Search and the command palette

Nixt Mail has two boxes you can type into to find things. They do different jobs:

Search your mail

1. Click the search box above the message list, or press ⌘F (Ctrl+F on Windows and Linux), or choose Edit › Search Mail.
   • The shortcut and menu item switch to Mail first if you are elsewhere, and select anything already in the box so you can type over it.
2. Type what you are looking for.
3. Results replace the folder’s mail in the list shortly after you stop typing. Press Return to search straight away.

While results are showing, the list header reads Search.

To go back to the folder, press Esc in the search box, or choose the × at the end of the box (tooltip Clear search).

If nothing matches, the list says No matches — Nothing in this mailbox matches followed by what you typed, with a Clear search button. Naming your search makes a stray character easy to spot.

On a narrow window, tap the search button at the top of the list (tooltip Search) to show the box, and Close search to hide it.

Where search looks

• One folder at a time. Search looks in the folder you have open.
• All inboxes. With All inboxes open, search looks in every connected account’s inbox and lists the results together, newest first. If one account’s server refuses the search, the others’ results still appear.
• On the server. Search asks your mail server, so it finds mail that has not been loaded into the list — including mail beyond the folder’s loading ceiling.
• With no connection, search looks through the mail kept on this device for the folder instead. See Reading with no connection.
• The first page of matches. Search shows up to 30 matches from the server, or up to 100 when you combine filters that Nixt Mail narrows down itself. Add more words or filters to narrow a search that returns too much.

Search syntax

Type plain words, filters, or both.

Rules for filters:

• Every filter must match. Filters combine with “and”.
• Every word must match, anywhere. Each word you type is looked for on its own in the sender, the subject and (if message text is included) the text. Put words in quotation marks to find them side by side.
• Matching ignores capitals and looks for the value anywhere in the field.
• Repeating a filter uses the last one. from:alex from:sam searches for sam.
• Anything that is not a filter is searched as text. A word with a colon in it, such as re: or a web address, is searched for as you typed it.
• An empty filter is ignored while you are still typing, such as from: with nothing after it.

When the search box is open and empty, it offers Unread, Flagged, Has a file and Over 5 MB under it; choose one to search for it. On a phone they are on the search page.

To see every message from one sender without typing, right-click a message in the list (on a phone, touch and hold it) and choose All mail from followed by the sender’s name. Nixt Mail searches from: and the sender’s address.

Include message text, or not

Settings › Message list › Search message text decides whether plain words also look inside messages:

Filters such as from:, to: and subject: search their own fields whichever you choose. If your server does not support searching message text, Nixt Mail still returns the sender and subject matches.

Searching and the loading ceiling

A folder’s list stops loading at a ceiling. When you reach it, the end of the list says Search to go further back. Search is how you reach older mail. See Settings › Sync and offline › Most messages in a list.

Nixt Mail keeps no search history.

The command palette

The command palette lists things you can do, and runs them when you choose one.

Open and use it

1. Press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux), or choose Edit › Search or Ask AI….
   • The menu item reads Search Commands… when AI is not set up.
2. The palette opens over a dimmed window with the cursor in Ask your inbox or search anything….
3. Type words to filter the list. Only commands whose names contain what you typed remain.
4. The first command in the list is highlighted. Press Return to run it, or click any command.

To close the palette, press Esc, press ⌘K again, or click the dimmed area outside it. If nothing matches what you typed, the palette says No matches.

Commands

The AI commands are described in AI features, Assistant and Autopilot.

Find a setting

Settings has its own search box, Find a setting, which matches settings by name, description and everyday words — “dark theme” finds Theme. See Settings.