Search syntax
SuperMail does not use a Gmail-style operator language (no from:, to:, tag:, is:,
in:, has:, before:, after:, size:). The free-text search box is straight Postgres
full-text; structured narrowing happens in the Advanced filters panel next to the result
list.
What the search box understands
The text you type is passed to Postgres’s
websearch_to_tsquery
with the english configuration, then matched against an indexed view that covers:
- Subject
- Sender name and address
- Recipient name and address
- Message body (plain-text extract)
- Attachment filenames
This means the following work, exactly as websearch_to_tsquery defines them:
| Pattern | Matches |
|---|---|
invoice stripe | Both terms (AND) anywhere in the indexed fields. |
"exact phrase" | The literal phrase. |
invoice OR receipt | Either term. |
invoice -draft | invoice but not draft. |
There is no glob, no regex, and no operator prefix. from:alice matches messages that contain
the literal token from alice, not “messages from Alice”.
Narrowing in the UI
For per-field filtering, use the Advanced filters panel:
| Filter | Notes |
|---|---|
| From | Sender name or address (substring). |
| To | Any of To / Cc / Bcc. |
| Subject contains | Substring on the subject line. |
| Body contains | Full-text on the message body. |
| Folder | Inbox / Sent / Drafts / Trash / Spam / Archive. |
| Account | Scope to one connected account. |
| Tags | One or more SuperMail tags the thread has. |
| Has attachment | Toggle. |
| Date range | Received between two dates. |
Filters combine with whatever is in the search box. For example: invoice in the box plus a
From filter of billing@stripe.com plus a date range of last 30 days returns last month’s
Stripe invoices.
Tips
- Looking for a single sender? Skip the search box, use the From filter.
- Looking inside attachments? We index attachment filenames, not their contents. There is no OCR.
- Looking for old mail you don’t see? Check your account’s sync range (Settings → Accounts → [account]); the default backfill is 30 days.
Roadmap
Operator-style query language and semantic / fuzzy matching are both on the roadmap. Today’s search is exact full-text plus structured filters - nothing more.