The Quick Filter toolbar helps you limit the number of messages that are displayed in the message list. It can be used, for example, to only show messages from the specific sender, messages containing a specific word or messages with attachments.
The Quick Filter toolbar is displayed above the message lists. You can show or hide it by clicking the 
Quick Filter button in your toolbar or with the keyboard shortcut Esc to hide it and Ctrl + Shift + KCommand + Shift + K to bring it back.
After you enter filter terms in the search box, you will be given the option to apply the filter to the Sender, Recipients, Subject and/or Body of the messages in the list. (Click the relevant buttons to apply the filter.)
The buttons on the left side of the toolbar can be used on their own or combined with words entered in the filter field.
The buttons have the following functions:
| Filter | Function |
| Keep the same filter parameters when changing to another mail folder. |
| Shows all the unread emails. | |
| Shows emails that have been starred. | |
| Shows emails from people in your address book. | |
| Shows emails that have been tagged. See below for full details. | |
| Show emails with attachments. |
Searching for multiple tags
If you have tagged some emails using Thunderbird and click on , you will see all the tags displayed to the right of the drop down menu on the left. Using this drop down menu, you will be able to search for multiple tags in the following three ways:
- search for all emails tagged with any of the highlighted tags by clicking on and then clicking on one or more tags to highlight the desired tags
- search for all emails tagged with all of of the highlighted tags by clicking on and then clicking on one or more tags to highlight the desired tags
- exclude messages having certain tags from your search results by right-clicking on the tag (you'll see a strike-through-effect on the tag's button; the meaning is "must not have this tag")
