Use OX search to locate messages by a known sender, subject fragment, date or attachment. Begin in the correct mailbox and widen the folder scope before assuming the message has been deleted.
IN THIS ARTICLE
01 Search efficiently
- Open Mail in OX and select the account or folder you want to examine.
- Enter a distinctive term in the search field. Use the available suggestions or search filters to specify sender, recipient, subject or another field.
- Limit the date range when you know roughly when the message arrived.
- Expand to other folders if the message may have been moved by a rule, archived or marked as spam.
- Open a result and confirm the full participants, timestamp and attachment before using it as the required record.
02 Investigate an empty result
Remove one restriction at a time. The sender may have used an alias, the conversation may have changed its subject, or the copy you remember may live in another connected account. Search Trash and Spam using their appropriate controls.
03 Example: locate a supplier invoice with an attachment
You need an invoice sent by [email protected] during September, and remember the subject included renewal. Select the correct business mailbox, enter the distinctive subject term and use the available search filters to select the sender and September date range.
- Open a result and verify the supplier address, invoice date and attachment filename.
- If nothing appears, remove the subject restriction first because the supplier may have changed its wording.
- Widen the folder scope and inspect Spam, Trash and archive folders as appropriate.
- Search another connected account only after recording which mailbox you already checked.
The expected result is the original relevant message, not merely another message in a similar conversation. If it is absent, provide the sender, recipient and approximate time for a delivery investigation.
Common questions
Does a search prove the message was never received?
No. Search reflects the selected account, scope and available stored items. A delivery rejection or message removed earlier needs a separate investigation.
Why is it on my computer but absent in webmail?
The computer may hold a local-only copy or a message previously downloaded with POP. Preserve it before changing the application's account configuration.
What helps your team investigate?
Provide the original sender and recipient, approximate time with its time zone, message identifier if available and the last place you saw it. Note recent imports, rules or deletions.
Once you find a business-critical record, save it through the approved export or retention process. Moving it to a different mailbox folder improves organisation but does not create an independent backup.