Control Whether Outlook 2007 Searches for Deleted Messages

Vista and Outlook 2007 both have powerful search capabilities. Unfortunately, they don't work exactly the same, so running a search in Vista doesn't always return the same Outlook items as running the same search in Outlook 2007.

In particular, Vista automatically searches the Deleted Items folder in Outlook, while Outlook 2007 doesn't. To reduce the confusion, I suggest you set Outlook 2007 to also search the Deleted Items folder. It only takes a few seconds to do.

1. In Outlook 2007, click Tools, then Instant Search, then Search Options to see the Search Options dialog box.


2. In the Deleted Items section of the dialog box, set the Include messages... checkbox.


3. Click OK to return and that's it.

I told you it would take only a few seconds!

NOTE: This tip came from a larger article on getting the searches in Vista and Outlook 2007 to work the same way. The article is in the paid version of the Windows Secrets newsletter which is a great source of information for Windows XP, Vista, Internet Explorer and more. Check it out if you want to learn how to keep Windows running at its best.

Go to the General Outlook Tips page.