Find e-mail between specific dates
I like the Instant Search feature of Outlook, but is there also a way to find an e-mail between specific dates?
Right now, I get too many results back and the Received option only gives me the pre-set option of today, yesterday, this week, last week, this month, last month, this year and last year.
None of them apply to my situation;
I know the name of the sender, I know some specific words and I know that it was between 3 and 4 months ago. Without setting the timeframe, I'm getting way too many results for it to be useful.
Is there any way I can do this query with Instant Search or do I have to use Advanced Find?
You can do that with Instant Search as well, although it might not be directly obvious how because searching between specific dates requires a specific notation.
Typing the query directly
If you’d like to type your query directly, then you can type the following in the Instant Search field if you want to search for emails that have been received in the month of April 2020; received:4/1/2020..4/30/2020
It is important that you type the correct date format of your computer. So it might require you to type the following instead; received:1-4-2020..30-4-2020
Note: For more Instant Search query command see; Instant Search query commands reference
Add it to your Query Builder
If you do a date query more often, you might want to add the Received field to your expanded Instant Search query. You can do this in the following way;
- Outlook for Microsoft 365
It’s already added by default. Click in the Search field in the Title Bar and then press the Filter icon which shows in the Search field to open the Advanced Search flyout. There are 2 fields with Calendar selectors for the Received property so you can easily search between specific dates.
- Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016 and Outlook 2019
Click in the Instant Search field to make the Search tab in the Ribbon visible-> in the section Refine click the More button-> select: Received
Advanced Find
If you prefer to use the Advanced Find dialog instead, then you can search between specific dates in the following way;
- Open Advanced Find.
- Keyboard shortcut: CTRL+SHIFT+F
- Select the Advanced tab.
- Add the following criteria;
- Field:
Received - Condition:
between - Value:
4/1/2020 and 4/30/2020
- Field:
- Press the button Find Now.
