Message search lives in global search: press Ctrl + K (or ⌘ K on a Mac) or click the magnifier in the dock. Opened from your inbox, it is already scoped to your messages — one click on the scope chip widens it to everywhere. The quiet “Filter…” field above the message list narrows what is currently shown, and pressing / in the inbox focuses it.
Searching chat
Type a couple of characters or more and matching chat messages appear with a highlighted snippet, the conversation they belong to, and the sender. Selecting a result jumps you to that exact message in its thread, with the surrounding context.
- Scope: search across all your conversations, or only the one you have open.
- Type: narrow to text messages, files, or links.
- Sender and dates: filter by who sent it and a from/to date range.
- Recent searches: your latest searches are kept handy for reuse.
Searching mail
Mail search covers your inbox, sent mail, drafts, starred, snoozed, archive, spam, and trash. In global search, pick a mailbox in the filter panel or type operators directly into the query:
- from:, to:, subject: — match sender, recipient, or subject (quote multi-word values, e.g. subject:"review request").
- has:attachment and is:unread — only mail with attachments, or unread mail.
- before: and after: — a date range, e.g. after:2026-01-01.
- in: — a specific folder, e.g. in:sent.
The same operators also work in the inbox list’s “Filter…” field when a mail mailbox is open, where each recognised operator shows as a chip beneath the field.