How to Search Gmail by Sender for Emails

Lost track of an important invoice — buried under a mountain of newsletters and holiday greetings? Looking for emails from an old friend (and endless banter)? Find out here how to search Gmail for email by sender, name, and email address.

First, Let’s Bang-Path Your Email Address

Yes,

• ☑ take your email address,
• ☐ exchange the '@' for an '!',
• ☐ delete everything from the back up to and including the first '.' you encounter (presumably ".com"),
• ☐ place everything before the '!' after it and
• ☐ everything that came behind it in front.

You have just turned your SMTP email address into a mock UUCP email address. (For instance, "user@ladedu.com" becomes "ladedu!user".)

These email addresses were common in the early 1980s — when UUCP networking was common. Now, of course, you can barely send an email to such an address, let alone find emails from them in Gmail… which is very much unlike searching for messages from senders who use an ‘@’ email address.

This is easy:

How to Search Gmail for Mail by a Sender Using a Desktop Browser

Searching by Sender Name or Email Address

Searching by Sender Starting with an Email

To find all emails from a sender in Gmail beginning with an example email:

1. Open a message from the sender.
2. Click the More button () in the conversation’s toolbar.
3. Select Filter messages like this.
4. Click Search in the pre-filled Gmail search field.
   Mailing lists: If the message was sent through a mailing list, Gmail may use the list’s address instead of the sender’s. If this does not produce the desired result, do search using the address manually.

Finding All Emails Received from and Sent to a Contact

To find all emails exchanged with a sender (that is both emails you received from them and messages you sent to them) in Gmail:

1. Click in the Search mail field in Gmail.
2. Type from: immediately followed by the sender’s name or email address.
3. Type  OR to: also followed by the sender’s name or address immediately.
   Example: To find all emails exchanged with ladedu@ladedu.com, type from:ladedu@ladedu.com OR to:ladedu@ladedu.com.
   Only you: To make sure only emails you sent to the address (and not messages sent to the address with you in the Cc: field, for example), use  from:<sender> OR (to:<sender> AND from:me), replacing "<sender>" with the sender’s email address.
4. Press Enter.

How to Find Emails by Sender in the Gmail App

To find all messages sent by somebody in the Gmail app for iOS or Android:

1. Tap the Search mail field in Gmail.
2. Type from: followed by the sender’s name or email address.
   Examples: See above for examples.
3. Tap Search.

How to Search Gmail for Emails by a Sender: FAQ

Can I sort Gmail by sender?

No.

Gmail does not allow you to sort by sender.

You can

• use search to find all emails from a sender instead (see above) or
• set up Gmail in an email program using IMAP.

Can I search for a sender’s emails within a Gmail folder or label?

Yes.

To limit the search to a particular label (or folder) in Gmail:

1. Go to the label in the Gmail interface.
2. Use the from: search operator as described above (adding to the contents of the Search mail field).
   Here’s what happens: Gmail will automatically limit search results to the label.

Can I search more than one label by sender?

Yes.

To search any number of Gmail folders (labels) for a sender’s messages in Gmail:

1. Click the Search mail field.
2. Use the from: search operator as above.
3. Add AND () to the search field.
4. Within the parentheses, add the labels you want to search using the label: search operator separated by OR.
   Example: from:heinz AND (label:inbox OR label:ladedu OR label:excursions) will find emails from people called "Heinz" in the inbox or the labels ladedu or excursions.

(Tested in a desktop browser and the Gmail app 6.0 for iOS; first published November 2018, last updated September 2025)