Search Options for Mailboxes on Exchange 2007 (for Outlook 2003/2007 and OWA)

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Spring 2010 [Number 246] Printable version (1,055KB PDF) Download Adobe Reader

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Search Options for Mailboxes on Exchange 2007 (for Outlook 2003/2007 and OWA)

Are you a frequent user of the search function in Outlook 2003/2007 or Outlook Web Access (OWA)? Then you may be affected by the email system’s upgrade to Exchange Server 2007 (see the article “NIH Email System Upgraded to Exchange Server 2007” in this issue).

Search function redesign

The code for the search engine in Exchange 2007 has been completely rewritten to include improvements to the server and email program (or “client”) search functions, such as dynamically building search indexes as messages enter the database. This provides email clients with real-time search capabilities, something that users did not have available to them in Exchange 2003.

However, the search engine redesign also created a subtle change in search functionality that causes problems in certain situations using Outlook quick search. If you perform a lot of partial-string (or partial-word) searches, the change in the search engine function may present some issues. This article explains the changes and how best to approach the issue.

Partial-word searches

In Exchange 2003, the “Instant Search” (“Search Inbox” or CTRL-E) feature returned partial-word search results, but this is not the case for the Instant Search feature in online Outlook 2003/2007 and OWA 2007 clients searching mailboxes on Exchange 2007. The following example illustrates the partial-word instant search scenario:

You want to locate a stored email that includes the string “12345ABC67890” (for example) in either the subject or message body. But searches for partial word “ABC” return no results. The search function will, however, return results for partial words at the beginning of the string. Therefore, if you search for partial word “12345ABC,” the search will retrieve all messages with that partial string in subject or body.

Online and offline modes

Email programs like Outlook can operate in either online or offline mode. To run in “online mode,” the standard mode for Outlook, the program requires a connection to the email server. “Offline mode” (or cached mode), on the other hand, means that you do not need to be connected to the server and that your email, task lists, events, etc. are stored in the local message storage and can later be synchronized when you switch back to online mode and connect to the email server.

Since offline, or cached, Exchange mode clients do not use the new Exchange 2007 server-side search engine, but rely on Windows Desktop Search, which returns the expected results without the use of Advanced Find or Outlook Search Folders, this section focuses on searching in online mode.

Search for partial strings in online mode

Searching for partial strings using an email client in online mode requires more advanced search options than Instant Search offers. Outlook “Advanced Find” search will work, but requires the user to rebuild, or newly set up, the various components of the query each time a search is performed. If you frequently perform searches for partial strings, creating a search folder that preserves the parameters of your query gives you easy access to your search set-up for subsequent editing and running of new searches. Search folders cannot be created within the OWA interface, but are accessible, although not editable, after they are created in Outlook 2003/2007.

The following sections describe the steps necessary to use Advanced Find in online mode, and to create an editable search folder within Outlook 2003/2007. Please note that in either case, “frequently-used text fields” (rather than “subject field only” or “subject field and message body”) must be selected for the query to work correctly for partial-string searches.

Using Outlook 2003/2007 Advanced Find

1. Select “Tools,” ”Instant Search,” “Advanced Find,” or press CTRL+Shift+F

Figure 1: The MS Outlook Inbox, with Tools menu

Figure 1 begins the series of three images that describe how to perform a partial string search. It shows the Microsoft Outlook 2003 Inbox, with Tools menu (fifth tab from left) displaying a highlighted Instant Search menu item (second from top), which opens menu items on which the Advanced Find menu item (fifth from top) is highlighted. Keyboard alternative is Control+Shift+F.

2. Enter the partial search string in the “Search for the word(s)” box, and select “frequently-used text fields” in the “In” box.

Figure 2: The Advanced Find box

Figure 2 has the 'Advanced Find' box looking for messages in the inbox (the default) and showing the Messages tab.
Within the Messages tab, the 'Search for the word(s)' box has the partial-string example of '345ABC678' entered, and, most important, the 'In' box has had its default selection changed to 'frequently-used text fields' from the drop-down choices.

3. Click “Find Now” to search Inbox folder (default) or choose “Browse” to select additional folders.

Figure 3: Advanced Find box with results

In Figure 3, on the far right of the ‘Advanced Find’ box is a ‘Browse’ button that is used to select additional folders, and a ‘Find Now’ button to search the Inbox folder (by default). The example picture shows the name of the box changed to
‘Messages: Containing 345ABC678’ at the top, and a list of email messages retrieved at the bottom. The list is sortable and contains typical Outlook property information for each email such as name of sender, subject title, date received, size, etc.

When searching frequently for partial strings, it can be helpful to create an editable Outlook Search Folder.

Creating an Outlook Search Folder

1. In the Outlook “Mail Folders” pane, right-click “Search Folders” and select “New Search Folder.”

Figure 4: The Mail Folders pane in MS Outlook

Figure 4 begins the series of pictures that describe how to create an editable Outlook Search folder used for more frequent partial string searches. It shows the Mail Folders pane that is typically located on the left side of the screen in Outlook 2003. The ‘Search Folders’ folder (at the bottom of the default list of folders) has been right-clicked, which brings up ‘New Search Folder’ as the top, highlighted, menu item.

2. Select “Create a custom Search Folder.”

Figure 5: The New Search Folder window

Figure 5 shows the ‘New Search Folder’ window that pops up when the New Search Folder menu item is clicked. Under the Select a Search folder, Custom category, the last list item ‘Create a custom Search Folder’ is selected.

3. Select “Choose” to specify search criteria, create a search folder name, and select the “Browse” button to specify the folders to be searched.

Figure 6: The Custom Search Folder window

Figure 6 shows the Custom Search Folder pop-up window that is created when the Choose button is clicked in the New Search Folder window. You must type a name for your search folder in the Name field; the example shown is Search_String_345ABC678_in_12345ABC67890. The Criteria button will be explained in the next step and in Figure 7. There is a Browse button that is populated with your email mailbox by default; the example shows Jane Doe at CIT/NIH.

4. Select the “Criteria” button to build the search query. Enter the search string in the “Search for the word(s)” box, and select “frequently-used text fields” in the “In” box.

Figure 7: The Search Folder Criteria window

Figure 7 shows the pop-up window that is created when the Criteria button is clicked in the Custom Search Folder. There are three tabs: Messages, More Choices, and Advanced. Messages is the default and is shown selected. There are two boxes: the ‘Search for the word(s)’ text box is shown containing the partial-string example of 345ABC678, and the ‘In’ drop-down box is shown with the critically important ‘frequently-used text fields’ selected. Further choices can be made to narrow the search criteria - in the example, none of the following have been used: text boxes to enter ‘From’ and ‘Sent To’ addresses, and a ‘Where I am’ check box that activates a drop-down list of criteria such as the ‘I am the only person on the To line’ (shown grayed out). Two ‘Time’ delimiting drop-down boxes are present - ‘None’ is shown as the active default in the first box and ‘Anytime’ is shown as the inactive, grayed-out selection in the second. There are button choices of ‘OK,’ ‘Cancel,’ and ‘Clear All.’ Note that from this box, clicking OK multiple times activates each of the previous pop-up boxes to close and creates the desired search folder.

5. Finally, click “Ok” several times to save the new search folder.

Your new Outlook Search Folder is now ready for use. Clicking the search folder will execute the search.

Figure 8: The Search Folder search results.

Figure 8 shows the newly created ‘Search_String_345ABC678_in_12345ABC67890’ folder, in the list of Search Folders in the left-side All Mail Items list. The new folder has been clicked in the list, which has opened the ‘Search_String_345ABC678_in_12345ABC67890’ folder in the main pane to the right and started the search; four returned email items are displayed. Email items are sortable using the typical Outlook column headings such as To, Subject, Received date, etc.

Editing a search folder

To edit a search folder, right-click the search folder you want to change and select “Customize this search folder.” You can then edit the partial-string search details without having to rebuild the search folder. The “Customize this search folder” menu also allows you to rename or delete a selected search folder.

The search folder can also be added to your Outlook “Favorite Folders” for quick access.

Figure 9: The Favorite Folders section in the MS Outlook Mail pane

Figure 9 shows the example ‘Search_String_345ABC678_in_12345ABC67890’ search folder added to the Outlook top left Mail pane under ‘Favorite Folders’, for quick access.

The new search folder is also accessible in OWA, but is not editable within OWA.

Figure 10: The OWA window

Finally, Figure 10 shows the 'Search_String_345ABC678_in_12345ABC67890' search folder search within Outlook Web Access (OWA, Email Web Access). Custom search folders are searchable, but not editable, and results are displayed within OWA in a similar way as within Outlook.

Questions?

If you have any question about the changes to your email program due to the Exchange Server upgrade, or need help establishing search folders in Outlook, please contact the NIH IT Service Desk online at http://itservicedesk.nih.gov or by phone at 301-496-4357 (6-HELP) (local), 866-319-4357 (toll free), or 301-496-8294 (TTY).

Published by Center for Information Technology, National Institutes of Health

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