SharePoint Document Issues

How to Search SharePoint for MSG Files Sent by a Specific Person

John Wilson Oct 8, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user needs to locate specific MSG (email) files in SharePoint based on the original sender's name and understand why standard author searches do not work.

How to Search SharePoint for MSG Files Sent by a Specific Person

Product: Microsoft SharePoint
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Trying to search a SharePoint document library for email messages (MSG files) sent by a specific person.
Observed behavior: Using the standard author search property (e.g., author:"Alice") returns MSG files uploaded or modified by Alice, rather than emails actually sent by her.

Before you start

Verify the exact spelling of the sender's email address or name, and confirm that your SharePoint library contains the MSG files you are trying to locate.

Solution 1Recommended

Use Keyword Operators Instead of Standard Author Properties

Adjust your SharePoint search query to look for the sender's details within the file contents rather than relying on the file upload author.

In SharePoint, the 'author' property usually identifies the person who uploaded or authored the file in the library, not the original sender of the email stored within an MSG file.

To find emails sent by a specific person, you must combine the filetype restriction with a full-text keyword search or specific email metadata properties if your SharePoint administrator has configured them.

Navigate to the Search Bar

Open the SharePoint document library or site where the emails are stored and click on the 'Search this library' or 'Search this site' box at the top of the page.

Combine Filetype and Keywords

Type the query using the AND operator to restrict the file type and search for the sender's name. For example, enter: filetype:msg AND "Alice" or use their exact email address: filetype:msg AND "alice@example.com".

Use Email-Specific Properties (If Configured)

If your SharePoint administrator has mapped email properties, you can try searching directly against the sender field by entering: filetype:msg AND From:"Alice".

Use Keyword Operators Instead of Standard Author Properties

Property Restrictions: While queries like filetype:msg AND author:"Alice" are valid, they will only return MSG files that Alice manually uploaded to SharePoint, which may not be the emails she actually sent.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the 'author' search property return the wrong person for MSG files?

In SharePoint, the 'author' property tracks the system user who created, uploaded, or last modified the file in the library. It does not natively read the 'From' header inside an MSG file to determine the email sender.

Can SharePoint automatically index the sender of an MSG file?

Out of the box, SharePoint's native parsing may not map email-specific headers (like To, From, Subject) to searchable managed properties. Administrators often need to map crawled email properties to managed properties to enable precise sender searches.

How do I use the AND operator correctly in SharePoint search?

Boolean operators like AND must be written in uppercase. Using a query such as 'filetype:msg AND author:"Alice"' creates an intersection, meaning the search will only return results that are both MSG files and uploaded by Alice.

Document & File Issues