Hi all,
I have Outlook set up to search all folders of all mailboxes by default, and this is the way I like it. However, I often wish to search for items that are in one particular inbox or another. I prefer to use text operators, rather than dropdown menus or fields, so to search the inbox I would use the operator folderpath:inbox. However, because of my default "all mailboxes" setting, the operator folderpath:inbox returns messages in all inboxes - i.e. those in the inbox of mailbox1, those in the inbox of mailbox2, etc. Is there a way to make the folderpath operator specific to a particular inbox? Or is there an operator to specify a particular mailbox, which I could combine with the folderpath operator? For example, if the operator was "mailbox", to search for messages from Jimmy in the inbox of mailbox1, I could type:

from:jimmy folderpath:inbox mailbox:mailbox1

I find it hard to believe that there is no way to achieve this. I found some articles on the web that seem to suggest that the folderpath is structured to include the mailbox - e.g. see How to find folder (full folder path) by folder name in Outlook?. But I have not had success in using this kind of structure with the folderpath search operator - e.g. by searching folderpath:\\myaccount@mydomain.com\inbox. I can't figure out why this wouldn't work!

Getting familiar with Outlook's keyboard shortcuts might be the ticket:


Search All Mailboxes: Ctrl + Alt + A
Search Current Folder: Ctrl + Alt + K
Include Subfolders Within the Current Folder: Ctrl + Alt + Z


Since you've set the default search to All Mailboxes -- which can be done by pressing Ctrl + E -- press Ctrl + Alt + K for those times you want to search only the current folder.



This method is compatible with search filters, e.g., from:XYZ, hasattachment:yes OR no, etc.

Thank you, Alan! That still means that I must first navigate to the folder in question, but that's certainly a big improvement from what I'm doing at the moment!

Keyboard commands and techniques can be helpful to navigate to a specific folder:


Ctrl + Y Go to folder...
NumPad * Expand all subfolders within the currently selected folder


Use the built-in incremental search to navigate directly to the folder you want. For example, if the target folder is "Hello World", quickly type the first few letters to give it focus: h-e-l-l-o etc. If you've got a good naming convention for folders, you may only need to type two or three characters to reach the ones you want.

Another great tip, and very useful for general use - thanks.

But because the searching I'm trying to do is in either the inbox of mailbox a, the inbox of mailbox b, or the inbox of mailbox c, this technique isn't quicker than mouse-navigating. I've set the inboxes as favourites, so it's not much of a hassle. I guess I was simply surprised that there was no purpose-built search operator for specifying a mailbox. Thank you for your tips, though - I'll probably use them for other purposes in Outlook.