How to Search by Date in Gmail

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If you're looking for an email or chat from a certain date in your Gmail archives, follow this simple search technique. If that's not enough, we've thrown in a few more advanced search terms to help you out.

Things You Should Know

  • Touch the magnifying glass to open the search bar. Then, enter the search terms "after:YYYY/MM/DD" to search all messages received after a certain date, and "before:YYYY/MM/DD" to search those received before that date.
  • Use both terms together to search a narrower range. Group the two terms to search for a message within a certain range of dates.
  • Use "older_than:" or "newer than" if you can't remember the exact dates. For example, newer_than:2m will return results from within the last 2 months.

Steps

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  1. On a computer browser, the search bar is visible at the top of the screen from any Gmail page. On a mobile device, you may need to touch a magnifying glass icon to open the search bar.
  2. To search for emails after a certain date, type after:YYYY/MM/DD into the search bar, replacing those letters with an actual date. For example, write after:2015/03/29 to search for emails written after March 29th, 2015.
    • You can use the word newer instead of "after."
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  3. You can probably guess this already, but the search "before:YYYY/MM/DD" will search for everything before the date you write. The word older will work instead of "before," if you prefer.
  4. You can use both of the above terms in the same search. For example, after:2015/03/29 before:2015/04/05 will list every message sent after midnight on March 29th, 2015, but before April 5th, 2015.
  5. For more recent messages, you don't need to work out the exact date. Use the terms older_than or newer_than instead. Here's how:
    • older_than:3d = from more than 3 days ago
    • newer_than:2m = from less than 2 months ago
    • older_than:12d newer_than:1y = older than 12 days and newer than 1 year
  6. You can add ordinary terms to the same search, as well as other advanced search terms. Here are a few examples:
    • after:2015/01/01 before:2015/31/12 rock climbing will list every message with the words "rock" and "climbing" from 2015.
    • newer_than:5d has:attachment will list all emails with attachments sent within the last 5 days.
    • before:2008/04/30 from:Jenna dance will list all emails from before April 30th, 2008, from Jenna, that include the word "dance."
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Community Q&A

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  • Question
    It looks like Google deletes e-mails that are more than 5 years old. Is that true? If not, how can I find an e-mail that's more than 5 years old?
    Community Answer
    No. Type in the title of the email into the search bar. It is possible that it is still there, especially if you've sorted it into a special folder.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
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    Not Helpful 11 Helpful 12
  • Question
    How can I find all email with no user defined labels in Gmail?
    Eddie Keith
    Community Answer
    Go to the drop down arrow within the search box. In the drop-down menu next to "Search," select Mail & Spam & Trash. Fill in the boxes with the information you're looking for. At the bottom, click Search.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
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    Yes No
    Not Helpful 4 Helpful 0
  • Question
    I want the inbox to display by latest date, how do I do so?
    Community Answer
    By default, Gmail's inbox displays e-mails starting from newest (at the top) to oldest, which means your request is fulfilled by default.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
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      Warnings

      • Do not use a different format for the date. Entering the date with the year at the end instead of the beginning, for example, will show the wrong results.
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      References

      1. https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en — Main research source

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