---
title: "Full-text email search"
description: "Search the folder you are reading with forgiving words and operators like from:, has:pdf and newer_than:7d, or add in:anywhere to search every folder."
url: "https://openemail.uk/features/search"
---

[Reading & organising](https://openemail.uk/features.md#reading)

# Full-text search Type it the way you remember it.

Search runs on the folder you are reading and forgives case, accents and separators. Operators like from: and has:pdf narrow it.

[Open mail](https://openemail.uk/mail/inbox) [Get Started](https://openemail.uk/signup.md)[All features](https://openemail.uk/features.md)

In short

## What is full-text email search?

Full-text search reads the words inside your mail, not just the subject. A good one forgives a half-remembered word and gets strict when you quote a phrase.

How it works

## The folder you are in narrows it

A search from Inbox does not reach Archive, Sent or Spam. Name another with in:archive, or use in:anywhere for all of them.

## Loose words, strict quotes

Case, accents and separators are ignored and part of a word counts, so min finds Benjamin. A quoted phrase must appear as written.

## Operators read the way they look

OR, parentheses and a leading minus combine, so (from:stripe OR from:paddle) has:pdf -is:read finds unread threads with a PDF from either.

## The vocabulary

Unknown operators are searched as plain text.

from: the sender to: a recipient subject: the subject body: the message text in:anywhere every folder is:unread unread has:pdf a PDF attached after:2026/01/31 that day onward -is:read leaves read mail out

What you get

## In the product today

One shortcut away

Click the box above the list, or press the shortcut shown on it.

Matches are marked

Subject and sender in the list show where your words matched.

Newest first by default

Results follow the list's own order, with no relevance ranking on top.

No outside engine

Your query never goes to anybody else's search engine.

Good practice

## Getting the most out of it

1. 01
   
   Start with a word
   
   Type what you remember, then add an operator if the list runs long.
2. 02
   
   Quote to tighten
   
   When loose words bring back too much, quote the phrase.
3. 03
   
   Widen before browsing
   
   Lost a thread? Add in:anywhere rather than opening each folder.

Where it stands

## Good to know

Questions

## Asked often

Keep going

## Works well with

Search in plain language

Ask the command palette for what you want and it writes the query.

Labels

Name a label, pick a colour, and filter the list down to it.

Attachments

Pick them with the paperclip or paste them in. A pasted image lands in the body rather than the file list, and a file dragged onto the composer is not attached at all. On an OpenEmail mailbox incoming files sit in object storage, one object each, and opening a thread pulls every one of them.

Start

## Your domain, your mail.

Point a domain at OpenEmail and read it in a mailbox built around it. The free plan covers one domain.

[Open mail](https://openemail.uk/mail/inbox) [Get Started](https://openemail.uk/signup.md)[Read the reference](https://openemail.uk/docs/knowledge/reading/search.md)