9 Gmail tips that will let you take a long lunch

Head home early or linger over lunch with these time-saving Gmail tips and add-ons.

By Sarah Jacobsson

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Step Up Your Searches

One of the best things about Gmail is the Google-powered search, which (theoretically) makes finding what you're looking for easy and timely. Sometimes, though, finding exactly what you're looking for requires a slightly more advanced search.

Enter Gmail advanced search. In advanced search, you can specify multiple search criteria. If, for example, you want to find an e-mail message from your mom that has a picture of you as a baby, just type in "from:mom has:attachment" in the search box. If you don't want to bother typing "from:" and "has:" and other operators, click the Show search options link to the right of the search box.

Useful operators for streamlining your searches include 'subject:' (search for words in the subject line), '-' (exclude messages from your search), 'after:' and 'before:' (search for messages within a certain time frame), and 'is:starred' (search for messages that are starred). An especially helpful operator is '-label:chat', if you're trying to search for an e-mail but your search keeps bringing up chat conversations. You'll find a complete list of available operators on Gmail's help site.

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