Inefficient search functionality in email clients due to lazy loading and lack of indexing

Signals over time

3 observed signals across 1 sources, tracked for 7 days. Confidence: low.

What people are saying Observed

• “I just checked (the desktop version) and right clicking and using "search messages" also does not use the global index and does not do stemming. It is sieve, which has issues (no way to search based on DMARC authenticated exact email address, which is something basic that email search should really provide) but does cover a lot of search. You can save common searches as folders, though frustratingly "search messages" does not appear on those saved searches; it would be quite convenient if it did and started a search pre-filling the saved settings. I had actually forgotten that the global search exists so I turned it off (at the bottom of general settings).”

  Hacker News · frustration

• “Mostly because Mail sucks. - Search is atrocious - I can't find emails from this week but it'll dig up stuff from 5 years ago - no tagging - no filtering (tbf, this could be a lot better in most platforms) - Mail automatically renders PDFs (helps spammers) - doesn't play well with aliased emails And a bunch of other things. All minor but they add up”

  Hacker News · complaint

• “This is really not about better or worse UX but preferences. Lazy loading means your client will be available from second 1 to open an emaik but would take ages every time you search for something. Building an index at first import allows almost instant search once it is complete. I compared for instance evolution and outlook, evolution has always had much faster searches. Having said that, having a bit of digital hygiene goes a long way.”

  Hacker News · frustration