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I've selected the "Allow Windows Search to search Thunderbird messages". Now what?

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  • Last reply by sfhowes

MumblingFumbler
MumblingFumbler
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Nowhere can I find an explanation of how to search Thunderbird messages using Windows search--I only find how to enable the option. For instance, in Windows 7, I click start button and am able to search, but how do I restrict search just Thunderbird emails? Can I use the search bar in Windows explorer, which typically limits the search to the currently selected folder?

When I use the start button search and plug in something I know is in the body of a recent email, I get no results. Does this option actually work? What is it doing internally? Please provide examples of how it should work in the Thunderbird documentation, or take the option out if it can't be documented. I just found out that if I didn't prevent AV (NOD32) from excluding Thunderbird data, and I selected this option, it absolutely killed the performance, eg caused to hang up, Thunderbird.

Nowhere can I find an explanation of how to search Thunderbird messages using Windows search--I only find how to enable the option. For instance, in Windows 7, I click start button and am able to search, but how do I restrict search just Thunderbird emails? Can I use the search bar in Windows explorer, which typically limits the search to the currently selected folder? When I use the start button search and plug in something I know is in the body of a recent email, I get no results. Does this option actually work? What is it doing internally? Please provide examples of how it should work in the Thunderbird documentation, or take the option out if it can't be documented. I just found out that if I didn't prevent AV (NOD32) from excluding Thunderbird data, and I selected this option, it absolutely killed the performance, eg caused to hang up, Thunderbird.

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MumblingFumbler
MumblingFumbler Question owner
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OK, I think I figured out how to restrict to thunderbird only-- include in the search box ext: wdseml.

But how do I search using criteria, like recipient subject sender body contains account

Also, it looks like when you select the "allow windows search" option, the internal global search box disappears. Are these mutally exclusive? If so, why? If this is the case, then the UI options for global search should be mutually exclusive as well--they're not!

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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I can't answer all your questions about this issue, but it's known that it's best to disable Windows search as well as AV scanning of email - both cause severe performance problems. See items 3 and 6 here and the cited links.

There are several ways to search in TB: Quick Filter Bar folder search (Ctrl+Shift+K), Global Search (Ctrl+K) and account search (Ctrl+Shift+F).