Email Address Search

Email Address Search combo boxes are used to search for Outlook items by searching for names or email addresses in the "From", "To", "CC" and "BCC" fields of Outlook items. Email Address Search combo boxes are one of four types of Search Combo Boxes available in Categorize Plus and are added to the Categorize Plus Toolbar by selecting Email Address Menu Items from the Categorize Plus Search Menu. The example at the end of this help topic illustrates how to add an Email Address Search combo box to the toolbar. For more information on how to create Email Address Menu Items and add them to the Search Menu, then please refer to the Building Menus help topic.

Note: The Categorize Plus Search Menu and Search Combo Boxes are only available when a compatible search engine is installed in Outlook. Please refer to the Search Engines help topic for more information regarding the alternative search engines and their use with Categorize Plus.

Email Address Sub-Menu Options

Every Email Address Menu Item in the Search Menu contains four sub-menu options that are used to add Email Address Search combo boxes to the toolbar. Each of these sub-menu options are automatically added to the Search Menu for each Email Address Menu Item that are created using the Menu Builder. Selecting any of these sub-menu options from the Search Menu will add the selected option as an Email Address Search combo box to the toolbar. In addition. the parent Email Address Menu Item may also be selected from the Search Menu. If the parent Email Address Menu Item is selected, then it will be added as a group Email Address Search combo box to the toolbar, where the children of the group search include all four sub-menu options. For more information on using group Searches, then please refer to the Group Filters and Searches help topic.

Email Address Menu items include the following four sub-menu options. These sub-menu options are also illustrated in the example at the end of this help topic.

From Email Address
To Email Address
CC Email Address
BCC Email Address

Applying an Email Address Search

Immediately after selecting an Email Address sub-menu item from the Search Menu, Categorize Plus reads the text contained in the criteria field of the selected menu item. Categorize Plus then creates a query string that is designed to search for Outlook items that contain this text in either the "From", "To", "CC" and "BCC" address fields. Categorize Plus will then look for the respective search engine's text input box that is located in the search engine's toolbar. If found, Categorize Plus will then automatically write the selected search criteria into the text input box and execute the search command. This will cause the respective search engine to execute the search. Please refer to the Search Engines help topic for more information regarding the use of these alternative search engines with Categorize Plus.

For example, assume that the sub-menu item From John Smith is selected from the Search Menu as shown in the illustration below. Immediately after making this selection, Categorize Plus reads the text contained in the criteria field of the selected menu item. For this example, lets assume that this criteria field contains "JSmith@writeme.com". Therefore, Categorize Plus then creates a search query string that will search for all Outlook items that contain "JSmith@writeme.com" in the "From" address field. This query string is then entered into the search text input box of the currently selected search engine and executes the search. The end result is that only Outlook items that contain "JSmith@writeme.com" in the "From" address field are displayed in the current Outlook view.

Next, as mentioned previously, if the parent Email Address Menu Item is selected from the Search Menu, then it will be added as a Group Search combo box to the toolbar, where the children of the Group Search include all four sub-menu items. Therefore, to continue with the above example, if the Email Address Menu Item Any John Smith is selected from the Search Menu, then Categorize Plus will add an associated Group Search to the toolbar that will include all four child filters consisting of From John Smith, To John Smith, CC John Smith and BCC John Smith. Outlook then creates a search query string that will search for all Outlook items that contain "JSmith@writeme.com" in any of the "From", "To", "CC" and "BCC" address fields. This query string is then entered into the search text input box of the currently selected search engine and executes the search. The end result is that only Outlook items that contain "JSmith@writeme.com" in any of the address fields are displayed in the current Outlook view.

Additional information that applies to this Help Topic

Learn more regarding the use of Instant Search in Outlook
If you are using Outlook 2007 and wish to learn more regarding how Instant Search is used in Outlook, then click here to open a Microsoft Outlook help topic that explains how to find messages using Instant Search.
Learn how to identify Search Combo Boxes
Search Combo Boxes that are displayed in the Categorize Plus Toolbar are identified by the Remove Search Combo Boxes command button. Combo boxes just to the right of this command button are Search Combo Boxes. Please refer to the Search Combo Boxes help topic for more detailed information on identifying Search Combo Boxes.
Learn more regarding Menu Item Criteria Fields
Email Address Search combo boxes use the text that is stored in the criteria field of Email Address Menu Items to search for Outlook items. To learn more regarding Email Address Menu Items and how they are used in Categorize Plus, then please refer to the Menu Items help topic. To learn how to assign a name or email address to the criteria field of Email Address Menu Items, then please refer to the Email Address Criteria help topic.
Learn how Standard and Group Menu Hierarchies behave when adding Search Combo Boxes to the toolbar
Whenever a child Menu Item is selected from within a Standard Menu Hierarchy, then both the child Menu Item and the parent Menu Item are simultaneously added as combo boxes to the Categorize Plus Toolbar. Conversely, when a child Menu Item is selected from within a Group Menu Hierarchy, then the parent group Menu Item is not added to the toolbar. To learn more regarding the behavior of Standard and Group Menu Hierarchies, then please refer to the Standard Menu Hierarchy and Group Menu Hierarchy help topics.
Learn how Multi-Criteria Menu Items and Group Menu Hierarchies behave with Email Address Search combo boxes
If the criteria field associated with an Email Address Menu Item contains either a space or a comma, then the menu item is treated as a multi-criteria Email Address Menu Item. To learn how multi-criteria Email Address Menu Items behave, then please refer to the Email Address Criteria help topic. In addition, Search Combo Boxes can be added to the toolbar as part of a Group Menu Hierarchy. Please refer to the Group Filters and Searches help topic for to learn how group Search Combo Boxes behave when searching Outlook items.

Additional Help Topics Regarding Search Combo Boxes

Modify Filter and Search Combo Boxes explains the options for modifying a Search Combo Box after it has been added to the toolbar.
Precedence of Logical Operators explains the precedence of the logical operators that are used for Search Combo Boxes and how to change the position of a combo box that is displayed in the toolbar.
Duplicate Filter and Search Combo Boxes explains how to allow duplicate Search Combo Boxes.
Remove Search Combo Boxes explains how to remove a Search Combo Box after it has been added to the toolbar.

Example of Adding a From Email Address Search to the Categorize Plus Toolbar: