Outlook 2007 Hides "Advanced Find"

[Celegans]

I find the new search options in Outlook 2007 confusing.

In Outlook 2003 I almost always simply right clicked on a folder, selected
"Advanced Find" and used the various options in the "Advanced Find" dialog
to find messages.

In Outlook 2007, I find the new Instant Search Pane and Menu fairly
worthless. "Instant Search" sometimes works, but you lose control of
searching via the criteria one can select in "Advanced Find". Sometimes I
know an exact keyword that was in a title, and I only want titles that have
that keyword, not everything that Instant Search is returning. I don't
understand why the Instant Search Pane Menu doesn't give an "Advanced
Search" option when Instant Search fails (which is far too often in my
opinion).

In Outlook 2003, I never used Tools | Find | Advanced Find since a simple
right click was all that was needed. I see that Outlook 2007 provides Tools
| Instant Search | Advanced Find, which is a very non-intuitive way of
finding Advanced Find.

I see that I can now learn Ctrl+Shift+F for Advanced Find, but I don't
understand why right click "Advanced Find" is not available in Outlook 2007?
Why did Microsoft make such a simple thing in Outlook 2003 quite obscure in
Outlook 2007?

Is there some sort of registry entry that could add "Advanced Find" to the
selections of right clicking on an Outlook 2007 folder?

efg

 

[BillR [MVP]]

Have you tried "advanced" criteria with the new Search?
Click the double down arrows next to where you enter Search criteria.

 

[Celegans]

Have you tried "advanced" criteria with the new Search?
Click the double down arrows next to where you enter Search criteria.

Thanks for that suggestion, Bill.

It's not obvious to me (perhaps it should have been) that the single down
triangle and the double down arrows are both related to the Search box. If
a double down arrow means "expansion" it's still not obvious to me (perhaps
it should have been) that expansion here is for "Search" versus the
expansion of the folder somehow. The color of the double down arrows button
connects it to the rest of the folder line that is the same color, not the
search box. Because of color, the double down arrows button was telling me
they were for some sort of expansion of the folder, not the search.

The tool tip on the double down arrows button isn't very helpful: "Expand
the Query Builder" is not as informative as "Advanced Search" would be.

This new search option (via the double down arrows) does look promising, but
I quickly spotted a problem: I selected "Add Criteria" and picked "Message
Size". No matter how wide I make Outlook 2007 (~ 1900 pixels), all I see is
"Message S...". This is not very mnemonic. If I select "Message Size" I
expect to see "Message Size" as the label. I don't see how to stretch the
labels so all the letters will appear for "Message S...". How did this
ever pass a usability test?

Thanks. I now know two ways of getting to an "Advanced Find" -- the old one
(Ctrl-Shift-F), and a new one (the double down arrow button). I just wish
either way would have been more obvious to find.

efg

 

[BillR [MVP]]

"No matter how wide I make Outlook 2007 (~ 1900 pixels), all I see is
"Message S...". "
That's something I've never noticed. Even if you hide the Preview Pane you
still get that. Something worth remembering for the next version.

 

[DH]

I agree. I use the AF all of the time and find that the Instant Search is
useless. The problem that I have found is that instant search only searches
the top folder levels (even with ALL Folders selected.

 

[Rocky]

You guys are luckier than I am. I can't get the search to work on any item. I
have indexed several times. I have included all folders etc etc and nothing
works.

HELP !!

 

[BillR [MVP]]

How long have you left it to create the Index?

 

[Mikejts]

Overnight

How long have you left it to create the Index?

 

[BillR [MVP]]

Vista or XP?

--
Bill R MVP

Overnight

 

[Mikejts]

Vista

Vista or XP?

 

[BillR [MVP]]

Some seem to have issues. I must be lucky since I don't. I'd *love* to know
what the actual problem is.