mailbox, so for a while an older message may be findable by its subject and sender rather than by a word inside it. If message body storage is turned off for your workspace, message text is never stored, so a search matches the subject, the sender, and the people the message was sent to rather than the words inside the message.

Search says so rather than leaving you to guess. Under the results you may see any of these, and only when they apply to you:

• Synced mail goes back to 12 May. The oldest message search can reach, named as a real date rather than a rounded window.
• Some older messages have not been opened yet, so their text is not searchable.
• Some of your filters only work on synced mail. Shown while a connected mailbox is not syncing cleanly.
• Only the first labels in your filter were applied. Narrow the label filter to see everything. A query can carry more label: filters than one search applies, and a single very large label is read in part. Ask for fewer labels and run it again.
• Your label filter could not be applied, so these results are not limited by label. Shown when the labels you asked for could not be read at all. The rest of your search still ran, so every result is a real match on the other parts of the query. Pick the label again from the filter row.
• Some of your team’s shared mail was not searched. Shown when your team has shared more threads than one search can look through at once. The threads that were looked through are chosen before your query is read, so a narrower search does not change which ones they are. Open the conversation from the shared view to find the message.
• Some of your team’s shared mail could not be reached, so it was not searched. The sentence above is a known limit; this one is a fault. The list of threads your team has shared with you could not be read this time, so the search ran without some of them and there is no way to say how many were missed. It is not something your query caused and not something a different query fixes. Run the search again in a moment: this clears on its own, and you can see both sentences at once when part of the list was read and part of it was not.

Search returns the mail your Email view permission (email.view) already lets you read. It cannot widen that, and it is decided on the server, so nothing you type can reach further than your role allows.

• No Email view access gives an empty result and the sentence You do not have permission to search mail.
• Own searches your own mail only.
• Team or Everyone also searches threads a teammate has shared with the team or the whole organization. A private thread is never included.

Search is part of the inbox on every plan, so there is no upgrade between you and it. It does need a mailbox: with none connected, the result reads Connect a mailbox to search your mail. and the empty state offers the connect step.