Advanced Search Feature in MailStore Server
In our Technical Tips blog series, we aim to provide detailed information about selected product features to all stakeholders, customers, and business partners. The video we are showing you not only provides some brief background information but also includes a short live demo that clearly illustrates the product features.
This Technical Tip, our sales engineer will show you how to use the advanced search feature on the MailStore Server.
Search Function in MailStore Outlook Add-In
The advanced search feature in the MailStore Outlook Add-In has become a popular feature of MailStore Server. It's not surprising, considering it offers more selection and filter options than the simple Quick Search function in Outlook. The Quick Search function, with an installed Outlook Add-In, can be found in the "MailStore" tab within the Outlook environment.
Here, you can filter searches based on specific items in your emails and create a search folder for queries that you frequently repeat. A search folder makes it easier to run the same search repeatedly by saving your entered filters and criteria.
Please note: Since most archive accesses occur via Outlook, this Technical Tip focuses on the Outlook environment. You will find the advanced search function in the MailStore Client and also in MailStore Web Access, so there's no need to mention it.
Search Options During Advanced Search
The advanced search function searches the index files for the exact search string you enter. Therefore, if you want your search to return results related to the entered string, you should use wildcard characters that function as variables within the string. For example, entering "automatic" would make the function search for the exact word "automatic" in archived emails, while "automatic*" would return related words like "automatical". Quotation marks can also be used to narrow down search results. If you want to search for a word but don't know exactly how it is spelled, you can replace each unknown letter or character with a question mark (?). However, the search string should not start or end with a question mark. If you want the searched string to appear in the subject line of an email, it will be highlighted in the search results.
Help Button and Help Page
Notes on combining many options for searches can be found on the Help page under Accessing the Archive with the Microsoft Outlook Integration and sub-sections. You can access the page by clicking the Help button in the MailStore tab. Please remember that search criteria are always combined with "AND", meaning that the search will only return emails that meet all defined criteria. If you have added your email attachments to the index, they will also be searched during the process.
Rebuilding Search Indexes
If you want to search for new file formats in email attachments, you can add these new formats to the Storage and Search Indexes sub-section under the Management section of MailStore Server. However, remember that after adding a new format, you will need to rebuild your search indexes, which can take quite a long time depending on the size and number of index files. Additionally, for some file formats, it will be necessary to load the relevant filters in addition to adding them to the index.
Source: Technical Tips: Advanced Search Function in MailStore Server - MailStore