Tip of the week # 642
20 February 2021


Automatically search all mail folders in all mailboxes (Microsoft Outlook) *

During a recent webinar I did in collaboration with the Cambridge Network we looked at ways to tackle information overload. When I shared some of the powerful and frequently unused Outlook search tips, one of the delegates asked whether there was a way to change the default Search setting so that results don't just show emails from your current folder. Well, you can change it so that it always searches all mail folders in all mailboxes.

Here's how:

  1. On the File tab, click on Options.
  2. Type the letter S (or click on Search).
  3. Under Results select the All mailboxes radio button.
  4. Press Enter or click OK.

With thanks to Richard for the tip inspiration! Hope you've changed your default setting and put some of what you learned into practice.

Related tips:

  1. Find that needle in a haystack: tip_292.php
  2. Find even more needles in that haystack: tip_294.php
  3. Reduce irrelevant search results: tip_376.php
  4. Search for messages sent to a particular person during a certain period of time: tip_406.php


* Unless stated otherwise this tip is written for Microsoft 365 and Windows 10 users, but can also be useful in Office 2010, 2013 and 2016.