Search for specific E-mail in Time Machine?

Hi,
I have a problem with searching for E-mails in Time Machine.
When I search for E-mails of a specific address or subject in Mail and can't find it, I enter Time Machine and in Time Machine the "search field" of the mail window is empty and all E-mails are shown.
I found no way to filter the E-mails and it's difficult to find an E-mail when all E-mails are listed.
I also can't use a intelligent folder with my search criteria, cause they are greyed out in Time Machine.
Is this a "normal" behaviour or am I doing something wrong?

Alex69 wrote:
Thanks for the answer…
I thought maybe I'm doing something wrong or this is because i excluded the Time Machine volume from spotlight, but ok, not my fault, but an apple "feature"
I could search for specific E-mails using a finder search and then switch into Time Machine, but since Mail is called a Time-Machine-Aware Application I felt there should be a direct way to do this in Mail…
Yes, there "should be a direct way to do this."
The approach you describe above will work for email that still currently resides on your Mac, for example an email that has been "Replied" back and forth and you wish to retrieve an earlier version of the conversation. Or perhaps a "Draft" email that has undergone changes over time, of which you need to retrieve an earlier version. In these cases using Time Machine is relatively straight forward.
My problem with Mail/Time Machine is with a specific email that has since been deleted. Unless you know exactly what mailbox that email had been in, and at what time the email had existed, then it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. In this case the Time Machine interface needs to have a search box added to the "time travel" windows for faster retrieval of specific items, the location of which the user doesn't remember.
I'm convinced, though, that the usability of Time Machine in such instances will improve over time. Particularly as more app become integrated with it.
Glenn

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    Alex69 wrote:
    Thanks for the answer…
    I thought maybe I'm doing something wrong or this is because i excluded the Time Machine volume from spotlight, but ok, not my fault, but an apple "feature"
    I could search for specific E-mails using a finder search and then switch into Time Machine, but since Mail is called a Time-Machine-Aware Application I felt there should be a direct way to do this in Mail…
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    My problem with Mail/Time Machine is with a specific email that has since been deleted. Unless you know exactly what mailbox that email had been in, and at what time the email had existed, then it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. In this case the Time Machine interface needs to have a search box added to the "time travel" windows for faster retrieval of specific items, the location of which the user doesn't remember.
    I'm convinced, though, that the usability of Time Machine in such instances will improve over time. Particularly as more app become integrated with it.
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    40 Comments
    Chucho
    May 13th, 2008 at 11:11 amThanks it’s a great hint, you should post it in macosxhints.com
    Westin
    May 19th, 2008 at 3:28 amAwesome content and great instructions even for stupid people like me. Thank you so much for posting this. It worked like a charm and really is appreciated at 2:30 a.m. after hours of reinstalling junk.
    Slippery Snake
    June 23rd, 2008 at 9:15 amThis worked. However, I had three email accounts, and it only imported one. My Smart Mailboxes were not imported either.
    Jon C
    July 30th, 2008 at 2:50 pmIf you have multiple mail accounts, you should also restore the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file as well. This will ensure all of your account settings are imported.
    Joseph Hurtado
    August 26th, 2008 at 11:23 amRaffy,This tip is worth it’s weight in gold! Thanks so much for posting such a well though out recipe for a Mail Rescue operation.Just put Jon’s advice on the article, that is also very valuable!Take care,Joseph Hurtado
    from Toronto
    Cory
    December 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 amYou saved my life! Thanks!
    Drew
    January 19th, 2009 at 12:08 amCheers Great tip! Thank you very much for your time!
    Lizart
    May 23rd, 2012 at 2:00 pmStill working in May of 2012! Thanks so much!
    source
    May 29th, 2012 at 11:11 amIm getting a teeny problem. I cant get my reader to pick up your feed, Im using bing reader by the way.
    Bruno Zysman
    May 31st, 2012 at 4:56 pmThanks so much for this tips
    I could get back my 170 000 mails in 5 hours thanks to this post, after having tried for few hours without success…Bruno

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