Mimecast for Outlook - Searching Folders

This article contains information on searching in Mimecast for Outlook, including using search criteria, refining queries, sorting results, saving searches, deleting saved searches, and accessing Smart Tags for enhance email management.

Also see Mimecast For Outlook - Accessing Smart Tags.

Introduction

Using a series of search criteria, you can search your Mimecast for Outlook folders for messages. This includes your archived folders, if this is enabled as part of your account package.
Searching is limited to your account's retention period, if your Administrator has not enabled archiving.

Searching Mimecast for Outlook

You can search a folder, by using the following steps:

1. Click on the Search in the Mimecast ribbon.

2. Select a Folder.

3. Click in the Search Bar at the top of the folder's contents.

4. Type a Search Query.

5. As you type your search query, up to five matches are displayed from each category (e.g. From Address, To Address, Saved Search).
   When searching for contacts, you can search for their name or email address.

   

6. Either:

• Click on the icon.

  • Select a Search Query from the populated list.

  • Press the Enter key.

7. Your search results are displayed. The search term used is highlighted in the search results.

 

8. If you know the syntax the search tool uses, you can type it directly into the search box. Each piece of search criteria is entered inside parentheses. In the example below, we're searching for messages:

• • With the subject of "Sales Report."

  • From [e-mail]

  • To [e-mail]

  • Containing the keywords "First Quarter"

• • Another example of search syntax is to use asterisk * to indicate unknown letters, e.g. "docu*", to return results containing words beginning with "docu" such as "document."

• Search will only return items from the folder selected. For example, if a user has a subfolder in their Inbox named Jobs that contains an item they are looking for, a search of the Inbox folder will not reveal content from the Jobs folder. The user will need to navigate to the Jobs folder and perform the search there.
• Special characters in email addresses (like apostrophes) can sometimes cause unexpected search behavior. If you're having trouble finding messages with addresses containing special characters, try searching without the special character, or check different folders, including the Archive Folders, to locate your messages.

Refining a Search Query

You can refine a search query, by using the following steps:

1. Click on the Search Options link.

2. Specify additional search criteria, including:

• • Date Range

  • From Address

  • To Address

  • Subject

  • Keywords

  • Attachment

3. Click on Search.
4. Sorting the Search Results.
   By default, search results are displayed in

• • Newest: The newest results are displayed first if this link is displayed. Click on this link to sort the results by the oldest results. The link changes to Oldest.

  • Oldest: If this link is displayed, the oldest results are displayed first. Click on this link to sort the results by the newest results. The link changes to Newest.

Saving a Search

You can save a search query to use at a later date, by using the following steps:

1. Click on the Search Options icon to the right of the search bar.

2. Click on the Save This Search link in the bottom left-hand corner.

3. Specify a Name for the search. A default name is automatically provided based on your search criteria, but you can change this. Our example shows "MFO 7.4, Archive, 1 Year", because the search searches the archive for messages less than a year old with a subject of "MFO 7.4".

   

4. Click on Save. The search now displays in your Saved Search list.

Deleting a Saved Search

You can delete a Saved Search, by using the following steps:

1. Click in the Search Bar at the top of the folder's contents to display your saved searches.

2. Hover over the Saved Search to be deleted.

   

3. Click on the Delete icon to the right of the saved search.