This is a _serious_ deficiency in ability to use virtual folders .. allow search and virtual folder terms for "To or CC" "is in Address Book..." and "is not in Address Book..." xref filter bug 187768. Feel free to make dependent, but please don't dupe these.

xref also bug 161338 (my prior search criteria didn't pick it up)

In spite of your request to not dupe this to bug 187768, didn't the fix for that bug also fix this bug?

It is available from quick search, save search as a folder. But not available in advanced search.

I'm not sure what you mean by "advanced search". Can you tell me precisely the menu item you mean by that?

edit, find, search messages. "advanced search" is something I picked up some time ago and use liberally, perhaps incorrectly. However, it clearly distinguishes from quick search, which many people describe, incorrectly, search messages. And it is referenced as "advanced" in various places, such as http://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Help_Documentation:Finding_Information_in_Messages#More_Advanced_Searches

Edit/Find/Search does allow To or CC in address Book on my system. It should not behave any differently from other ways of entering search. Are you selecting the folder prior to entering search terms? To or CC in address book will not work for online IMAP. Is that the issue here? I'd like to be able to reproduce your symptoms, but I would need some more detailed instructions.

(In reply to comment #6) > Are you selecting the folder prior to entering search terms? > > To or CC in address book will not work for online IMAP. Is that the issue here? bingo. a) imap + online b) (bug) if search dialog open before going offline, then is/isn't in AB isn't offered until a folder switch is made. conversely a) filter dialog presents is/isn't in AB at all times b) ditto quick search. IOW 1. imap, online 2. type "test" in quicksearch 3. select "save search as a folder" 4. pick from: or to: result: (bug?) is/isn't in AB is offered as a choice even if "search online" is checked

(In reply to comment #7) > > a) filter dialog presents is/isn't in AB at all times Filters are always offline > b) ditto quick search. IOW 1. imap, online 2. type "test" in quicksearch 3. > select "save search as a folder" 4. pick from: or to: result: (bug?) is/isn't > in AB is offered as a choice even if "search online" is checked > That may be bug 438777

I would expect our switch to offline-imap-by-default (which really means, to a large degree, online-imap-never) would fix this. It's possible I'm wrong here, though...

I believe our defaults for saved searches is already to search offline, so switching to offline imap by default for other things won't have any effect here. The actual issue is that we can't mix online and offline search criteria in a single search, which is what we'd need to be able to mix online imap search criteria with criteria that have to be offline (e.g., in address book)

Wayne, is there any problem left here? I do see 'is in addressbook rule' on my IMAP account when using Edit/Find/Search. If ticking 'server search', the option becomes unavailable.

(In reply to :aceman from comment #11) > Wayne, is there any problem left here? What I'm looking for is WFM. Thanks.