Tech Tip for GUMail: Quickly Find Messages

13 February 2004

Have you ever spent time hunting through your Inbox trying to find a message from a certain person or scanning the subject lines for specific word?  If you read e-mail with Mozilla Mail or Mac OS X Mail, use the quick find or quick filter to search for words or names in the Subject or From lines.

Using Mozilla Mail's Search Bar

The Mozilla Mail program includes a tool bar called the Search Bar.  If you don't see it, you can turn it on by selecting View > Show/Hide > Search Bar from the menus.

When you type any word or words in the search box Mozilla will filter the message list, only showing you messages where the subject or the name of the sender matches what you typed.  Click the Clear button to see all of the messages again.

The Search Bar's View selector accesses other predefined filters and lets you create other more advanced filters.

Using Mac OS X Mail's Search Box

OS X Mail has a similar feature that lets you search quickly through one or all folders.  The Search Box appears at the far right end of the toolbar.

Click on the magnifying glass to bring up a list of search options.  The currently selected option appears grayed-out in the search box before you type.

To start a search, type a word or word in the box and press Enter.