## Search

- Basic Index Search
- Advanced Index Search
- Example
- Other Searches (Contacts and Folder List)

The Search area is in the upper portion of the left pane, just below the menu bar. At a minimum, there will be a text box for you to enter text to be searched for. If the right pane contains an index of messages there will also be an Advanced Search button. If you've already completed an index search and the right pane contains the Search Results then there are some additional button available. These are described below.

## Basic Index Search

You may perform a basic search of all the messages in the index by typing some text into the search text box and clicking the search icon next to the box. This will be a search of the entire text of the messages, not just the Subject.

To search for messages

- Find the Search text box in the upper part of the left pane and click in it.
- Type the search text into the box.

The result of the search will be a message index containing only the subset of messages that match the search criterion. A message about the number of matches will be displayed in the Screen Header area and the heading will change from INBOX to Search Results in INBOX to show you that you are viewing a subset of the messages. Near the bottom of the page the total number of messages in the Search Result will be shown instead of the total number of messages in the INBOX.

There will be a couple new items in the Search area of the screen. The highlighted folder in the search area will be called Search Results. You may go back and forth between the INBOX and the Search Results by clicking on the INBOX or on the Search Results. There will be a new button next to Advanced Search labeled Clear. Clicking that will clear the results of the search.

You can start a brand new search by typing in more text and searching again. As long as the menu in the search area says New Search you will be searching the entire INBOX again, just like with the initial search. However, you also have the option of refining the search you have done so far by setting the menu to either Search within Results or Add to Search Results. A Search within Results search will reduce the size of the Search Results, showing you the subset of the current Search Results that also match your new search. An Add to Search Results search will increase the size of the Search Results, adding all of the new matches to the existing Search Results.

If you are refining your Search Results and there are no matches, the Search Results will remain the same instead of showing nothing, so that you won't lose the previous results. A message in the Screen Header will say No messages matched your search.

## Advanced Index Search

Clicking on Advanced Search allows you to more tightly control the method of searching for matching messages. For example, you could search for all messages where the Subject contains (or doesn't contain) a certain word. If you fill in more than one of the criteria they all have to match. For example, if you fill in some text that the Subject must contain and also type in some text in that the From must contain; the Search Results will only contain messages that both have a matching From and have a matching Subject.

At the top of the Advanced Search panel is a menu similar to the one in the Basic search area where you say what sort of refinement on the current search you want to perform. This can be either a brand new search, a narrowing down of the current Search Results (search within), or a widening of the current Search Results (add results).

## Example

Searching is often done iteratively, a step at a time, until you locate the message you are looking for.

You might start out looking for a message that you can recall contains the word firefox.

- Type firefox in the search text box click to search.

You got way more matches than you expected so you try to think of some way to refine the search. You remember that the message also contains the word awesome.

- Set the search menu to Search within Results.
- Type awesome in the search text box and click to search.

Maybe you see your message now or maybe you need to refine further. Suppose you know the message came within the past week.

- Click Advanced Search.
- Be sure the choice at the top of the Search panel is set to Perform this search within current search results.
- Set the Date menu to Past week.
- Click Search.

## Other Searches (Contacts and Folder List)

You can also perform basic searches while viewing your Folder List and while viewing your Contacts. In both cases, the search is a simple text search to match what you type, and only the text that is displayed on the screen is searched. The results are simply highlighted on the screen. You have to look for them yourself in order to use them.