I tend to just use words and names. So if it's a contract I had with SomeCorp, I'll search SomeCorp contract. If that has too many results, I'll use the operato

I tend to just use words and names. So if it's a contract I had with SomeCorp, I'll search SomeCorp contract. If that has too many results, I'll use the operators to scope it to a certain date or a certain sender, etc. I'm not sure I've ever searched for a phrase in email, it's always the "context" around what I'm looking for instead (a bit like regular Web searching). Gmail is particularly good at that though compared to normal clients.