Accessing the Archive with MailStore Web Access
MailStore Web Access makes the archive accessible through an internet browser. This way, important functions such as browsing and viewing archived emails can be made available under any system and without having to install additional software. An installation of MailStore Client on the user computers is not required. A manual specifically for the iPhone/iPod touch version is available in chapter Accessing the Archive with iPhone and iPod touch.
Requirements for Using MailStore Web Access
Activation and configuration of MailStore Web Access is done in the MailStore Server Service Configuration. A list of supported internet browsers can be found in the System Requirements.
In order to use the Restore to Mailbox feature, a MailStore administrator needs to configure the SMTP settings under Administrative Tools > Miscellaneous > SMTP Settings first.
Accessing MailStore Web Access
Unless MailStore Server was configured differently, users can use the following internet addresses to access MailStore Web Access:
http://<servername>:8461 https://<servername>:8462
Please replace <servername> with the actual name of the server on which MailStore Server is installed.
To login to MailStore Web Access, fill out the User Name and Password fields and click Log on. Please note, that the username must match the MailStore username of the appropriate user.
Notice: If you are using Active Directory integration with MailStore Server, the Microsoft Internet Explorer may be able to authenticate users via Single-Sign-On (Login without username and password).
Search by Archive Folder
User Archives
The folder My Archive contains all emails that were archived from your mailboxes. If you have read-access to the archives of additional users, their emails are located in the folders labeled Archive of <user name>.
Display of Emails in a Folder
To view the emails of a specific folder, simply click on the folder name. The emails are listed below the tree structure.
Quick Search
With quick search you can browse all emails located in the archives you have access to. This feature is especially suitable for simple queries; alternatively, the advanced search can be used.
Using Quick Search
The input field is located in the upper left part of the MailStore Web Access. Simply enter one or more keywords and press ENTER. The search results are displayed. Keywords which appear in the header or the subject line are highlighted.
Searching for Word Fragments
To display all emails containing a word with a particular fragment, use the wildcard character (*). For example:
auto*
will return emails with auto, automatic, automobile etc.
*example.com
will return emails with all email addresses and domains of example.com.
firstname.lastname*
will return emails with all email addresses of firstname.lastname.
Searching for Words with unknown letters
To view all emails containing a word where you do not know how to spell it correctly, you can use the question mark (?). For example
Me?er
would find emails with Meier and Meyer, but not Maier.
The question mark (?) cannot be used at the beginning of a word or at the end of a word, use the wildcard character (*) instead.
Searching for Phrases
To search for words appearing consecutively and in a specific order, use quotation marks (""). For example:
"Microsoft Windows"
will return the text Microsoft Windows but not Microsoft Works or Windows 95.
Phrases cannot contain the wildcard characters (?) and (*).
Narrowing by Fields
A search for keywords or phrases can be limited to specific fields. For example:
subject:News only in Subject from:[email protected] only in From to:[email protected] only in To cc:[email protected] only in Cc bcc:[email protected] only in Bcc bcontent:billing only in Body of message acontent:billing only in Attachments of message
Searching for Alternatives
Use square brackets [] to search for alternative words. Example:
[Support Request Form]
finds emails that contain the word support or the word request or the word form or any combination of these.
[from:[email protected] subject:important "very important"]
finds emails that come from [email protected] or have the word important in the subject or contain the phrase very important anywhere in the email.
Excluding Words
To narrow a search, you may want to specify words which must not be present in the emails. To exclude words from the search results, prepend the word with the minus character (-). For example:
ZDNet -download-tip
returns all emails from ZDNet which do not contain download-tip.
ZDNet -download-tip -"free gift"
returns all emails from ZDNet which do not contain download-tip and do not contain the phrase free gift.
Exclusions cannot be used in alternatives, so
[Microsoft Windows -Powerpoint]
is not valid, but
[Microsoft Windows] -Powerpoint
is valid and will find emails that contain Microsoft or Windows but not the word Powerpoint.
Valid is also
-[Microsoft Windows Powerpoint]
which returns all emails that do not contain any of the words Microsoft, Windows or Powerpoint.
Combining Search Options
Any of the search options described above can be combined. For example:
ZDNET -"Daily Update"
returns all emails from ZDNet which do not contain the consecutive words Daily Update.
from:ZDNET bcontent:ACME
returns all emails from ZDNET which have ACME somewhere in their message body.
from:[email protected] acontent:bill
returns all emails from [email protected] which have bill in any attachment.
to:[email protected] -sales
returns all emails to [email protected] which do not have sales in any part of the email.
[from:[email protected] from:[email protected]] acontent:Invoice -subject:Reminder
finds all emails from [email protected] or [email protected] that have Invoice in an attachment but no Reminder in the subject.
[from:[email protected] from:[email protected]] [bill admonition] -[to:[email protected] cc:[email protected] bcc:[email protected]]
returns all emails from [email protected] or [email protected] that do have bill or admonition anywhere and are not sent to [email protected].
from:[email protected] to:[email protected] acontent:bill -subject:admonition
returns all message from [email protected] to [email protected] which have bill in any attachment but do not have admonition in the subject.
About Special Characters
Words inside indexed emails or attachments which are a combination of alphanumeric (letters, digits) and non-alphanumeric characters (white space, line break, delimiter or other control characters), may be returned in search results when searching for the alphanumerical part only.
For instance, when searching for firstname, firstname.lastname and lastname, e-mails containing the word firstname.lastname will be returned.
Separators and control characters that cause this behavior:
- Period (.)
- Comma (,)
- Semicolon (;)
- Hyphen (-)
- Underscore (_)
- AT-Sign (@)
- Slash & Backslash (/,\)
- Null character (NUL)
When the original text was divided by a different character, e.g. firstname(lastname, then only the full term is present in the index and one has to know the full term or has to use the wildcard character (*) to find emails containing that text.
Special characters at the beginning and the end of text are stripped and not present in the search index. It cannot be searched for these characters.
Advanced Search
With the advanced search, you can execute complex queries through the MailStore Outlook Add-in.
Queries can be scoped to certain archive folders and may not only refer to the email content but also include fields such as email date, archiving date or email size.
Email attachments can be searched specifically, too if search indexing has been configured appropriately.
Our Tech Tip video provides an overview.
Using the Advanced Search
In the MailStore Web Access, click on Advanced Search and enter the search parameters. The criteria are AND-combined, i.e. the search returns only those emails that satisfy all criteria. Click on Search to start the search.
Search Criteria under "Extended Search"
Enter a keyword or phrase into the text field and specify where MailStore is to conduct the search. The following options are available:
- Subject - The subject line of the email is searched.
- Sender/Recipient - The fields "From", "To", "Cc", and "Bcc" are searched.
- Message body - The text-only or HTML sections of the email are searched (depending on availability).
- Attachments File Names - The file names of the email attachments are searched.
- Attachment Contents - The contents of the email attachments are searched. If and to what extent attachments can be searched depends on the specified indexing options.
All options described in section Quick Search, such as phrases and wildcards, are available in the textfield Search for as well.
Search Criteria under "General"
Under General, the following options are available:
- Folder - The folder to be searched by MailStore can be selected here. By default, all folders readable by the current user are selected. By clicking the button next to the text field, folders can also be selected using the folder structure.
- Include subfolder - If selected, MailStore not only searches the selected folder (e.g. Inbox), but all subfolders created therein (e.g. Inbox / Projects 2008 / Profit Optimization) as well.
- From - Any keywords or email addresses entered here are searched for within the email's sender field only.
- To/Cc/Bcc - Any keywords or email addresses entered here are searched for within the email's recipient fields only.
- Date - The time frame the search is to cover can be selected here. Either a predefined range, such as Yesterday or This year, can be selected or, by choosing Custom, a specific period can be specified manually. In this case, the start and end dates will be included.
- Archiving Date - The archiving time frame the search is to cover can be selected here. Either a predefined range, such as Yesterday or This year, can be selected or, by choosing Custom, a specific period can be specified manually. In this case, the start and end dates will be included.
All options described in section Quick Search, such as phrases and wildcards, are available in the fields From and To/Cc/Bcc as well.
Search Criteria under "Extended"
Under Extended, the following options are available:
- Messages with/without attachments - By default, all messages are searched, regardless of whether or not they have any file attachments. Clear one of the check boxes to remove certain emails, such as those without attachments, from the results.
- Important: These searches can be imprecise at times because items like background pictures could be regarded as attachments.
- Size - By default, all messages are searched regardless of their size. Use the appropriate fields provided to limit the search according to the size of the emails, e.g. at least 5 MB or between 400 and 600 KB.
- Priority - Emails are searched according to the priority level of the email as assigned by the sender. When choosing Low, all emails with a priority level lower than Normal are returned, when choosing High, all emails with a priority level higher than Normal are returned. Emails not containing any information regarding priority are assumed to have a priority level of Normal.
Starting a Search
Click on Search to start the search. The results are displayed in a list.
Refining the Search Results
To narrow the results after a search has been executed, click on Advanced Search again, enter additional search criteria and click on Search.
Starting a New Search
To start a new search, click on New Query. All search criteria will be reset to their default values (i.e. no restrictions; the search covers all folders readable by the current user).
Saving a Search
Search criteria that are used repeatedly (such as "all receipts from the last month") can be saved and reused at any time. Click on Save As... and choose a meaningful name for the search. Click on Open to access, edit or restart the search.
About Special Characters
Words inside indexed emails or attachments which are a combination of alphanumeric (letters, digits) and non-alphanumeric characters (white space, line break, delimiter or other control characters), may be returned in search results when searching for the alphanumerical part only.
For instance, when searching for firstname, firstname.lastname and lastname, e-mails containing the word firstname.lastname will be returned.
Separators and control characters that cause this behavior:
- Period (.)
- Comma (,)
- Semicolon (;)
- Hyphen (-)
- Underscore (_)
- AT-Sign (@)
- Slash & Backslash (/,\)
- Null character (NUL)
When the original text was divided by a different character, e.g. firstname(lastname, then only the full term is present in the index and one has to know the full term or has to use the wildcard character (*) to find emails containing that text.
Special characters at the beginning and the end of text are stripped and not present in the search index. It cannot be searched for these characters.
Email Preview
To view an email which was returned by one of the search functions described above, simply click on it. A preview of the email is displayed on the right side of the screen.
Please keep in mind that images and any formatting will not be displayed in the preview for security reasons. Emails cannot be forwarded or replied to within the preview, either.
Opening Email in Email Application
In the toolbar above the email preview, two buttons are available: Open in Microsoft Outlook (MSG) and Open in Email Client (EML). These may be used for instance to answer or forward archived emails. Additionally styles and graphics of HTML emails can be displayed this way.
Restoring Email
In the toolbar above the email preview you can find the function Restore to Mailbox. By using that function, you can send the currently displayed message to an arbitrary email address in order to restore the message from the archive. Before you can use that function, preparations have to be done by a MailStore administrator. Please see SMTP Settings for more information.
Printing the Displayed Email
In the toolbar above the email preview you can find the function Print. By using that function, you can print the displayed message including the message headers.
Internet Headers
In the toolbar above the email preview click on Internet Headers... to display the internet headers of the current message as well as all MIME parts.
Changing Regional Settings
Be default the MailStore Web Access uses the same regional settings as your web browser. The regional settings can also be set manually in the MailStore Web Access settings dialog.
