The GoldFynch advanced search feature allows you to combine multiple search parameters to produce highly-refined results. This article explains how to do so for emails using email metadata (e.g. 'from', 'to', etc.) within a given date range. These searches can be done from both the 'Advanced Search' view accessible in the left pane, and from the 'Advanced Search' tab of the search bar at the top of the screen in the GoldFynch app. 


Performing an advanced search using email and date filters from the 'Advanced Search' view


There are many parameters that the advanced search can filter by, but to perform searches for date and email parameters we will only need some of these (as well as the operators that are associated with them)

  • Date parameters (operators used: '=', '<', '<=', '>', '>=')
    • date 
    • body.date
    • sent-date
    • received-date
  • Email content (operators used: 'CONTAINS','DOES-NOT-CONTAIN','CONTAINS ANY OF', 'CONTAINS NONE OF' )
    • body
    • subject
  • Email metadata (operators used: 'IS', 'IS-NOT', 'IS ANY OF', 'IS ALL OF', 'IS NONE OF', 'IS-NOT ALL OF', 'EXISTS' 'DOES-NOT-EXIST')
    • to.address
    • from.address
    • cc.address
    • bcc.address
    • recipient.address
    • participant.address
    • fromOriginal.address
    • savedBy.address
    • sender.address
    • (field).address.domain
    • (field).addressNorm
    • (field).x500
    • (field).name

Note: Learn about the list of valid search parameters and their functions


From both the 'Advanced Search' view or from the Advanced Search tab of the search bar, we will need to: 

  • Set date parameters to search within (e.g. search for a date between 2013-06-01 and 2016-01-01) 
  • Set an email parameter to search for (e.g. search for all emails from [email protected]) 
  • Connect them using a logical operator (e.g. AND, OR)
  • Invert the condition by using the 'NOT' operator 


Then we run the search and GoldFynch will provide only results that fit within the criteria laid out.


You can find a detailed breakdown of the advanced search system here, but below are some specific examples that highlight how it can be used for searches involving date and email parameters:


Example 1: To find emails whose subject lines contain the word "employees" sent before Feb 24th, 2016


  1. Click the 'Advanced Search' button in the left pane 
  2. Click on the 'Create New Search' button
  3. Click anywhere in the condition box to enter the search criteria. Alternatively, click on the edit icon (the pencil) that appears when you hover over the condition box

    Click anywhere in the condition box to edit it
  4. Click on the parameter's drop-down list (by default set to 'body') and select the 'date' parameter 
  5. Click on the date text box on the far right and select the date Feb 24th, 2016.  It will display in the text box as "2016-02-24" (the standard date format GoldFynch uses)

    Select the date parameter , the < operator and a date 
  6. Now click on the operator's drop-down list (the middle drop-down menu) and set its value to "<" (by default it is set to "=")
  7. Click on the '+Click to add condition' text in the query builder area to add another condition. The 'AND' logical operator is the default operator that is set when adding a new condition to the base search criteria

    Click on the +Click to add condition text to add another condition

  8. Select the 'subject' parameter in the new condition's drop-down list
    Select the subject parameter, enter the value to be searched for and execute the search
  9. Enter "employees" into the 'Value' text box of the new condition
  10. Click on the 'execute search' button


Example 2: Searching for emails from [email protected] between June 2013 and January 2015


We follow the same procedure, except:

  • Instead of using the 'subject' parameter, we use the 'from.address' parameter
  • We use an additional condition to set a lower limit to the dates that are being searched for

Here are the steps:

  1. Navigate to the 'Advanced Search' view and create a new search using the 'Create New Search' button
  2. Click anywhere in the condition box to enter the search criteria. Alternatively, click on the edit icon (the pencil) that appears when you hover over the condition box
  3. Select the 'date' parameter, set its operator to ">=", and its value to "2013-06-01"

  4. Add a new condition by clicking on the '+Click to add condition' text, select the 'date' parameter, set the operator to "<" and value "2016-01-01". The default logical operator 'AND' connects the two conditions.
    Click on the +Click to add condition and set the appropriate date parameter
  5. Add another condition by clicking on the '+Click to add condition' text and set the parameter to 'from.address'
  6. Enter "[email protected]" into the new parameter's 'value' text field against the 'from.address' parameter
    Click on the +Click to add condition and set the from.address value
  7. Click on the 'execute search' button


        Note: You can toggle between the 'AND' and 'OR' logical operators simply by clicking on the operator in the     

        query builder area

Performing an advanced search using email and date filters from the search bar


Advanced searches from the search bar follow a similar logic to the 'Advanced Search' view, but instead of selecting parameters and inputs from drop-down lists, the entire query is typed directly into the search bar, separated with operators like AND, OR, and NOT. You can get a detailed look at how to use advanced searches from the search bar here.


To perform an advanced search specifically using email and date filters, we'll only need to look at the date and email parameters (listed at the beginning of this article.)


Example 1: Going with the first example that we used above: "emails whose subject lines contain the word "employees" sent before Feb 24th, 2016", here's how to perform the search from the search bar:

  1. Begin by typing 'date' in the search bar at the top of the screenStart typing in the search bar and select the Advanced Search tab
  2. Select the ‘Advanced Search’ tab in the drop-down menu that appears under the search bar
  3. Continue by typing the operator and date to be compared against into the search bar: "date < 2016-02-24"
  4. Use the 'AND' operator to connect the 'date' parameter to the 'subject' parameter; the query becomes "date < 2016-02-24 AND"
  5. Add the 'subject'  parameter and its operator 'CONTAINS', then assign its value, i.e. the text to be searched for: "employees". So we get: "date < 2016-02-24 AND subject CONTAINS employees"
  6. Hit the 'return' key to perform the search

    

The final query will be identical to the one generated in the 'Advanced Search' view:


    date < 2016-02-24 AND subject CONTAINS employees


Similarly, for Example 2. we will get the query:


    date >= 2013-06-01 AND date < 2016-01-01 AND from.address = [email protected]


A few things to keep in mind: 

  • GoldFynch uses the 'yyyy-mm-dd' format
  • The dates used by GoldFynch are the primary dates of the document. By default, for emails, the primary date is the date on which the email was sent
  • You can change a document's primary date by viewing the email from the 'Doc View' screen and setting a new date as the primary date (from the right-hand panel)
  • If a period to search within is from one month to another month or one year to another year, a single day's date will still need to be input. In this case, set the beginning date to the 1st day of the earlier month/year to the 1st day of the latter month/year (e.g. for a search between December 2015 to June 2016, the query would be "date >= 2015-12-01 AND date < 2016-06-01")
  • When typing out a query into the search bar each parameter needs to be written out in full. So "subject CONTAINS petition OR subject CONTAINS tomorrow's meeting" would be correct, not "subject CONTAINS petition OR tomorrow's meeting. Alternatively, this could be written as "subject CONTAINS ANY OF (petition, tomorrow's meeting)