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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 Search Mail. Your results will be displayed with your search terms highlighted in yellow.
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 Show search options next to the search box, and entering your criteria in the appropriate fields (or use our advanced operators.
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:
- Log in to your Virgin Media Mail account.
- Click Show search options at the top of any Virgin Media Mail page.
- Select Mail & Spam & Bin from the Search: drop-down menu.
- Enter all other criteria for your search in the appropriate fields.
- Click Search Mail.
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 on Show search options beneath the Virgin Media Mail search box.
| 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* | 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 |
| has:attachment | Search for messages with an attachment | Example - from:david has:attachment |
| filename: | Search for an attachment by name or type | Example - filename:physicshomework.txt Example - label:work filename:pdf |
| " " (quotes) | Used to search for an exact phrase* *Capitalization isn't taken into consideration | Example - "i'm feeling lucky" |
| ( ) parentheses | Used to group words Used to specify terms that shouldn't be excluded | Example - from:amy(dinner OR movie) |
| in:anywhere | Search for messages anywhere in your account* *Messages in Spam and Bin are excluded from searches by default | Example - in:anywhere movie |
in:inbox | Search for messages in Inbox, Bin, or Spam | Example - in:bin from:amy |
| 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 |
| 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:
- Log in to your Virgin Media Mail account.
- Click 'Create a filter' at the top of any Virgin Media Mail page.
- 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.
- Click 'Next Step' and select the action you'd like these messages to take.
- Click 'Create Filter.'
To use advanced operators in your searches, click 'Show search options' to the right of the search field, 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 Mail' field:
from:Bob label:my-friends
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