You can use the Unread Search folder in Outlook desktop software to find unread messages. However if you have more than one account or data file in Outlook, you'll need a search folder for each data file.
Or you can use Instant Search with the search query:
read:no
or
isread:no
Tip: Isread: no will work in both Outlook desktop and Outlook on the web.
Using the Instant Search method, type read:no in the search field and select Current Mailbox or All Mailboxes from the menu or Search ribbon button.
The Current Mailbox search will include unread messages from all folders in the current data file, while All Mailboxes will search all data files in your profile.
Depending on your version of Outlook, the results are limited to 250 messages in the initial results, which is fine if you are good at marking your email read, otherwise you need to click again to view all unread messages.
With an Unread Search folder, your search is limited to one data file per search folder, so you need one search folder for each account. You can use a search folder to search all folders within the data store or restrict it to the specific folders, such as your Inbox and subfolders.
You can add the search folders to the Favorites list so they are convenient to access. If you view the search folders regularly, they should update as new mail arrives. Search Folders can be set as the Start-up folder; this is the folder Outlook shows you when you first open it. The startup folder is set in Options. See Choose the Folder Outlook Starts Up In if you need the exact steps.
If the Unread Search folder is not on your Favorites list, look for it under Search Folders. You can drag it to the Favorites pane or right click and add it to Favorites. If the Unread folder is not listed under Search Folders, right click on the Search Folder then create a new search folder. For help creating search folders, visit our search folder tutorial
Robert Aldridge explains how he uses an Unread Search folder:
Normally my Outlook is set to Conversation view. That makes it a little difficult to catch-up when I’ve been out of the office, because the “unread” messages are combined with the “read” messages in the Conversation view.So my Search Folder is called Unread Inbox and combines all of the “new” items into one view. Then I can quickly scan for important messages, and optionally, use Control-A to mark all messages and then use “Mark as Read.”
All Versions
In Outlook 2000 and later, after you receive new mail, the Folder List opens to show any folders in the hierarchy that have new, unread items. Other than that, Outlook does not provide much help in locating unread items.
One method would be to use Advanced Find to search all your folders. HINT: The More Choices tab has an option for finding unread messages. If you use Advanced Find in this manner often, you might want to use File | Save Search to store your search criteria for easy reuse. Note that Save Search is disabled or removed from newer versions of Outlook due to security concerns.
Otherwise, a few third-party tools provide some assistance in locating unread items.
Tools
NEO FIND organizes all emails automatically in the most logical and intuitive way people think about their messages: around the correspondent involved in the email communication. Adopting Caelo's patented virtual folder structure all emails (both sent and received) are organized in a Correspondent folder. This folder can be searched or filtered to quickly zoom-in on the message needed. | |
NEO Pro is an email organizer and search engine for Outlook that indexes emails (including multiple message stores), as they are sent and received, into convenient virtual folders such as Correspondent, Date, Attachment Type and Category for instant access. NEO Pro introduces Conversation View, which allows users to expand the thread in the message list. Includes email notation so that users can add notes to individual messages for future reference. |
More Information
- Mail Tools for Microsoft Outlook
- Mail Tools for Exchange Client and Windows Messaging
DW Keith says
Hey Diane - Question for you. I've got a database of 35 million B2B contacts built over the past 20 years. There are no gmails, hotmails, aol, etc - only first.last@fedex.com, or joe.blow@bofa.com or suzy.johnson@cisco.com etc. http://www.yourocktalent.org is our site - we need a way to "read" the emails that bounce to find the bad emails and delete them. And,of course, come up with a more efficient way at "reading" messages vs. relying on only the subject line of the email message.
SAMPLE EMAIL RETURNED IS:
MailEnable: Message could not be delivered to some recipients.
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
Recipient: [SMTP:erica.horton@eshdesigns.com]
Reason: Remote SMTP Server Returned: 550 No Such User Here
***************************************
Do any of your tools offer the capability to search and index outlook files or .pst files in such a way that we can quickly and easily better categorize the returned emails - beginning with the bounced, hard or soft, delayed etc.
Diane Poremsky says
Not that I can recall. I have a macro that can lookup contacts and categorize them. It could send the names to a spreadsheet instead.
Categorize Contacts with bad addresses (slipstick.com)
Ian says
Is there a way to find the phone numbers of all contacts with whom I have recently communicated?
Diane Poremsky says
if you have a contact for the person and have their phone # in the contact, you can use a macro to create a list of names and numbers.
Outlook won't go out on the internet looking for the numbers - but if the numbers are in a signature file, a macro or utility could pull them out.
Ian says
Thank you for responding.
I really am only concerned with local information. So, I could not do something like a sort of reverse search (e.g., received:thisweek) for phone numbers?
Diane Poremsky says
Are you looking for email or voice mail? You would need to search email based on the name or email address - the phone # won't be linked to the mail unless it was in the email message or signature.
Ian says
Thank you for responding. I am looking only for email.
To be clear, I could not do something like From:(555-5555)? I find this kind of strange. I love Microsoft Outlook and I think it is easily the company's best application — it is so flexible and powerful — which is why I find this strange.
Diane Poremsky says
if that is in the From field you could - but otherwise, no.
Ian says
May I ask a similar question? Is it possible to see communications based on a phone number? Can I see all emails sent to me from a contact with a certain phone number (i.e., '[this contact with this] phone number has sent me all these messages')?
Diane Poremsky says
You would need to look up the contact and use their email address in the search, but yes, it is possible using a macro.
I have a macro on the site where you select a contact and start a search - basically a VBA version of the old Activities pane or People pane from the now-defunct social connector.
Ian says
Hello there.
I have a few more questions for you. I cannot seem to find the solutions myself. If anyone can help me, it is you!
Is there a way to get Microsoft Outlook to forward messages to my phone when I am out of the office? I understand I can specify that I am out of the office, and that messages can be forwarded to my mobile phone based on a rule (e.g., “if there's an urgent email, make sure it gets forwarded to me on my mobile device") but can I do both based on being out of the office?
On another subject, is it possible to perform a query for mail related to an upcoming meeting (e.g., 'show me all the mail I received from my boss in the past six months that I never answered, but about which I have a meeting to follow-up with her some time in the next month')?
Thank you!
Ron says
Thumbs up!
Dorothy says
I keep looking for a column header that you should be able to simply click on to group the unread messages together. Why isn't there? The "solutions" above are all far more complex.
Diane Poremsky says
what version of outlook? Outlook 2013 has the unread link at the top of each message list when you use the compact view.
Dorothy says
2010. Usually not a big frustration, but Charter seems to have the hiccups lately... they are delivering, and redelivering, email from as early the 9th and 10th, and I have to hunt for them. Be a lot easier to be able to group. Other suggestions above don't work, my system is too big and complex, with about 50 emails saved daily and way too many marked unread, to be useful. Thanks for any other suggestions, else I'll just wait it out and hope Charter gets their stuff together soon. :(
Leonard Faimon says
Works great - Thanks for the tip!
Allison says
Thank you!! That (1) in my Calendar was driving me crazy!
Feli says
Thank you and it's really helpful.
Anonymous says
Bless you! (bow)
Giath Hamdan says
Very helpful indeed. Thank
you for sharing this valuable tool
smitty says
This was helpful. Thanks!
Helen says
great thanks!
Richard says
I agree with Fred - this was a great tip and will help save me time in the future
Fred says
Thanks much for this! What a great tip. I was going nuts looking for stray unread mail!
Ben Macias says
Thank you for the information. It save me from having to go look manually over hundreds and hundreds of emails manually.