Guide for consultants · Automation
How to find all emails and meetings from a client in Outlook
If you work with several clients in Outlook, one client's history is usually spread across the inbox, Sent Items, a few project folders and the calendar. This guide shows how to find all emails from a client in Outlook with one search, keep them together with search folders and rules, label them automatically with Power Automate, and use Copilot. Menu names differ between new Outlook, classic Outlook and Outlook on the web, so each step names its version.
Why one client's history is hard to see
Take Example Logistics LLC. Your contact Dana writes from dana@examplelogistics.com, her CFO from another address, and their IT lead sends the meeting invites. Your replies sit in Sent Items, older threads in a project folder, the steering committee meeting in the calendar. Outlook sorts by folder and date, not by client. What ties it together is the client's email domain, and almost every method below uses it. Because so much depends on that domain, test each method once against an email you know exists.
Find all emails from a client in Outlook with one search
Start with the search box. Outlook understands keywords that narrow results by sender, recipient and date. Microsoft documents them for classic Outlook and new Outlook for Windows.
Search syntax to try
from:dana@examplelogistics.com: only mail sent from that address
from:dana@examplelogistics.com received:"this week": her mail from this week
to:dana: mail you sent to Dana (run it in Sent Items)
examplelogistics.com: a plain text search that may also find the domain in message text (undocumented, check the results)
organizer:dana: meetings Dana organized (run it from the Calendar)
Operators like AND, OR and NOT must be uppercase, and Outlook returns only the first 1,000 results. Microsoft documents from: with a name or full address, not a bare domain. And a search is not saved: next week you type it again.
Search folders: a saved view for each client
A search folder is a virtual folder. It shows every message matching your criteria, wherever it is stored, without moving anything. Deleting it does not delete the mail.
1. New Outlook and Outlook on the web
In the folder pane, open the three-dot menu next to Search Folders and choose Create new search folder (or use Settings > Mail > Search folders). Only predefined types exist. Pick Mail from and to specific people and add each contact's address. Microsoft supports advanced custom search folders only in classic Outlook, so there is no domain filter here and new contacts must be added by hand.
2. Classic Outlook for Windows
On the Folder tab, select New Search Folder (Ctrl+Shift+P), scroll down to Create a custom Search Folder, select Choose, name it and open Criteria. The Messages tab covers sender and recipients, the Advanced tab combines field conditions, and Browse sets the folders. Microsoft does not document a bare domain as a sender criterion, but answers on the Microsoft Q&A forum report that it works in classic Outlook. If it works in your test, new contacts show up automatically.
Example: two search folders for Example Logistics LLC (classic Outlook)
1. "Example Logistics: received": Criteria, Messages tab, sender field: examplelogistics.com
2. "Example Logistics: sent": Criteria, Messages tab, recipient field: examplelogistics.com
For both, use Browse to select the folders of your mailbox to search.
Search folders are built for mail. For meetings, search from the calendar, for example organizer:dana.
Rules: label client mail as it arrives
A rule acts on mail as it arrives, for example by assigning a category "Example Logistics" or moving it to a client folder. A category keeps the mail in place and filterable. We compare both in folders vs. categories for clients.
1. New Outlook and Outlook on the web
Open Settings > Mail > Rules and add a new rule (Outlook on the web labels the button Add new rule). Choose the condition that checks the sender address for specific words, enter examplelogistics.com and add an action such as a category. Microsoft Q&A answers describe this condition with a domain. In new Outlook, the run button next to the rule applies it to existing mail.
2. Classic Outlook for Windows
Go to File > Manage Rules & Alerts > New Rule and choose the condition that checks for specific words in the sender's address. Enter the domain and pick the action. For older mail, use Run Rules Now on the E-mail Rules tab.
Inbox rules handle incoming mail, so your replies stay unlabeled. Some classic rules run only while Outlook is open and are not processed by new Outlook. And a category rule created in new Outlook or on the web does not show in classic Outlook's Rules and Alerts dialog, although it runs.
Power Automate: label client mail and list meetings
Power Automate also covers sent mail and meetings. It is Microsoft's service for automated workflows, called flows, which you create at make.powerautomate.com. Here it works with the Office 365 Outlook connector. Microsoft 365 licenses include cloud flows with standard connectors like this one, if your IT allows it.
Flow 1: tag every client email
1. Create an automated cloud flow with the trigger When a new email arrives (V3), folder Inbox.
2. Leave its From field empty. It expects full addresses, not a domain.
3. Add a Condition: From contains @examplelogistics.com.
4. If yes, add Assigns an Outlook category with the Message Id from the trigger and the category Example Logistics (create the category in Outlook first).
5. Copy the flow, point the trigger at Sent Items and check To instead of From.
Flow 2: weekly list of client meetings
1. Create a scheduled cloud flow for Monday mornings.
2. Add Get calendar view of events (V3) for the next 14 days.
3. Add Filter array and keep events whose attendee field contains examplelogistics.com (this needs a short expression on that field).
4. Send yourself the result with Send an email (V2).
Microsoft lists limits: triggers can occasionally fire up to an hour late, rarely miss emails when many arrive at once, the calendar view returns at most 256 events per call, and each mailbox needs its own flow. Every client also needs its own condition. Both flows are outlines, not tested flows. Test each one with a real message before relying on it.
AI: ask Copilot about one client
Copilot Chat in Outlook gives you a summary instead of a list. According to Microsoft, work or school accounts can use it without a Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on license to ask about inbox, calendar and meetings. Microsoft expanded this in 2026, so availability can vary by organization.
Prompts to adapt
Summarize my emails from the last week related to Example Logistics.
Summarize my emails and meetings with people from examplelogistics.com over the last month. List open questions.
The answer is a snapshot: Copilot keeps no saved view per client, so next time you ask again. Check important statements against the original email. More in AI meeting preparation in Outlook.
Where this stops working with several clients
For two or three clients, one search folder and one category rule each are enough and cost nothing. With more clients it gets harder.
1. Domains are not clients
Freelancers use gmail.com, large clients several domains. Domain filters miss or mix them.
2. Everything needs upkeep
Each new client means another folder, rule and flow condition. Nobody notices when one stops matching.
3. A list doesn't show where things stand
A perfect folder still shows 140 messages. You still have to work out for yourself what was agreed and who owes whom what. See how to track client commitments.
4. It stays in your mailbox
Search folders and rules are personal. A colleague taking over starts from zero.
Where aenuma fits
Search folders and rules keep one client together, but someone has to maintain them for every new client and every new contact. aenuma can build this sorting for your team: we connect your mailbox with the systems you already use, set up the agreed workflow, for example sorting incoming emails by client, and test it with representative examples. What may happen automatically and when a person checks the result is agreed before we start.
The aenuma app works differently: there you assign emails and meetings to a client yourself, and nothing is sorted automatically. From what you assign, the app builds a briefing with each statement linked to its source. More on organizing Outlook emails by client.
Frequently asked questions
Can I create a search folder for a whole domain in new Outlook?
Not directly. New Outlook and Outlook on the web offer only predefined search folders with individual addresses. Custom criteria exist only in classic Outlook, where forum answers report that a domain works. The workaround is a rule on the sender address plus a category.
Does from: work with just the client's domain?
Microsoft documents from: with a name or full address. A domain may work but is undocumented, so verify the results.
Do I need a Copilot license to summarize a client's emails?
Not necessarily. Copilot Chat in Outlook answers questions about inbox, calendar and meetings without the add-on license, with a narrower data scope.
Do these methods include my replies and meetings?
Partly. Rules only process incoming mail, and search folders cover mail but not meetings. Add a search folder or flow for Sent Items and search the calendar separately.
Sources
Use Search Folders to find messages or other Outlook items (Microsoft Support)
How to search in Outlook (Microsoft Support)
Manage email messages by using rules in Outlook (Microsoft Support)
Inbox rule in Outlook on the web doesn't appear in Outlook for Windows (Microsoft Learn)
RuleConditions.SenderAddress property: sender address contains text (Microsoft Learn)
Microsoft Q&A: domain as search folder criterion in classic vs. new Outlook
Microsoft Q&A: rule condition Sender address includes with a domain
Office 365 Outlook connector reference (Microsoft Learn)
Power Automate seeded licenses with Microsoft 365 (Microsoft Learn)
Chat with Copilot in Outlook (Microsoft Support)
Overview of Microsoft Copilot Chat: grounding in Outlook (Microsoft Learn)
Microsoft 365 Copilot release notes, July 1, 2026 (Microsoft Learn)
By Joshua Schütt, founder of aenuma. Last updated: October 2026. Examples are fictional.
Where does your client history get lost?
Describe one example: where a client's emails end up today, which tools you use, and what you need to find quickly. You don't need a technical solution in mind yet. Not sure where to start? The Time Sink Check shows which task makes a good first workflow.
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