Search feature in mail

Is there some setting for search in mail? I can see messages but every time I searvh something it gives all the options of things I might want to find and then it says 0 found.

Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.
Back up all data. That means you know you can restore the Mail database, no matter what happens.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
Go ▹ Go to Folder
from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens (command-V), then press return.
A folder window will open. Inside it there should be files with names as follows:
Envelope Index
ExternalUpdates.storedata
Move those files to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have longer names that begin as above. Move those files, if any, to the Trash.
Log out and log back in. Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit. Click OK. Warning: The process may take hours if you have gigantic mailboxes. For reasonable-sized mailboxes, it should only take a few minutes.
Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the files you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.

Similar Messages

Search Feature in Mail only partly works

Good day,
I have two questions today
1. when I search for a specific sender in my mail for Mac software I doesn't find or rarely finds any of the received messages, basically the search feature FROM doesn't work. When I switch FROM to ALL it will only show my sent messages.
Which setting can I update to fix this?
2. What do I need to use if I wish to search for two words in Mail without seeing results for each individual word?
Thank you very much :-)

Quit Mail. Force quit if necessary.
Back up all data before proceeding.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
          Go ▹ Go to Folder
from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V, then press return.
A folder window will open. Inside it there should be files with names as follows:
          Envelope Index
          ExternalUpdates.storedata
Move those files to the Desktop, leaving the window open. Other files in the folder may have longer names that begin as above. Move those files, if any, to the Trash.
Relaunch Mail. It should prompt you to re-import your messages. You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit. Click OK. Typically, the process takes a few minutes, but it may take hours if you have gigantic mailboxes. In that case, you may be able to speed things up by temporarily adding your home folder to the Privacy list in the Spotlight preference pane. Remove it when Mail has finished importing.
Test. If Mail now works as expected, you can delete the files you moved to the Desktop. Otherwise, post your results.

Highlighted words in the search feature in mail

hi all, ok, maybe i am going crazy, but in mail under tiger, i thought i use to be able to see any searched word highlighted in the messages mail found containing that word. now when i perform a search in mail under leopard, the searched for word is not highlighted in any of the messages. am i crazy or did leopard do away with this feature? if so, does anyone know of a way to get searched words highlighted in mail under leopard?
many thanks,
ron

Hi mountart2, thanks for the hint. It helps a little bit, better than nothing
But again, it works only, if you click in one of the listet mails and you press then the command+g. Only the words in this email are then highlighted. For a search in the next mail, you have to select it, mail after mail.
I agree with you, there must be a preference somewhere, where you switch it on.
I won't give up. Many thanks!

My Mail search feature in Snow Leopard just stopped working

My search feature for Mail in snow leopard just stopped working. I had a system crash while trying to reformat a corrupted flash drive. Now when I search in mail it just spins the color wheel. Any suggestions?

Hello FredBus,
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Search feature not working in apple mail

The search feature is not working in Apple Mail Yosemite. I enter keywords and get no results. Is there a fix for this?

Hi!
I have the same Problem... Did u try to delete the "Envelope Index"? ( got to Library/Mail/V2/... delete all files Envelope ... Close Mail before! and then restart Mail.)
I tried that but nothing happen... How tu use Mail without search feature!!
MacBook Pro late 2009, Mac OS Yosemite (10.10)

Search Feature Not Working in Mail 10.7.4

Hi, the search feature is not working properly in Mail since upgrading to 10.7. If I use Spotlight from the desktop, that search will find the particular mail message I'm looking for, but searching directly within mail produces horrible results. I know I can just use spotlight, but sometimes I just want to search within mail. Any suggestions?

Erase and rebuild index:
Open Terminal and type$ sudo mdutil -E /
you'll notice it indexing...

Mail search feature not working

Not a good day today but to top it off, my Mail search feature doesn't seem to be working. In the past I've praised OSX Mail search features and enjoyed the instant results all whilst bashing the inop feature Outlook and Notes try to utilize. I'm afraid to say the OSX Lion Mail search feature is completely non-functional. As I was searching for this issue through the support topics, I noticed this very topic appear then quickly disappear. I couldn't duplicate the search again for anything. Hmm.
Also, what's the dealy with opening a PDF in Mail with Preview and your last 5 PDF's open as well? Uncool. And I want Safari to open with my Home page, not the last page I visited.
At least the Spotlight will still identify the messages I'm wrangling for.
No need to reply... just need to vent a bit.

LaraCroft_NYC wrote:
A lot of things are broken in LION. Not recommended for professionals (only iPad users).
But here's a way to make better use of Mail Search:
In the new Mac LION MAIL app, it's not apparent that you can search for any part of any email address the way you could before with any previous OS, for when you type partial email text in the MAIL search field, it simply gives you a drop-down list of wrong or limited suggestions and none of the suggestions are email addresses, but people's names. I don't want to search by name, I want to search by email address. (Maybe I'm the only one who does this.) If two different email addresses have the same associated name (which I have), it chooses the wrong one and searches for the wrong email address!
But there is a way:
1) Select the mailbox you want to search (if any).
2) Type in the search field:
          to: any_string ["return" or "enter"]
          OR
          from: any_string ["return" or "enter"]
3) Your entry will change from this:
to this:
4) Notice that after you press "return" or "enter", your "to:" (or "from:") becomes a pull-down-menu button and the MAIL's silly choices go away. If you click the button, you get this:
and you can change your choice.
3) Strangely, "to:" or "from:" MUST be ALL lowercase for this change to take place. (It will still work if "To:" and "FroM:" are all or part uppercase, but the change to a menu button will not occur.)
4) On the menu bar below the toolbar, you will see the places to search ("All…Selected mailbox…Inbox…Drafts…Sent…Flagged")
Hello Lara_Croft.
Again, this time with your original fix. This works for me.. big help until Apple gets this squared away.
Alan Roseman

My Mail search feature

My Mail search feature seems to have stopped finding anything. Why? I use this frequently to find old mail in my inbox or sent folder. It stopped finding anything about two weeks ago.

My Mail search feature seems to have stopped finding anything. Why? I use this frequently to find old mail in my inbox or sent folder. It stopped finding anything about two weeks ago.

Apple Mail search feature?

Is there a concise list anyplace that explains how to do boolean searches in Apple Mail, and all the various options?
Have found information scattered here & there, and help file offers general instructions but no information on how to actually make them work. Essentially says "you can do boolean searches".
Couple examples:
"If you began your search in the Spotlight menu in the upper-right corner of your screen, click Show All to switch to a search window."
Where is "Show All"?
Perform a Boolean query
A Boolean query uses AND, OR, and NOT (known as Boolean operators) to narrow the search results. You can also use a minus sign (-), meaning AND NOT, to exclude items when you search. Here are examples of what you might type in the search field when you use Boolean operators:
author:tom OR author:thom searches for items authored by Tom or Thom, if you don’t know the exact spelling of his name.
trip -france searches for items that contain the word “trip” but not “france,” so results might include photos from a trip to Spain but not to France.
Looking to search a message from person A, with the body or subject of the message containing text X. How do you type the second operator (above syntax doesn't seeem to work)? How does one even know what all the operators are without a list in a dialogue box like other email programs have?
Image below is an example of a search. Can't get a second operator to work:
http://tinyurl.com/77unn2w

That the text changes at all is the problem. I simply want to type a word, and search for it. The drop downs limits the choices, apparently, to what Mail thinks you want. If it's not there, you simply can't search.
Example below. I want to search for a message from "Roy". I type "Roy". Mail doesn't have an option to search the "from" field. Have seen that option other times, doesn't appear here for some reason.
Second issue: you can't get any options at all for a second search term without choosing one of the "pre-filled" choices that appear. There were some pre-filled choices further down, none of which applied. Clicking "Message contains "project" leaves you with no choices (to search the subject field, for example).

How to turn OFF Smart Address feature in Mail in iOS?

How to turn OFF Smart Address feature in Mail in iOS?

You seem to have found the right setting. From my notes:
Add the following line to $ORACLE_HOME/search/webapp/config/search.properties and then restart oc4j:
ses.qapp.similar_doc_handling=disabled
Maybe you didn't restart oc4j (using "searchctl restart")?

Attachements not included in search within Apple Mail

Hi
I have a problem with the search within Mail: my attachments seem not to be included within searches. When I search for terms within an attachment, I get no results. I tried with PDFs, DOCs, RTFs and ZIPped documents.
By the way: if there happens to be some expert out there: what kinds of attachments are searched within mail (e.g. a DOC in a ZIP archive)?
My system is quite new and setup still standard (at least the spotlight preferences).
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Phil

Hi,
It is caused by the deprecated features and components in Outlook 2013:
Outlook search via the Windows Shell
Outlook 2013 will no longer surface search results for mail and calendar items in Windows Explorer (or via the start menu). Users can still utilize all of Outlook's search functionality from within the app itself.
http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-outlook/archive/2012/12/19/outlook-2013-deprecated-features-and-components.aspx
Best regards,
Rex Zhang
TechNet Community Support

Search feature in outlook only returning "no results" all of a sudden. Why?

I use outlook for my mail. all of a sudden, the search feature just returns a "no results" solution. Any ideas why?

Options > Privacy = un-check '''Permanent Private Browsing Mode'''

Can you do a search in the Mail app?

As title really, is there a search feature in the default mail app? If there is I'm being really stupid because I can't see it. Any help appreciated!
Message was edited by: BritishBeef

You're not being stupid, BritishBeef.
It is possible to have Spotlight search only the Mail.app Inbox, but the feature is hidden by default. I discovered it by accident.
To enable the the Mail.app specific Search field in your Inbox just scroll up (meaning swipe your finger down the screen) to reveal the hidden field at the top of the screen.
That's it.
Swiping down the screen will also reveal an app-specific Search field in Notes, and other apps as well, I suspect. Haven't checked them all…
Remember there are no stupid questions…well, maybe there's one; the one you don't ask 'cause you think it's stupid… =)
Have fun…
Message was edited by: William Bothwell

Okay, i have 2 bugs with maverick. First, when I delete a file within a window, the files deletes but the preview doesn't delete until I close the window and reopen it. Second, I work on a network of computers and the search feature is now buggy...

Okay, i have 2 bugs with maverick. First, when I delete a file within a window, the files deletes but the preview doesn't delete until I close the window and reopen it. Second, I work on a network of computers and the search feature is now buggy... When I search for a file, A) it asks me if it's a name, or it wont produce anything, and B), its slower than in prior OS versions and in some instances I have to toggle to a different directory and go back to my original directory in the search: menu bar or the search wont produce anything... Very buggy.

It appears to me that network file access is buggy in Maverick.
In my case I have a USB Drive attached to airport extreme (new model) and when I open folders on that drive they all appear empty. If I right click and I select get info after a few minutes! I get a list of the content.
It makes impossible navigate a directory tree.
File access has been trashed in Maverick.
They have improved (read broken) Finder. I need to manage a way to downgrade to Lion again.

Looking for a free app for secure note taking with search feature (unlimited)

Hi dudes,
As the topic suggests, I'm looking for a free app for secure note taking with search feature without any restriction on the number of notes or any other major restriction. I already use HiDisk (which lacks search feature), and security note+ (which has limitation on the number of notes). I also have used My Disk which its search feature doesn't work correctly (it's buggy).
Thank you.

One named NotePad is free, saves as .txt files.
Another, WriterRoom, costs $1.99USD, and saves as .txt and .doc files.
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Search feature in mail

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