If you’re trying to find a PDF, Word document or spreadsheet someone emailed you weeks or even months ago, Outlook’s search tools can narrow down the results in seconds, saving you from scrolling endlessly through your Inbox.
Why It Works
Rather than searching every email, Outlook lets you filter messages that contain attachments, making it much quicker to locate important files without remembering exactly when they were sent or who sent them.
You can then narrow the results even further by searching for a particular attachment type or combining the search with other keywords.
How To Do It
Click in Outlook’s search box.
Type hasattachments:yes and press Enter to display only emails that contain attachments. This works across Outlook versions.
If you’re using classic Outlook for Windows, you can narrow the results even further by searching for a specific attachment type. For example:
- ext:pdf – finds emails with PDF attachments.
- ext:docx – finds emails with Microsoft Word documents.
- ext:xlsx – finds emails with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
You can also combine these searches with other keywords or a sender’s name to pinpoint exactly the attachment you’re looking for.
Things To Remember
The hasattachments:yes search works across Outlook versions, while the ext: search operator is available in classic Outlook for Windows. Even if you only use the attachment filter, it’s a quick and easy way to track down important files without remembering when they were sent.