With Natural Language in search, you simply type the way you would ask a question/statement, no fancy syntax needed. We take the guess work out of choosing the right words and understand your intents expressed naturally.
Using Natural Language search
-
Select the Search box at the top of Outlook, and use your own naturally formed queries when you search in Outlook. Some examples you could try:
Scenario
Example Queries
Find mail from someone
From John
Find email where someone is either on the To or CC list
To John
Find emails from someone to someone
From John to Mary
Find email sent within a specific date range
From John last weekend
From John last month
Emails from previous week
From John on Monday
From John in June
From John between 8/5 and 8/15
From Mary after June and before July
Find email from/to someone with attachment
From John with ppt
Excel shared by Mary
To John with attachment
Attachment from Debra last week
Find emails from someone about a keyword
Emails from John about planning
Find emails with attachments
Emails with attachments
Find unread emails
Unread emails
-
When you're done with the search, select Exit Search in the Search box or choose any folder in the navigation pane to exit the search.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to do to enable Search using natural language in Mac Outlook?
There is nothing you need to do to enable search in Outlook using natural language. This capability requires an Office 365, Exchange Online, or Outlook.com account and the device settings for Language and Region set to English in the United State respectively.
What if you’re not connected or online, which features require an active connection to generate relevant results?
Natural Language search does require a network connection. If a network connection is not available, for example when in airplane mode, the search results will be limited to what is available locally on the device.