Author: Hayley Milliman / Source: howtogeek.com
Searching in Outlook is pretty easy, but why bother typing out the same searches over and over if you perform them regularly? Custom Search Folders let you save those custom searches so you can get back to them with just a click or two.
And while it’s tempting to just think of Custom Search Folders like a saved search, they’re actually cooler than that.
Since they’re automatically updated, they actually work more like virtual folders—similar to the Labels feature in Gmail, except more powerful. Want a folder that shows only messages that are unread, from a certain person, and have one or more attachments? No problem.Let’s take a look at how to set them up.
Create a Predefined Search Folder in Outlook
Outlook already has a number of predefined search folders that you can make use of. You can’t further customize any of these, but they’re worth taking a look at first just in case they cover your needs.
To start with, you’ll find your search folders at the bottom of the list of folders in your Outlook data file on the left side of the window. Each data file has it’s own search folder, so if you use Outlook to check more than one account, you can set up different search folders for each one.
You won’t be able to even select that “Search Folders” folder, though, until you’ve created your first search folder. To create a search folder, switch to the “Folder” tab on the Ribbon, and then click the “New Search Folder” button.
This opens the New Search Folder window. You’ll see a bunch of predefined search folders organized into categories like Reading Mail, Mail From People And Lists, and Organizing Mail.
Most of the folders are pretty self-explanatory, so we won’t cover them in detail—you can just browse through them.Here, we’re creating a new search folder that shows unread mail. It’s a super handy search folder to have around because it shows all your unread mail, no matter what folder it’s stored in. Just click the search folder you want to create, and then hit the “OK” button.
Pretty simple, right? Now, let’s take a look at creating your own custom search folders, which are way more powerful.
Create a Custom Search Folder in Outlook
Custom search folders let you additional criteria that the predefined search folders don’t include—you can pretty much search by any field an Outlook message contains. More importantly, you can create a custom search folder that uses…
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