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

1. On your computer, go to Gmail.
2. At the top, click the search box.
3. Enter a search operator.

Tips:

• After you search, 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.

Search operator	Description	Example
from:	Find emails sent from a specific person.	from:me from:[e-mail]
to:	Find emails sent to a specific person.	to:me to:[e-mail]
cc: bcc:	Find emails that include specific people in the "Cc" or "Bcc" fields.	cc:[e-mail] bcc:[e-mail]
subject:	Find emails by a word or phrase in the subject line.	subject:dinner subject:anniversary party
after: before: older: newer:	Search for emails received during a certain time period.	after:2004/04/16 after:04/16/2004 before:2004/04/18 before:04/18/2004
older_than: newer_than:	Search for emails older or newer than a time period. Use d (day), m (month), or y (year).	older_than:1y newer_than:2d
OR or { }	Find emails that match one or more of your search criteria.	from:amy OR from:david {from:amy from:david}
AND	Find emails that match all of your search criteria.	from:amy AND to:david
-	Exclude emails from your search criteria.	dinner -movie
AROUND	Find emails 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.	holiday AROUND 10 vacation "secret AROUND 25 birthday"
label:	Find emails under one of your labels.	label:friends label:important
category:	If you use inbox categories, find emails under one of the categories.	category:primary category:social category:promotions category:updates category:forums category:reservations category:purchases
has:	Find emails that include: Attachments Inline images YouTube videos Drive files Google Docs Google Sheets Google Slides	has:attachment has:youtube has:drive has:document has:spreadsheet has:presentation
list:	Find emails from a mailing list.	list:[e-mail]
filename:	Find emails that have attachments with a certain name or file type.	filename:pdf filename:homework.txt
" "	Search for emails with an exact word or phrase.	"dinner and movie tonight"
( )	Group multiple search terms together.	subject:(dinner movie)
in:anywhere	Find emails across Gmail. This includes emails in Spam and Trash.	in:anywhere movie
in:snoozed	Find emails that you snoozed.	in:snoozed birthday reminder
is:muted	Find emails that you muted.	is:muted subject:team celebration
is:	Search for emails by their status: Important Starred Unread Read	is:important is:starred is:unread is:read
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	If you set up different star options, you can search for emails under a star option. Learn how to star emails in Gmail.	has:yellow-star OR has:purple-question
deliveredto:	Find emails delivered to a specific email address.	deliveredto:[e-mail]
size: larger: smaller:	Find emails by their size.	size:1000000 larger:10M
+	Find emails that match a word exactly.	+unicorn
rfc822msgid	Find emails with a specific message-id header.	rfc822msgid:[e-mail]
has:userlabels has:nouserlabels	Find emails that have or don't have a label. Labels are only added to a message, and not an entire conversation.	has:userlabels has:nouserlabels

Related resources

• Search in Gmail
• Gmail messages are missing