Saved Search

Overview

Beginning with version 0.9 [recent nightly builds only for the time being], Thunderbird now allows you to create Saved Search folders. A Saved Search folder looks like a regular mail folder but when you click on it, it runs a search according to criteria that you've set previously and it displays a list of messages that match those criteria. For example, you could create a Saved Search folder that lists all the messages received from a certain person over the past 30 days, even if those messages are stored in different folders and subfolders.

A Saved Search folder is a "virtual folder" in the sense that it merely displays a set of messages that meet the search criteria, while the actual messages remain stored elsewhere. If you select and delete a message inside a Saved Search folder it will get deleted from its actual location, but if you delete a Saved Search folder itself all of the actual messages will remain intact. Moreover, unlike a normal folder, if you modify the search criteria for a Saved Search folder its virtual "contents" will be accordingly updated. Your Saved Search folders will remain in the folders pane even after you exit and restart Thunderbird, until you delete them, thus giving you quick and convenient access to your pre-defined searches.

Creating a Saved Search folder

You create a Saved Search folder through the New Saved Search dialog, which can be accessed in any of these different ways.

• Go to the File menu and choose New > Saved Search Folder.
• Go to the Edit menu and choose Find > Search Messages. After you enter your search criteria and click the Search button, you can then save your search by clicking the Save as Search Folder button. (screenshot)
• After doing a search via the Quick Search box, located above the message-list pane, choose "Save Search as a Folder" from the drop-down list to save the results of your Quick Search. (screenshot)
• From the View drop-down list, located above the message-list pane, choose "Save Search as a Folder" to save your current setting for View. (screenshot)

Once the New Saved Search dialog pops up, you simply enter a name for the new Saved Search folder, select a location for it using the "Create as a subfolder of" drop-down list, then add or modify the search criteria that you want to be used (including the folders to be searched), and click the OK button. This new Saved Search folder should now appear in the folders pane.

Changing the search criteria of an existing Saved Search folder

To modify the search criteria for a Saved Search folder that you created previously, either right-click on the folder and choose Properties, or select the folder and then go to the Edit menu and choose Folder Properties. The Edit Saved Search dialog will then appear. Change the search criteria as you wish, and click the OK button.

If the virtual contents of the Saved Search folder do not get updated immediately, just click on any other folder and then click on the Saved Search folder again.

Deleting a Saved Search folder

You can delete a Saved Search folder in the same way that you delete a normal folder: either right-click on the folder and choose Delete Folder, or select the folder and go to the Edit menu and choose Delete Folder. When you delete a Saved Search folder in this manner, no actual messages will be deleted.

When you delete a Saved Search folder, it will be permanently deleted. It will not go to the Trash and cannot be recovered like a normal folder.

Other information

• At present, you cannot search folders/subfolders in more than one account listed in the folders pane.
• In the folders pane, you can drag a Saved Search folder from one folder to another in the same account. You cannot, however, drag a Saved Search folder into Local Folders from another account or from one account to another.
• In your profile folder, the file that stores the settings for your Saved Search folders is called virtualFolders.dat.