Refine searches in Gmail

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You can use words or symbols called search operators to filter your Gmail search results. You can also combine operators to filter your results even more.

Use a search operator

Go to Gmail.
In the search box, type the search operator.

Tips:

Once you do a search using search operators, you can use the results to set up a filter for these messages.
When using numbers as part of your query, a space or a dash (-) will separate a number while a dot (.) will be a decimal. For example, 01.2047-100 is considered 2 numbers: 01.2047 and 100.

What you can search by	Search operator
Specify the sender	`from:` Example: `from:amy`
Specify a recipient	`to:` Example: `to:david`
Words in the subject line	`subject:` Example: `subject:dinner`
Messages that match multiple terms	`OR` or `{ }` Example: `from:amy OR from:david` Example: `{from:amy from:david}` `AND` Example: `from:amy AND to:david`
Remove messages from your results	`-` Example: `dinner -movie`
Find messages with words near each other. Use the number to say how many words apart the words can be Add quotes to find messages in which the word you put first stays first.	`AROUND` Example: `holiday AROUND 10 vacation` Example: `"secret AROUND 25 birthday"`
Messages that have a certain label	`label:` Example: `label:friends`
Messages that have an attachment (including inline images)	`has:attachment`
Messages that have a Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides attachment or link	`has:drive` `has:document` `has:spreadsheet` `has:presentation`
Messages that have a YouTube video	`has:youtube`
Messages from a mailing list	`list:` Example: `list:info@example.com`
Attachments with a certain name or file type	`filename:` Example: `filename:pdf` Example: `filename:homework.txt`
Search for an exact word or phrase	`" "` Example: `"dinner and movie tonight"`
Group multiple search terms together	`( )` Example: `subject:(dinner movie)`
Messages in any folder, including Spam and Trash	`in:anywhere` Example: `in:anywhere movie`
Search for messages that are marked as important	`is:important` `label:important`
Starred, snoozed, unread, or read messages	`is:starred` `is:snoozed` `is:unread` `is:read` Example: `is:read is:starred`
Messages that include an icon of a certain color	`has:yellow-star has:orange-star has:red-star has:purple-star has:blue-star has:green-star has:red-bang has:orange-guillemet has:yellow-bang has:green-check has:blue-info has:purple-question` Learn how to star emails in Gmail.
Recipients in the cc or bcc field	`cc:` `bcc:` Example: `cc:david`
Search for messages sent during a certain time period	`after:` `before:` `older:` `newer:` Example: `after:2004/04/16` Example: `after:04/16/2004` Example: `before:2004/04/18` Example: `before:04/18/2004`
Search for messages older or newer than a time period using d (day), m (month), and y (year)	`older_than:` `newer_than:` Example: `newer_than:2d`
Search by email for delivered messages	`deliveredto:` Example: `deliveredto:username@gmail.com`
Messages in a certain category	`category:primary category:social category:promotions category:updates category:forums category:reservations category:purchases`
Messages larger than a certain size in bytes	`size:` Example: `size:1000000`
Messages larger or smaller than a certain size in bytes	`larger:` `smaller:` Example: `larger:10M`
Results that match a word exactly	`+` Example: `+unicorn`
Messages with a certain message-id header	`rfc822msgid:` Example: `rfc822msgid:200503292@example.com`
Messages that have or don't have a label	`has:userlabels` `has:nouserlabels` Important: Labels are only added to a message, and not an entire conversation.
Search for messages you muted	`is:muted`

Refine searches in Gmail

Use a search operator

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