Search a Folder in Outlook 2007 - NVDA - JAWS - Keyboard

Searching a Folder in Outlook 2007

At work we are mainly using Office 2007 and one of the questions I am frequently asked is "how do I search my Inbox in Outlook 2007?" Now you might find that pretty strange - after all, isn't locating the right information a pretty fundamental and key thing that you'd want to do in Outlook? But it never fails to amaze me how many people struggle on trying to locate stuff manually, often moving through lists of emails one at a time to find what they are looking for.

The basic per-folder search in Outlook is actually a relatively straightforward and clean process and I am going to run through it here - it's a powerful tool to add to your repertoire, so it makes sense to give it a whirl at least. By the way, this all works fine with NVDA and JAWS.

Run a Basic Search in Your Inbox

1. Open Outlook 2007 and make sure focus is somewhere in your list of Inbox emails.
2. Press the keystroke of CONTROL E, focus will move to an edit field. Type in your search criteria.
3. As you type your search criteria, the list of items in the current folder is dynamically filtered to show only the matches for what you are typing in.
4. With your search criteria complete, press F6 (or press TAB several times) to put focus into the list of matched items.

NOTE: A quick way of checking how many matches you have for your search is to read the status line information which contains an item count. So, when you have run a search, press INSERT PAGE DOWN if you are using JAWS or INSERT END if you are rolling NVDA to read the status bar information. Notice how the item count is less than in your normal unfiltered folder.

5. In your filtered list of items, use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to browse the matches for your search and locate your required information. That's it!

Clear the Search Filter for the Current Folder

1. When you have finished accessing the information you require, press CONTROL E to move back to the Search edit field.
2. Press TAB to move to the Clear Search button and press the SPACEBAR to activate. Your list of items in the folder will now return to normal.
3. If necessary, you can check the item list by reading the status bar directly, using the relevant JAWS or NVDA keystrokes I mentioned earlier.

Remember that you can use this Search feature across all of the folder functions in Outlook. So, try using it to locate specific contacts or tasks - I'm sure that after a bit of time you'll wonder just how you managed without it!