How to Refine Search Results in Google Wave

In addition to doing global keyword searches on waves in your inbox, you can use certain operators as prefixes in the search bar to get more refined and precise search results. You may have already noticed this when using saved searches or custom folders. For example, you may have noticed that the search bar contains the text "By:Me" when you click on the By Me folder in the navigation pane.

You can search by keywords, the status of a wave (e.g., unread), participants, dates, and much more. Listed below are common search operators used in the inbox search box (keep in mind that you can combine multiple operators and/or expressions)¹:

Keywords

• about:[keyword] - Performs a global search on waves which have [keyword] occurring anywhere. This is the same as using [keyword].
  
• title:[keyword] - Finds waves that have [keyword] in the title.
  
• caption:[keyword] - Finds waves that have an attachment where [keyword] occurs in the caption.

Status

• is:read - Finds all read waves.
  
• is:unread - Finds all unread waves.
  
• is:mute - Finds all muted waves.
  
• is:unmute - Finds all non-muted waves.
  
• is:active - Currently the same as is:unread.
  
• is:note - Finds all waves that have you as the only participant and contributor (i.e., sole participant waves).

Participants

• from:[address] - Finds waves from the participant identified by the [address].
  
• from:me - Finds waves in which you have participated.
  
• by:[address] - The same as from:[address].
  
• to:[address] - Finds waves that encompass a conversation between you and the participant identified by the [address].
  
• with:[address] - Finds waves that have the participant identified by the given [address] explicitly listed.
  
• owner:[address] - Finds waves created by the participant identified by the given [address].
  
• only:[address] - Finds waves to which only the participant specified by the given [address] contributed.
  
• is:active - Currently the same as is:unread.
  
• is:note - Finds all waves that have you as the only participant and contributor (i.e., sole participant waves).

Dates

• past:[date term] - Finds all waves in the last period (see available date terms below) as [date term].
  
• previous:[date term] - Finds all waves in the period before the last period as [date term].
  
• before:[date term] - Finds all waves before a certain period as [date term].
  
• after:[date term] - Finds all waves after a certain period as [date term].

Available date terms:

• day
  
• week
  
• month
  
• year
  
• [n]days (e.g., 3days); can also be abbreviated as [n]d (e.g., 3d)
  
• [n]weeks (e.g., 3weeks); can also be abbreviated as [n]w (e.g., 3w)
  
• [n]months (e.g., 3months); can also be abbreviated as [n]m (e.g., 3m)
  
• [n]years (e.g., 3years); can also be abbreviated as [n]y (e.g., 3y)

Folders

• in:[folder name] - Find waves in the folder with the given name (including custom folders).
  
• in:[search name] - Find waves in the saved search with the given name.
  
• is:unfiled - Find waves that have not been moved to a user folder.
  
• is:filed - Find waves that have been moved to a folder.

Attachments

• has:attachment - Finds waves that have one or more attachments.
  
• has:document - Finds waves with an attachment that is a document.
  
• has:image - Finds waves with an attachments that is an image.
  
• caption:[keyword] - Finds waves with an attachment that has a caption containing
  [keyword].
  
• mimetype:[keyword] - Finds waves with an attachment that has a mimetype containing [keyword].

Tags

• tag:[tag name] - Finds waves with the tag [tag name].

Gadgets

• has:gadget - Finds waves that contain one or more gadgets.
  
• gadget:[keyword] - Finds waves that contain a gadget with the name that contains [keyword].
  
• gadgeturl:[keyword] - Finds waves that contain a gadget with a URL that contains [keyword].
  
• gadgettitle:[keyword] - Finds waves that contain a gadget with a title that contains [keyword]

Expressions

Expressions can also be used in combination with the search operators listed above. Here are some of the common expression searches that can be used:

• term1 and term2 (or term1 & term2) - Finds waves with both terms, regardless of position. You can skip this operator altogether if you wish, as it is set as the default type.
  
• term1 | term2 | term3 - Finds waves with at least one of the terms.
  
• -term1 - Finds waves that do not contain the term.
  
• "term1...term2" - Finds waves that contain the exact phrase between quotes.
  
• "[term1 term2]" - Finds waves that have contain one or more terms in sequential order.

Sample searches

Here are a few sample searches to give you a better idea of how to use the operators and expressions above:

• by:me has:image - Finds waves in which I have created blips and that contain at
  least one image.
  
• "Google Wave: Up and Running" - Finds waves that contain the title of this book.
  
• "Andres Ferrate" previous:month - Finds waves from the previous month that contain
  my name.
  
• in:APIS is:unmuted past:10d - Finds unmuted waves in my "APIs" folder from the
  past ten days.
  
• Oregon & (California | -Washington) - Finds waves that contain Oregon and which either contain California or do not contain Washington.

1 Based on the Search Cheat Sheet wave created by Google Wave Team member Gregory Dalesandre during the developer preview release of Google Wave.