Have you ever needed to find emails between two dates in Outlook MSG files only to realize there is no simple way to do it? This is one of the most common problems for IT administrators, legal teams, auditors, HR departments and even for regular Outlook users who keep their important emails saved as standalone .msg files.
Unlike emails stored inside an Outlook mailbox – standalone MSG files cannot be searched together using Outlook. If you have hundreds or even thousands of saved email files then manually opening each one to check its date can take hours.
In this guide we will explain to you whether there is a manual way to find emails between two dates in Outlook MSG files, its limitations and a much faster approach when you are dealing with large collections of MSG files.
Why Would You Need to Search MSG Files by Date?
There are lots of users who need to save Outlook emails as MSG files for long term storage or business purposes. Over the time these folders become difficult to manage.
Here are some common situations where users need to search email by date range between two dates in Outlook .msg files:
- Finding emails exchanged during a specific project.
- When collecting evidence for legal or compliance requirements.
- Reviewing customer conversations within a certain period.
- If locating invoices or purchase approvals.
- For auditing employee communications.
- When preparing records for internal investigations.
- And finding archived emails after Outlook data has been removed.
Instead of checking each file individually users just need to find all MSG files on a specific date range.
Can You Find Emails Between Two Dates in Outlook MSG Files Manually?
The answer is partially yes. If you only have a few MSG files then you can manually check their dates. However Windows and Outlook do not provide any built-in feature that you can use to search for Outlook .msg files by date range based on the email’s actual Sent Date or Received Date.
And Most of the manual methods only search file Windows properties such as:
- Date Created
- Date Modified
- And Date Accessed
These dates have nothing to do with when email was actually sent or received. For example if you copied an old MSG file to another computer yesterday then Windows may show yesterday’s modified date even though the email was originally sent three years ago.
So because of this Windows File Explorer cannot reliably locate your emails based on the actual email date.
Manual Method 1: Search by Windows File Date
If your Outlook .msg files were saved recently and Windows file dates match with email dates then you can perform a basic search.
Steps
- Open folder that contains your MSG files.
- Click Search box in File Explorer.
- And Type: datemodified:01/01/2026..01/31/2026
- Now Just Press Enter.
Windows will display files that were modified during that period.
Limitation: This method searches the file’s modified date only not the email’s Sent or Received date. If files have been copied, restored or moved then results may be inaccurate.
Manual Method 2: Open Every MSG File
You can check and use this another option to open each MSG file by using Outlook and for this you would need to:
- Open one MSG file.
- Check the Sent Date.
- Close it.
- And repeat for every remaining file.
This approach works well if you only have a limited number of emails and it will not suitable when you are dealing with a large file size like.
- 500 MSG files
- 5,000 MSG files
- 20,000 archived emails
It will quickly become impractical and simply increases the chances of missing important emails.
Problems with Manual Methods
Although manual methods are free but they become difficult when you have a large number of .msg files. Some of the common limitations you can check below in table and understand in details:
| Manual Method | Limitation |
|---|---|
| Windows Search | Searches file dates – not actual email dates |
| Outlook | Opens only one MSG file at a time |
| File Explorer | Cannot search email content |
| Manual review | It is slow and time consuming |
| Large archives | Difficult to manage |
| Finding specific conversations | Very time intensive |
For occasional use manual methods may be enough but for business archives, legal reviews or large Outlook exports you need a more efficient solution.
Faster Way to Find Emails Between Two Dates in Outlook MSG Files
If you regularly work with archived Outlook emails well manual methods quickly become frustrating for you as opening hundreds of Outlook MSG files one by one is not only slow but also increases the chances of missing important emails.
This is where you need a dedicated viewer.
For those who need to search email by date range between two dates in Outlook .msg files then SysTools MSG Viewer Pro Plus offering advanced search features which is specifically designed for this purpose. You can simply scan your MSG files once and search them using multiple filters.
The software allows you to search based on Date Range, From, To, CC, BCC, Subject, Email Body, Attachment Name, Attachment Content and many other email properties as well.
How to Search Outlook MSG Files by Date Range
After adding your MSG files into the software now you can simply start the search process by following these simple steps:
- Launch software and start the process.
- You can open and add a single MSG file or an entire folder.
- Allow the software to complete the scanning and indexing process.
- Click Advanced Search.
- Select the Date Range criteria.
- Choose the From and To dates.
- Add additional filters if needed such as Subject, Sender or Attachment.
- Run the search to display matching emails.
- You can preview results quickly.
- And print or export also save to your desired location.
Use AND and OR Operators for Advanced Searches
Many users need more than a simple keyword search and if you have a similar criteria then you can use this search filter to perform more advanced and accurate search.
For example:
- Find emails that contain Invoice AND Payment.
- Find emails that contain Contract OR Agreement.
- Search within a specific date range while also filtering by sender or recipient.
Advanced Search feature supports logical operators such as AND and OR that allow you to build more accurate searches across your large Outlook MSG archives.
Export or Print Only the Required Emails
After completing your search you may only need small portion of results so exporting entire mailbox you can selectively export matching emails into formats such as PDF, PST, EML, MSG and CSV.
Conclusion
If you need to find emails between two dates in Outlook MSG files then you can start with manual methods if you have a small .msg file and a limited number of emails. But if you have large MSG archives then only a dedicated tool will help you as suggested above. You can use advanced search solutions to locate right emails faster, improve accuracy and save your valuable time.
