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How to use Virgin Media Mail search

You can use Virgin Media Mail search by entering a word (or multiple words) that appears anywhere within the message you want to locate.

If you're looking for a message that contains the word shopping, simply type shopping in the search field and press the search button: .

Virgin Media Mail doesn't recognise special search characters like square brackets, parentheses, currency symbols, the ampersand, the pound sign, and asterisks. It also doesn't recognise partial or similar matches, so a search for travel will find travel, but not travels, traveler, or travle.

If you're having trouble finding the result you want, you can refine your query by clicking the down arrow on the right of the search bar and entering your criteria in the appropriate fields (or use our advanced operators below).

Searching Spam and Bin

Virgin Media Mail doesn't search for message in Spam or Bin unless you tell it to. Here's how you can include spam and bin in your search results:

1. Log in to your Virgin Media Mail account.
2. Click the down arrow on the right of the search bar.
3. Select Mail & Spam & Bin from the Search: drop-down menu.
4. Enter all other criteria for your search in the appropriate fields.
5. Click Search Mail.

* Note that searches done on All Mail will not list items in the Bin or Spam folders, but will give you the option to view deleted messages in Bin.

Using advanced search

Advanced search operators are query words or symbols that perform special actions in Virgin Media Mail search. These operators allow you to find what you're looking for quickly and accurately. They can also be used to set up filters  so you can organise your inbox automatically. Some of the most useful operators are listed below.

You can also use advanced search operators by clicking the down arrow on the right of the search bar.

Operator

Definition

Example(s)

from:

Used to specify the sender

Example - from:amy
Meaning - Messages from Amy

to:

Used to specify a recipient

Example - to:david
Meaning - All messages that were sent to David (by you or someone else)

subject:

Search for words in the subject line

Example - subject:dinner
Meaning - Messages that have the word "dinner" in the subject

OR

Search for messages matching term A or term B*
*OR must be in all caps

Example - from:amy OR from:david
Meaning - Messages from Amy or from David

-
(hyphen)

Used to exclude messages from your search

Example - dinner -movie
Meaning - Messages that contain the word "dinner" but do not contain the word "movie"

label:

Search for messages by label*
*There isn't a search operator for unlabelled messages

Example - from:amy label:friends
Meaning - Messages from Amy that have the label "friends"
Example - from:david label:my-family
Meaning - Messages from David that have the label "My Family"

has:attachment

Search for messages with an attachment

Example - from:david has:attachment
Meaning - Messages from David that have an attachment

filename:

Search for an attachment by name or type

Example -filename:physicshomework.txt
Meaning - Messages with an attachment named "physicshomework.txt"

Example - label:work filename:pdf
Meaning - Messages labelled "work" that also have a PDF file as an attachment

" "
(quotes)

Used to search for an exact phrase*
*Capitalization isn't taken into consideration

Example - "i'm feeling lucky"
Meaning - Messages containing the phrase "i'm feeling lucky" or "I'm feeling lucky"
Example - subject:"dinner and a movie"
Meaning - Messages containing the phrase "dinner and a movie" in the subject

( )
parentheses

Used to group words
Used to specify terms that shouldn't be excluded

Example - from:amy(dinner OR movie)
Meaning - Messages from Amy that contain either the word "dinner" or the word "movie"

Example - subject:(dinner movie)
Meaning - Messages in which the subject contains both the word "dinner" and the word "movie"

in:anywhere

Search for messages anywhere in your account*
*Messages in Spam and Binare excluded from searches by default

Example - in:anywhere movie
Meaning - Messages in All Mail,Spam, and Bin that contain the word "movie"

in:inbox
in:bin
in:spam

Search for messages inInbox, Bin, or Spam

Example - in:bin from:amy
Meaning - Messages from Amy that are in Bin

is:starred
is:unread
is:read

Search for messages that are starred, unread or read

Example - is:read is:starred from:David
Meaning - Messages from David that have been read and are marked with a star

cc:
bcc:

Used to specify recipients in the cc: or bcc: fields*
*Search on bcc: cannot retrieve messages on which you were blind carbon copied

Example - cc:david
Meaning - Messages that were cc-ed to David

after:
before:

Search for messages sent during a certain period of time*
*Dates must be in yyyy/mm/dd format.

Example - after:2004/04/16 before:2004/04/18
Meaning - Messages sent after April 16, 2004, but before April 18, 2004.*
*More precisely: Messages sent on April 17, 2004.

is:chat

Search for chat messages

Example - is:chat monkey
Meaning - Any chat message including the word "monkey".

Boolean operators in searches and filters

Virgin Media Mail's advanced operators will help you make your search and filter criteria more specific. For example, to create a filter for messages from 'Amy@virginmedia.com' and messages that contain the subject line 'Meeting Reminder,' you can enter 'from:Amy@virginmedia.com OR subject:'meeting reminder' in the 'Has the words:' field.
Here's how to clarify your filter criteria with advanced operators:

1. Log in to your Virgin Media Mail account.
2. Click 'Create a filter' at the top of any Virgin Media Mail page.
3. Enter your filter criteria. In the 'Has the words:' field, you can use any advanced operators to filter messages meeting various criteria. Please note that the 'or' function in Virgin Media Mail is represented by 'OR,' and the 'not' function is represented by a minus (-). You also can use quotes (" ") to specify an exact phrase.
4. Click 'Next Step' and select the action you'd like these messages to take.
5. Click 'Create Filter.'

To use advanced operators in your searches, click the down arrow on the right of the search bar and enter your search terms and advanced operators in the appropriate fields.

Searching on multi-word labels

To search for messages with a specific label, enter 'label:,' an advanced operator, followed by the label's name, in the search field. If the label name has more than one word, you'll need to connect the words with dashes.
For example, if you want to search for all messages from Bob in the label 'My Friends', enter the following in the search field: from:Bob label:my-friends


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