Quick start
Five minutes from download to your first search.
1. Install
Install from this site or from the Microsoft Store; it is the same app.
From this site, run the installer. It needs no administrator rights and offers to start AllMailFound when you sign in to Windows, which keeps the index current. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway (the installer is not yet code-signed).
2. Let it index
AllMailFound finds the data files of your Outlook profile on its own. Files that Outlook has open are indexed live through Outlook and rescanned in the background a few times a day; everything else is read directly. The status bar shows progress: a first index of 100,000 messages takes a few minutes on an ordinary drive.
Data files outside your profile, such as old archives, are added under Tools › Settings › Data files › Add file. Folders of .eml, .msg or mbox files, including a Thunderbird profile's Mail folder and messages you dragged out of Outlook or exported from another program, are added with Add folder; they are searched together with your Outlook mail and open in your default mail program.
3. Search
Type in the search box. Results narrow with every keystroke; the last word matches as a prefix. The first result is previewed automatically, with your words highlighted.
| Try | Finds |
|---|---|
invoice | the word anywhere: subject, body, names, addresses, attachment names and attachment contents |
from:dana budget | messages from anyone called Dana that mention budget |
subject:renewal date:2025 | 2025 messages with renewal in the subject |
has:attachment after:2024-06-01 | messages with files, from June 2024 on |
"exact phrase" | the words in that order |
The bar under the search box adds filters without typing: sent or received, date, accounts, item types, attachments only, sort order. Every filter combines with the text. The full list of prefixes is on the search syntax page.
4. Read, open, follow the thread
- Preview: the right-hand pane shows the formatted message and the text of its attachments.
- Open in Outlook: press Enter, double-click the row, or use the button.
- Act on it: right-click a result (or use the Tools menu) to reply, reply all, forward, move it to another folder or flag it for follow-up, all through Outlook. Outlook's shortcuts work too: Ctrl+R, Ctrl+Shift+R, Ctrl+F, Ctrl+Shift+V, Ctrl+Shift+G. Reply and forward open the message in Outlook for you to finish.
- Conversation: when a message has replies, the preview header shows Conversation (n). Click it to see the whole thread across folders and accounts.
- Duplicates: copies of the same message (Gmail labels, sent and received copies) fold into one row. Untick Hide duplicates to see them all.
5. Keep it handy
- Global hotkey: Ctrl+Alt+F brings AllMailFound up from any application (change it under Settings › General).
- Tray: closing the window keeps AllMailFound indexing in the notification area. Use File › Exit or the tray menu to stop it.
- Saved searches: Ctrl+D saves the current search and its filters; find them under the Search menu.
- Scripts and AI assistants: a local HTTP API and an MCP server for Claude Desktop and Claude Code let programs on your PC search your mail; see scripts and AI assistants.
Licence
The trial lasts 7 days with every feature and needs no credit card; a licence costs $9.99 instead of the $19.99 retail price, whenever you buy. Afterwards indexing continues but searching waits for a key. Buy from the Buy button in AllMailFound or in the store, paste the key shown after payment under Help › Licence, click Activate, and searching resumes at once. A key works on two PCs; on a further PC choose Use this PC instead and the licence moves there (once a day). Your account page, signed in with the key, lists the activated PCs.
Something wrong?
Click 💬 Feedback in the status bar (or Help › Feedback and support). It explains how the licence moves between PCs and lets you send a question, a problem report or an idea straight from AllMailFound. You get a private link to the conversation, and AllMailFound shows a note in its status bar when we reply. Problem reports can include the last lines of the AllMailFound log, which contain account names and file paths, never message content.