Mail.app search by author, subject or content [For macOS Mojave & earlier]

[bob 2.0 0]

I have just downloaded Alfred and bought the power pack. Now trying to get the 'mail' to work. I have added ~\library\mail to the search scope but when I enter for example em or emfrom and a keyword I am redirected to google search. the same happens for example with the Evernote app.

 

I am running Big Sur.

 

[Vero 444]

@bob 2.0 As per the first post in this thread, this workflow is unfortunately only suitable for macOS Mojave and older. Due to some changes made by Apple in macOS Catalina, it's no longer possible for third-party apps to access your Mail data

 

 

Cheers,
Vero

 

[dfay 205]

HoudahSpot has added a Mail plug-in that lets it search Mail when Mail is running - in Big Sur at least, not sure about Catalina - @Vero do you expect something similar in Alfred's future?

[deanishe 1,376]

1 minute ago, dfay said:

HoudahSpot has added a Mail plug-in that lets it search Mail when Mail is running - in Big Sur at least, not sure about Catalina - @Vero do you expect something similar in Alfred's future?

No. HoudahSpot is using a private API to search mail. Vero has said that Alfred won’t be doing that.

 

[Vero 444]

@dfay We've had a look at how they do it, in case there was a new reliable way to search Mail, but as @deanishe says, it's using private APIs that aren't intended for use by external apps.

 

Here's my more complete response after we investigated this:

 

Cheers,
Vero

 

[dfay 205]

Oh I see, thanks.  I was hoping it would (and thinking that logically it should) be a matter of granting an app permission to access Mail but no such luck.