Check or uncheck the boxes and click “Apply” when you’re done. This will bring up additional options you can turn on, as well as switching off fields you don’t use. If you want to search for things that aren’t in the default fields, click “Add More Options.” You can still change the default search location, but now you can change the default search fields as well. Type into these filters and Outlook will automatically add the correct syntax to the Search box, which means you no longer need to remember the right commands to type. Click the arrow next to the Search box and a simple search menu appears. If you want to know how to move emails, for example, type “move” in the Search box and, below any emails that match the word, the menu will display relevant commands.Īlthough you can still type commands like like the old Search, Outlook now has a much better and easier user interface for constructing your search. This change is particularly useful for finding out how to do things. The new feature searches everything in Outlook, including Outlook functionality. Regardless of anything else, this is the biggest change in Microsoft Search: it no longer just searches through email. If you want to see the Search tab, you’ll have to click on a blank piece of the ribbon to hide the drop-down Search bar menu.Īs you type in the Search box, the menu will filter down search terms, people, and actions to match what you type. There’s no way to change this behavior, and we don’t expect Microsoft to make it configurable.

But on the other hand, it covers up a lot of the tools found on the Search tab ribbon. On one hand, it’s pretty useful to have what feels like a clipboard of recent activity in the app at your fingertips. When you click into the new Search box (or use the keyboard shortcut), a menu that shows recent searches, people, and actions will appear. Microsoft has also added two keyboard shortcuts to help you adjust-CTRL+E and ALT+Q-which is a welcome addition for those of us who like to avoid switching between keyboard and mouse where possible.

For people who have the muscle memory of clicking just above the email folder to search, this will take a little getting used to, but it’s not a huge positional leap. The new Search bar gives you more vertical space, which is very handy if you’re using a smaller screen like a laptop or tablet, rather than a larger monitor.

How to do a search in mac outlook