How to Search Gmail by Date (9 Easy Filters That Actually Work)

Tired of scrolling endlessly through your inbox to find an old email? Whether you’re looking for an invoice, a confirmation, or an important message from months (or years) ago, Gmail makes it possible to find any email by date — if you know how to use its search filters.

Over time, inboxes naturally get cluttered. New messages pile up, important emails get pushed down, and manually digging through hundreds of conversations quickly becomes frustrating and time-consuming.

The good news? Gmail comes with powerful built-in search operators.

These filters let you narrow down your results by:

• Date or time period
• Keywords
• Sender or recipient
• File size
• Attachments

Used correctly, Gmail’s search filters can surface exactly the email you need — even in the most overloaded inbox.

In this guide, we’ll focus specifically on how to search Gmail by date. By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to find emails using precise date operators or Gmail’s Advanced search feature, in just a few seconds.

Below are the 9 proven ways to search Gmail by date:

1. Before a certain date
2. After a certain date
3. Between two dates
4. Older than
5. Newer than
6. Keywords with dates
7. Sender with dates
8. Recipient with dates
9. Date with attachments

Let’s get started 👇

How to search Gmail by date

There are (at least) 9 ways you can use Gmail’s date search filter to easily locate old emails. We’ve tried and tested each one of them for you.

1. Before a certain date

To search for emails received before a certain date, type before:YYYY/MM/DD into the search bar. Then press enter.

For example, if you want to locate emails received before December 5th, 2022, then write before:2022/12/05.

2. After a certain date

Want to find mails received after a certain date? Open Gmail and write after:YYYY/MM/DD in the search bar.

For example, type after:2022/12/03 if you want to search for emails written after December 3rd, 2022.

3. Between two dates

So far so good? Then let’s spice things up a little bit. You can ask Gmail to search for emails received between two dates.

To do that, simply combine the “after” and “before” date filters. Here’s what it looks like: after:YYYY/MM/DD before:YYYY/MM/DD.

For example, if you want to find emails received between December 2nd, 2022 and December 5th, 2022, then write after:2022/12/02 before:2022/12/05.

4. Older than

You can also use Gmail to search for emails older than a certain time period. Could be 1 day, 2 months or 3 years. It’s up to you.

The query is simple. Type older_than. Add a colon. Then a number. And lastly, a letter (d, m or y). That letter is just a shortcut. Here’s what it means:

• d = day
• m = month
• y = year

For example, if you’re looking for emails older than 15 days, your query should look like this: older_than:15d. And if you want to search for emails older than 2 years, you can write older_than:2y.

5. Newer than

Conversely, you can search for emails newer than a certain time period in Gmail. This query works the same as the one we’ve just seen. Just use newer_than instead of older_than.

For example, type newer_than:2y to locate emails written in the last 2 years. Or newer_than:3m to find messages that are less than 3 months old.

6. Keywords with dates

Searching Gmail by date can do wonders. But sometimes, dates alone are not enough to find an email. In that case, you can combine Gmail’s date filters with keywords to narrow down your search. Simply type your query. And add your keyword.

For example, if you want to find a welcome email you received after December 2nd, 2022, write after:2022/12/02 welcome. And if you want to browse through all the invoices you received over the past month, type newer_than:1m invoice.

7. Sender with dates

Want to display only emails from a certain sender? Add the from: search operator to your query. Then press enter. And let Gmail do the rest.

For example, type older_than:20d from:mary@mailmeteor if you want to search for messages written by Mary more than 20 days ago.

8. Recipient with dates

You can use a similar query to look for emails that were sent to a specific recipient. Refine your search with Gmail’s to: search operator.

Here’s what it looks like: older_than:20d to:mary@mailmeteor. In this case, Gmail will show you the emails that were sent to Mary over 20 days ago.

9. Date with attachments

Last but not least, you can search Gmail by date for emails with attachments. To do that, type your query and select Has attachment under Gmail’s search bar.

In the example below, Gmail will search for emails with an attachment that are older than 20 days:

How to find old emails with Gmail’s “Advanced search”

If search operators aren’t your jam, Gmail gives you one more option to search emails by date. This feature is called the Advanced search. Here’s how you can use it to find old emails from a PC or a Mac:

Step 1: Log into your Gmail account.

Step 2: Type a keyword in the search bar. And press enter.

Step 3: Click on “Advanced search”.

Step 4: Use Gmail’s Date within filter to pick a date. In this example, we’ve chosen December 23rd, 2022.

Step 5: On the left, choose a date range. Gmail gives you 8 options:

• 1 day
• 3 days
• 1 week
• 2 weeks
• 1 month
• 2 months
• 6 months
• 1 year

In our case, we’ll choose 1 week.

Step 6: You can add other parameters to refine your search. Filter by recipient, sender, subject, size or keywords if you need to.

Once you’re ready, press the “Search” button. Gmail will then show you only the emails matching your criteria.

In this example, Gmail will search for emails received within 1 week of December 23rd, 2022 AND that contain the keyword “welcome”.

How to search by date in the Gmail app

Want to search emails by date in the Gmail app? Follow these 4 easy steps and you’ll find your email in no time.

From Android

Step 1: Open the Gmail app on your Android device.

Step 2: Tap on the search bar at the top of your screen.

Step 3: Gmail’s built-in search filters will appear below the search bar. Slide through them until you find Gmail’s date filter. Then tap on it.

Step 4: A new menu will appear. From here, Gmail gives you several options.

You can select one of the default time ranges:

• Any time
• Older than a week
• Older than a month
• Older than 6 months
• Older than a year

Or you can customize the time range of your search. To do that, tap on Custom range.

Then select a time range. In the example below, we’re looking for emails received between December 18th, 2022 and December 23rd, 2022.

Once you’re done, tap on OK. And Gmail will search for any emails received during the time period you’ve selected.

From iPhone

The process to search emails by date in Gmail is the same on iOS. Use Gmail’s built-in search filters or search operators to locate old emails on your iPhone or your iPad.

Conclusion

Over time, inboxes tend to get cluttered. And when that happens, it can be hard to find old messages. Fortunately, your Gmail account is equipped with powerful search filters. And you can easily find your old emails using the “Advanced Search” or the right combination of search operators. Or sort Gmail by sender.

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