Email Search

[Vero]

@Seth L Yes, unfortunately, Apple haven't made any changes to allow access to searching Mail. I've also got a new Mac that came with Catalina pre-installed, and it frustrates me too, but this isn't something we have control over.

 

Cheers,
Vero

[MasterDiver69]

Vero, thank you for the workflow.  I just found it and was excited to use it.  Searching emails in the Mail app is ridiculous and seems to miss a lot.  Too bad I already updated to Catalina.  Ugghhh.  😞  I'd be happy to pay for a workflow that could seach emails!!!!

[Kevin_Leger]

Where can we complain to Apple about the loss of this feature on Catalina?

[Hubert CAMPAN]

Hi all,

 

Quick smile to Alfred's team: I love the app and so many thanks for this wonderful tool.

 

Regarding the impossibility to access/search emails outside of Mailapp:

 

# TL;DR:

Put your emails outside Mailapp and use them like any other document => open, quicklook, search, organise… Use Mailapp as the gateway to process emails and not to file/stock them.

 

# Details:

## Behaviour:

I [have|am|will] bypass all these Apple nonsense with tool such as Alfred **and** a set of mind as:

> "It is my data, I won't let anyone/any company hijack it. Therefore I'm ready to walk the path to more platform agnostic data".

 

## Concept:

I put every emails I receive/send outside of Mailapp.

 

## Solution:

- By hand:

1. In Mailapp menu, choose the email you want to export

2. In Mailapp menu use: File + Save as… + Format:"Source"

 

- With Alfred + applescript:

1. Chose the email you want to export

2. Call your Alfred workflow containing all your actions (move, rename, organise, notifications…)

 

## Result:

You get a readable text file with an eml extension that you can Quicklook like any other document.
You will be able to filter them with Alfred and search into them with more ease than with Spotlight, but it will demand some elbow grease.

 

# Conclusion:

It is not a ready made solution as you will have to "reinvent" the wheel and do your own full workflow by rethinking what is data and specifically an email. I'm myself in a never ending process of upgrading my Alfred workflows with the aid of applescripts, javascript and shell scripts. But I need this peace of mind of being able to access my data the way I want to.

 

Cheers.

 

Hubert (FR)