With BYUI's email retention policy, it may be necessary to find the emails you need to save in Outlook. Outlook’s powerful search tools can help you quickly locate older emails. If you’re new to Outlook Search, watch the video below for further instructions.
Following are several search strategies to find the emails you're looking for. As a general tip, start with a broad search and then narrow it, including using multiple filters at the same time.
Search with Keywords
Begin your search by typing a word or phrase that appears in the email.
Good keywords might include:
If you receive too many results, combine multiple keywords to narrow your search.
Search by Sender
If you remember who sent the email you can search by the sender instead using either their name or email address.
If you search for the sender’s name as a keyword, the results will include any emails that merely reference the person. To only view emails that are actually from the sender, you can type the following into the search bar:
from:[user name]
Alternatively, you can click on the search bar, select the small down arrow (or filter icon) that appears on the right side of the search box, and enter the sender’s name in the “From” section.
You might try combining search terms. For example:
Workday from:John Smith
or use the advanced search:
Narrow the Timeframe
If you remember when something happened, you can search for a specific timeframe. Outlook lets you limit your search to emails sent or received during a particular time period by selecting a start and end dates.
Combining a timeframe with keywords or a sender often produces much better results.
Example
If a committee approved a proposal in Spring 2025, search only within that timeframe rather than your entire mailbox.
Find Submitted Documents
If you're looking for emails that you know have a document attached to it, filter your results to show only emails with attachments.
Examples include:
- Applications
- Signed forms
- Contracts
- PDFs
- Spreadsheets
The method differs from Outlook New to Outlook Classic.
Outlook New:
Outlook Classic:
Search by Sender Domain
If you know the email came from outside the university, searching by domain can significantly reduce the number of results.
For example:
- gmail.com
- outlook.com
- companyname.com
If you simply wish to view ALL external emails, you can type the following into the search bar:
NOT from:byui.edu
To exclude multiple domains from search results, you can simply use multiple instances:
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