An office may file a supplier's messages under both current jobs and completed work, yet need one place to review that supplier's correspondence. A Thunderbird Saved Search can provide that view without moving the messages into a new project folder.

Define the view before creating it

Write down the exact folders that should contribute results. Include two known matching messages in different folders and one similar message that should stay outside the result. These examples will reveal a mistaken folder selection more reliably than a plausible-looking total.

Choose File, New, Saved Search. Give the view a recognisable name, select where it should appear, and use Choose to select its source folders. The location of the Saved Search itself does not define which folders it searches.

Enter a narrow rule, such as a known sender address. If there are several conditions, choose whether every condition must match or any one is sufficient. For a supplier plus project identifier, using any condition could include unrelated correspondence from that supplier.

The results are the actual underlying messages. Marking one read or deleting it affects that message in its original location; the view is not a spare copy. Deleting the Saved Search folder itself removes the view without deleting those messages.

Check membership and message identity

Open each of the two expected examples in the results and compare its sender, subject and date with the source folder. Confirm that the deliberately excluded example is absent. If a result is missing, inspect the selected source folders before broadening the matching rule.

On a harmless witness message, note its read state, change that state through the Saved Search, and look at the original folder. Restore the initial state afterwards. This demonstrates the shared message without using deletion as an experiment.

Keep the view's name tied to its real scope, such as the particular project folders included. If another project folder is created later, review the source selection before relying on the search as a complete supplier history. A useful view needs a maintained definition, not simply an attractive name.

Sources: Thunderbird documentation.