How to Search Mail by Date or by Date Range in Outlook. (2024)

Quickly finding specific messages in Outlook is a skill that increases your productivity. Especially when you have a large number of incoming or outgoing messages, the ability to search emails by date or within a date range becomes essential.

Whether you are looking for recent mail or need to locate messages from a specific time period, knowing how to search for mail by date is a valuable asset and in this tutorial we will show you how to do it.

While sorting your inbox by date is a quick option, it becomes inconvenient especially when you receive or send an infinite number of emails every day. Fortunately, Microsoft Outlook offers built-in search and filtering tools, allowing you to pinpoint the desired email(s).

In this article, we'll explore ways to efficiently search Outlook mail by date or date range in both Outlook for the web and Outlook for desktop.

How to Search Emails by Date in Outlook desktop app.

Finding emails in Outlook for a specific date or time period can be done using either Direct Instant Search, Search Filter or Advanced Search.

Method 1. Search Outlook by Date using Instant Search.

To search for emails in Outlook based on a date or date range using Instant Search:

1. Click on the instant search box on the title bar to activate the search function. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + E.

2. in the search box type "received" to search for received messages, or "sent" for Sent messages, followed by a colon (:). Then type the date on which you want to see the received or sent messages. Here are some examples to guide you:

• received:yesterday
• received:this week
• received:this month
• received:August
• sent:15/10/2023
• sent:past year
• sent:past month
• sent: last week

3. For Date Ranges: If you need to search for emails in a specific time period, type the date range according to the Outlook date format (eg MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY) while inserting two dots between the dates to separate them.

For example: to find the received emails from Jun 21, 2023 until July 7, 2023 when the Outlook date format is "DD/MM/YYYY", type:

• received:21/06/2023..07/07/2023

Method 2. Search Outlook emails by Date or by Date Range using Search Filters.

The second method to find emails on specific dates in Outlook, is by using Outlook's built-in search filters.*

1. In newer versions of Outlook (Outlook for Microsoft 365 & Outlook 2021), click on the small arrow facing downwards in the Search box.*

* Note: In Outlook old versions (eg. Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, etc.) this method doesn't work. In these versions you can click the Filter Email button in the ribbon and filter emails only by using the defaults: Today, Yesterday, This Week, Last Week, This Month, Last Month, This Year, and Last Year.

2. Once the search filter appears, locate the Received (or Sent) options and set only the Start Date if you want to search only for emails on a specific date, or set both the Start Date and the End Date if you want to search for messages email in a date range.*

3. After setting the date(s), click the Search button to view all the emails from the specified date or date range.

* Note: Alternatively, you can click the drop-down arrow to see a list of predefined date search options, such as today, yesterday, last week, or this month.

Method 3. Search for Emails in Outlook using Advanced Find.

You can use Outlook's advanced search options for a more precise mail search by date or date range.

1. Open your Outlook app and click the Search box in the title bar to view the Search tab.

2. Then click on the Search Tools icon and choose the Advanced Find option from the drop-down menu.

3. In the 'Advanced Find' pop-up window, switch to the Advanced tab.

4. Under the "Define more criteria" section, click the Field button and then go to Date/Time fields and select Received if you want to search for received emails or Sent to search for sent emails.

5. Then click the Condition drop-down menu and select between.

6. Finally, in the Value box, type the period you want to search for emails in this format:*

• <from date> and <to date>

* For example to find the emails between Jun 21, 2023 until July 7, 2023 when the Outlook date format is "DD/MM/YYYY", type: "21/06/2023 and 07/07/2023"

7. When done, click Add to List

8. Finally, hit the Find now button to find all the emails of the selected period.

How to Search Mail by Date or by Date Range in Outlook on Web.

If you're using Outlook on the web, follow these steps to find emails based on date:

1. Click on All folders on the left side of the Search box at the top, to select a specific mailbox folder to search in.

2. Next click the Filter button on the right of Search field to access the filter options.

3. In the search filter options, next to Date From, enter the start and end dates you want. Alternatively, use the calendar icons for a pop-up calendar selection.

4. If you want include any additional criteria to refine the search results and then click the Search button.

That's it! Which method worked for you?
Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.

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