Search for Gmail messages now by size, date

Thanks to an update, it is now possible for users to search their Gmail messages by size. The enhanced Search now has more flexible date options, exact match, and other parameters, as per an official blog post by Christian Kurmann, software engineer at Google. For example, emails 5MB or larger in size, can be quickly located by using the operator ‘size:5m’ or ’larger:5m’. To search for email that are over a year older, users can enter ‘older_than:1y’ in the search box. Kurmann shares that this latest update is in line with the other recent enhancements done to Search, such as improved autocomplete predictions, a field trial for instant results from Gmail, Google Drive, and more, as you type.

Update to let you search faster

Email, unlike instant messaging, tends to become a lengthy process. Switching between viewing older emails for reference, saving the current email as a draft, and searching for an email message can become cumbersome. Google made composing emails easier by introducing the redesigned compose feature on Gmail towards the end of last month. Composing an email now is quicker, for the compose box opens like a chat window, albeit a larger one. In its official Gmail blog post, Phil Sharp, Google’s Product Manager, shared that with this new design, it is possible to keep the compose mail box open and still look for older emails for reference. This way, users can also keep an eye out for newer emails. Sharp writes, “The new compose is designed to let you focus on what’s important: your message.” 

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On typing search queries in the Gmail search box, users can now view results from Google Drive, Google Calendar, and other services, in addition to relevant emails. This is a part of a field trial currently underway for users with gmail.com accounts, or those on https://www.google.com in English. Also, the search strings of the participants on Google.com return relevant emails, files, content on Gmail and Google Drive, in addition to regular search results.

Those who are a part of the experiment will be able to view relevant Gmail messages and other shared links in their search results. Users will also be able to get information and statuses pertaining to their upcoming flights. Likewise, they will also be able to search documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other files stored on Google Drive.

Those with Google Apps accounts will not be able to participate in this field trial. Google shares that considering that there is limited capacity and the initial setup required, those participating in the field trial will receive a confirmation from Google, informing them that their account is ready, and may be even send them other update emails during the period. It, however, clears that they may not be able to activate the experiment for everyone.  

Over the past couple of days, a lot has been happening on the Gmail side of things. Google recently updated its Google+ app for Android as well as iOS devices. The search giant also brought in a variety of handy features to the updated version of Google Drive for Android devices. Google may be readying an update for Gmail for Android as well, which will be version number 4.2. In this update, Google is speculated to bring in very useful features such as pinch-to-zoom, and swipe-to-delete or swipe-to-archive.