After giving this a lot more thought and consideration I decided that the preferred method in this case would definitely be teaching the search operators. This client is a reasonably good typist and I think the operators themselves are easier to remember than the keystroke sequences. This is what I've put in her step-by-step instruction sheet:
Microsoft Outlook Using Advanced Search features to find specific e-mail messages, step-by-step: 1. Navigate to the folder in Outlook that you wish to search for specific messages, e.g., inbox, sent, etc. Make sure you’re in that folder for the correct e-mail account you wish to search, too. 2. Hit CTRL+E to get yourself in to the search edit box 3. Type in the following search operators, in whatever combination is appropriate to narrow down the messages returned to as few as possible, but without eliminating messages you might want: a. to() – Enter a partial or full name or e-mail address between the parenthesis. For example, to(britechguy), would return only messages sent to the person with “britechguy” as part of their e-mail address. b. from() – Same as to(), but looks at who the e-mail was from instead. c. hasattachments:yes|no – If you enter “yes” after the hasattachments: operator only messages that have attachments will be returned. If you enter “no” then only messages without attachments will be returned. d. subject() – Enter a keyword or several keywords that will be searched for in the Subject of the e-mail. Only those messages with the keyword(s) in the subject will be returned. e. received: - Used to filter messages based on when you received them. Immediately after the colon on the received: operator you will enter one of the following words or two-word phrases i. today ii. yesterday iii. this week iv. last week v. this month vi. last month vii. this year viii. last year
