# The searches

Paste these straight into the Gmail search box. Nothing to install, no setting to change.
Names match what is on screen in the episode.

## One line, before anything else — 0:00

```
to:me -cc:me is:unread
```

Mail addressed to you, not copied to you, still unread.

Two things it does not do, and you should know both. If somebody blind-copied you it will not find the
message, because your copy does not carry that header. And depending on how your mail is set up it may
still show you some mail you were copied on — **look at the result, not at the promise.** If you see
things you were only copied on, the `-cc:me` exclusion is what tightens it.

## RUNG 1 — three searches that need no reading

All three work on a phone.

**Promotions and social**, if you use Gmail's category tabs:

```
category:promotions OR category:social
```

To find out whether you do, open the menu and look for Promotions sitting alongside your inbox. If it is
not there, skip this one. These are machine guesses, not facts, and they are occasionally wrong.

**Mail from a mailing list:**

```
list:name@example.com
```

Replace `name@example.com` with the list address. Fair warning: this matches a header Google Groups sets
and many corporate distribution lists do not, so it catches less than you expect inside a company.

**Unlabelled and older than a month:**

```
has:nouserlabels older_than:30d
```

## The folder nobody reads — your sent mail

```
from:me newer_than:14d
```

This is the closest thing you have to a register of what you promised. Most assistants people point at
email point them at what *arrived*. Gmail will nudge you about a message you sent that nobody answered,
which is the right instinct and about a tenth of the idea.

It is not complete, and that is worth being accurate about: it will not know what other people promised
*you*, and most of what you send is noise. But few things you already own even try, and this is the
first thing your cover would need.

## Operator reference

Every operator above is documented by Google: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190

| | |
|---|---|
| `to:` `cc:` `bcc:` | who is on the message |
| `from:` | sender; `from:me` is your sent mail |
| `is:unread` | unread only |
| `has:nouserlabels` | nothing you labelled yourself |
| `older_than:` `newer_than:` | `d` days, `m` months, `y` years |
| `category:` | `primary` `social` `promotions` `updates` `forums` |
| `list:` | mailing-list header |
| `-` | exclude |
| `OR` and `{ }` | either/or |
| `( )` | grouping |