External IT Knowledge - Limit on email search results in Outlook Web Access

Introduction

If you are searching for messages in Outlook Web Access (OWA) and if there are more than 250 results, anything over 250 will not be displayed.

Ways to work around this limitation are:

Search only specific folders or subfolders

To the right of the search bar on the top of the webpage is a dropdown that allows you to pick specific folders to search within. The default is All. Click on All, and pick another folder to search only specific folders or subfolders.

Search with specific folders dropdown

Use Outlook's built-in search filters

Outlook provides you with a number of built-in search filters. To use the built-in filters, click in the Search box. Based on your preference, you can use Advanced Search by clicking the filter button on the right side of the search box. Alternatively, the Outlook ribbon will change to show the Search tab and you use any of the options in the Refine group to refine your search results.

Use the Search box at the top of the screen with the Simplified Ribbon

Use Advanced Search in Outlook

Use more specific search terms

The following table shows you some examples of searches you might find useful. In addition to these examples, you can use AND, NOT, OR, <, >, =, and other operators to refine your search. Operators should be typed in uppercase letters.

Type this	To find this
bob	Items containing bob, bobbinbobby, BOBBY, BoBby, or any other combination of uppercase and lowercase letters. Instant Search is not case sensitive. This will NOT find items containing abcBOBdef, or 123bob.
bob moore	Items containing bob, along with all of the variations listed in the previous row, or moore, along with any other words that contain moore, but not necessarily in that order.
bobby AND moore	Items containing both bobby and moore, but not necessarily in that order. Note that logical operators such as AND, NOT, and OR must be in uppercase letters.
bobby NOT moore	Items containing bobby, along with all variations listed in the first row of the table, but not moore.
bobby OR moore	Items containing bobby, along with all variations listed in the first row of the table, moore, or both.
"bob"	Items containing the exact phrase bob and not the variations such as bobby or bobbin. To search for an exact string, you must use quotation marks.
from:"bobby moore"	Items sent from bobby moore. Note the use of double quotes so that the search results match the exact phrase within the quotes. You can also type from: and then the first few letters of a contact's name and Outlook will suggest a list of contacts for you to select.
from:"bobby moore" about:”status report”	Items sent from bobby moore where status report appears in the subject line, body, or attachment contents. Note the use of double quotes so that the search results match the exact phrase within the quotes.
hasattachment:yes	Items that have attachments. You can also use hasattachment:true to get the same results.
attachments:presentation.pptx	Items that have attachments named presentation.pptx or an attachment that contains presentation.pptx within its contents.
subject:"bobby moore"	Items whose subject contains the phrase bobby moore.
cc:"bobby moore"	Items in which the display name bobby moore is on the Cc line.
cc:bobbymoore@contoso.com	Items in which the e-mail address bobbymoore@contoso.com is on the Cc line.
bcc:bobby	Items in which bobbyy is on the Bcc line.
category:red	Items that contain a category name that includes the word red. For example "Red category" or "Redo" or "Redundant."
messagesize:<10 KB	Items whose size is less than 10 kilobytes. Note the use of the "less than" comparison operator (<).
messagesize:>5 MB	Items whose size is larger than 5 megabytes. Note the use of the "greater than" comparison operator (>).
due:last week	Items that are flagged for follow up a due date.
messagesize:tiny	Items whose size is less than 10 kilobytes
messagesize:small	Items whose size is between 10 and 25 kilobytes
messagesize:medium	Items whose size is between 25 and 100 kilobytes
messagesize:large	Items whose size is between 100 and 500 kilobytes
messagesize:verylarge	Items whose size is between 500 kilobytes and 1 megabyte
followupflag:follow up	Items that are flagged using the Follow Up flag.
messagesize:enormous	Items whose size is larger than 5 megabytes
hasflag:true	Items that are flagged for follow up.
from:bobby (received:1/7/21 OR received:1/8/21)	Items from bobby that arrived on either 1/7/21 or 1/8/21. Note the use of parentheses to group the dates.
received:1/15/2021	Items that arrived on 01/15/2021.
received:“this week”	Items that arrived this week. Note the use of quotations when searching multi-word dates. Relative dates For example: today, yesterday Multi-word relative dates For example: this week, last week, last month, last year Notes: Starting in Outlook for Windows build 16.0.14314, the Received refiner is powered by Microsoft Search to make it easier to find mail outside the local sync window. You may notice slight differences in behavior. Support has been dropped for days of the week and months referred to by name, Tuesday, March, etc.
to:bobby	Items that you sent to bobby when you are searching in the Sent Items folder.
read:no	Items that have not been read. You can also use read:false to get the same results.
subject:status received:May	Items received from anyone during the month of May (any year) where the subject contains status.