---
title: "Search"
description: "Find any conversation fast — free text plus Gmail-style filters (from:, has:attachment, after:) — without Doota ever reading your words."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.doota.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Search

Press **⌘K** (or **Ctrl+K**) anywhere to open search. Type a few words and Doota
finds the conversations that match — subject and body — newest first. Word
endings are handled for you: searching *invoice* also turns up *invoices* and
*invoicing*, so you don't have to guess the exact form someone used.

Search runs on the server, so it needs a connection — [offline](/guide/offline),
⌘K tells you it's unavailable rather than spinning.

## Narrowing with filters

Beyond free text, search understands a handful of **Gmail-style filters** you can
mix and match:

| Filter | Finds |
| --- | --- |
| `from:alice` | mail from an address (partial is fine) |
| `to:support` | mail sent to an address (to **or** cc) |
| `has:attachment` | messages with a real file attached |
| `is:unread` / `is:read` | by whether you've read it |
| `is:starred` | starred conversations |
| `after:7d` · `before:2026-08-01` | a time range — relative (`7d` = the last 7 days) or an exact date |

Combine them freely: `from:alice has:attachment after:30d invoice` finds recent
mail from Alice with a file and the word *invoice*.

Results show the subject and a snippet centred on your match, with the matching
words highlighted. The palette shows the top hits; **View all results** opens the
full list.

> **Note**
>
> Search covers the mailboxes you can read. If you're focused on one mailbox it
> searches there first; otherwise it looks across every inbox you have access to —
> never one you don't.

## Private by design

To make search fast, Doota keeps a **readable index** of your mail's subjects and
body text — this is the one place your message text is stored un-encrypted (the
same approach Fastmail takes). Your mail bodies and attachments stay encrypted at
rest; the search index is the deliberate exception that makes real full-text
search possible.

> **Turn it off for a sensitive mailbox**
>
> If a mailbox holds mail you'd rather never sat in a readable index, ask your
> admin to set it **non-indexed** — that mailbox is then excluded from search and
> from the index entirely. See [Security](/reference/security) for the full picture.

Source: https://docs.doota.dev/guide/search/index.mdx