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Viewing and Searching Messages - Auditor

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This article refers to the Barracuda Message Archiver firmware version 5.0 or higher.

Punctuation is treated as white space in search strings with the following exceptions:

  • Email addresses and Internet hostnames – Treated as single searchable tokens. 
    Example: user1@mycompany.com is treated as a single searchable token.
  • Period (.) – When not followed by whitespace, a period is treated as part of a word.
    Example: 1.2 is treated as a single searchable token.
  • Hyphen (-) – When a token containing a hyphen also contains a number, the complete item is treated as a part of the number. 
    Examples:
    MD-1800 is considered a searchable word, including the hyphen.
    hyphen-madness is treated as two words ("hyphen" "madness") with the hyphen treated as whitespace.

Message Search

Searches are the main tools for the Barracuda Message Archiver, and can be made on virtually every aspect of a message including:

  • message body content
  • recipients and senders
  • attachment type and content
  • date

Searches can only be made over messages to which the Auditor has read access, so privacy is always preserved. Use the Basic Search page for quick one-time searches, or go to the Advanced Search page for a full array of search options including complex search queries and the ability to save searches. Saved Searches are the basis for Policy Alerts, used by Auditors and administrators to monitor compliance, and Retention Policies, to purge messages from the Barracuda Message Archiver that are older than a specified date.

Viewing a Message

The BASIC > Search page of Barracuda Message Archiver initially displays a list of the archived messages that are accessible to the viewing account. The Search page displays basic information about a message such as senders and recipients, date, subject, and size. You can view the contents of a message in one of two ways:

  • the Preview Pane
  • the Message Details window

The Auditor role can be configured to have access to all mail, or to mail that meets specific patterns configured by the Administrator. For more information, refer to How to Manage User Accounts and Roles. Contact your system administrator for details on your specific setup.

A single click on any message in the Search results sends it to the embedded Preview Pane for viewing. Double-click on a message to view it in a separate Message Details popup window. Both methods offer the ability to view the message as the sender intended for it to be viewed, as well as the underlying message source code. You can also select the character set to use for a particular message which can be especially useful when viewing a poorly formatted message that does not declare an appropriate charset. You can download each viewable message to your desktop as an .eml file.

Executing a Search

Searches can be executed from either the Basic Search or the Advanced Search pages. Both modes are available to all users who have the ability to search through messages, but only the Advanced Search page offers the ability to perform complex queries and create a Saved Search for use in Policy Alertsand Retention Policies. Once you have designed a search from the Advanced Search page that locates the desired messages, you can save and name the search for re-execution at a later time. A list of all such Saved Searches and their definitions are available on the POLICY > Alerts page and each one can be performed from that page as well as the Advanced Search page. For more information, refer to Saved Searches and Litigation Holds.

Basic Search

The Basic Search interface accepts a word or phrase on which to search, and returns all available messages that contain the specified text in either the header or message body. This mode is useful when searching for that handful of emails to or from someone on a specific topic, or when looking for any message that contains a particular phrase. These are one-time searches as these cannot be saved for later use.

Advanced Search

You can perform more complex searches from the Advanced Search interface. This mode offers the ability to combine and negate multiple search parameters, save a particular combination of search parameters for future use, and execute any such Saved Search. You can search for messages in a variety of ways including:

  • specifying a Natural Language or keyword expression as the search string
  • limiting the scope of a search to specific parts of a message
  • identifying messages that have a specific attribute, such as an attachment or an image
  • restricting the search base to outbound, inbound, or internal messages only
  • going only through those sent to or from specific email addresses, or those sent between specific dates