Know you sent an important email — but now you cannot find it? What if it’s not in the usual “Sent” folder? Find out here how to locate sent emails in Outlook across all mailboxes.
First, If Nothing Becomes Something
Do not compare something to NULL (nothing), says David Plummer, when you code in a C-like language.
Compare NULL (or any other fixed value) to something instead. This habit will help catch the case of the missing equation mark:
if (x = 3) {}works only by chance while
if (3 = x) {}does not work (or compile) at all.
Now, with one potential bug less to search for, let’s look for sent emails instead:
How to Find Sent Emails in Microsoft Outlook
Find All Sent Emails
Time needed: 1 minute
To find sent emails in Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac and Outlook on the web (irrespective of the folder in which they are saved):
- Click the Search field in Outlook.
Outlook keyboard shortcut: You can press Alt Q (Windows) or Option Q (Mac) to focus the search field; in Outlook for Mac, press Command Shift F.
- Select All Folders, All Mailboxes or All Outlook Items for the scope (in front of the Search field).
- Type
from:in the Search field. - Append your name or email address to the search term.
Here’s what to use: You can use your email address or your name; choose what is simpler to use and more likely to be both unique and used in all your sent emails.
Partialities: Using just part of your email address or name is okay — and most useful, of course, if the part is unique (do not search just for the domain name if your email address ends in “@outlook.com”, for instance).
Full name: You can use your full name (if you have set up Outlook to use it in the From: field when you send emails) in quotation marks directly followingfrom:.
Auto-completion: If Outlook’s auto-completion suggestion is just what you were about to type, do pick it, of course.
Examples:from:example@ladedu.comwill find emails sent from “example@ladedu.com”;from:"La De Du"finds sent emails with “La De Du” in the From: line. - Press Enter.
- Find in the Outlook search results all sent emails irrespective of the folder (or email account).
Drafts: Search results will also include unsent drafts; it is best to ignore these.
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Find the Sent Emails Folder in Outlook
You can also see sent emails collected in each account’s Sent items, folder, of course.
To find the folder for sent emails in Outlook:
- Go to the Sent or Sent Items folder for the account.
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Find Emails Sent in a Conversation with Outlook
To see emails you have sent in a conversation starting with any email in the thread:
- Click on the email in the message list with the right mouse button.
- Select Find Related | Messages in This Conversation from the context menu that has appeared.
- Find in search results all emails exchanged in the thread.
Subjectified: Outlook searches by subject line, not directly by association (using the emails’ message ID’s, for instance), so emails that are not directly related but share the same subject line may turn up in results.
Viewing conversations: You can also set up Outlook to always show emails in context; here, too, Outlook only collates emails by subject — if the subject line changes, the email will not appear in the conversation.
How to Find Sent Emails in Microsoft Outlook: FAQ
Can I change where emails I send are saved in Outlook?
Yes, in classic Outlook for Windows you can to some degree
In Outlook for Windows’s classic version, you can save replies in the same folder as the message to which you replied (provided it is not the inbox). To set up Outlook for Windows to save replies to filed emails with the original message:
- Click File in Outlook for Windows.
- Select Options.
- Go to the Mail category.
- Check When replying to a message that is not in the Inbox, save the reply in the same folder (under Save messages).
Inbox: If you reply to an email in the inbox, the reply will be saved in the Sent Items folder. - Click OK.
(Tested with Outlook for Windows Version 2501–2510, Outlook for Mac 16.93, “New”Outlook 1.2025 and Outlook on the Web; first published February 2025, last updated December 2025)