Outlook 2015: How Can I Search a Folder and its Equivalent Archive Folder at the Same Time?

Outlook 2013 archives your old mail in the Archives area within a folder of the same name as its original location (for example, a message previously residing in an Inbox subfolder called "Board Items" will be moved to the Archives section to an Inbox subfolder also called "Board Items."

I need to be able to conduct a search from a folder in the main data store but have the scope include the equivalent folder in the Archives section.  Is that possible?  Changing the scope to All Mailboxes or Current Mailbox is too broad.

If this is not possible with the existing Outlook controls, it is possible to do it with VBA code?
Dave KongAsked:
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JohnBusiness Consultant (Owner)Commented:
I have a half dozen Archive folders with all the same folder names. Windows Index and Search integrates well with Outlook and finds what I am looking for in main or Archive or wherever in Outlook.

Make sure the OST file and the local Archive PST files are all in the same USERS folder and that this folder is included in the Index Location setup.
Alexei KuznetsovMicrosoft Outlook MVPCommented:
Unfortunately you can't.
Dave KongAuthor Commented:
Thanks for the comments.  John: I am not sure if you are referring to Outlook 2013 from the Office 365 Desktop suite.  The Archive area is part of the Outlook system online; it is not using local PSTs.
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JohnBusiness Consultant (Owner)Commented:
If your archives are online (I was not clear on that until you posted) then I do not know if you can search the way you wish. I use local files and the search works well there.
Dave KongAuthor Commented:
I've heard rumor that a third-party program may be able to search on the main folder and its archive equivalent at the same time, but I have not found it.
Alexei KuznetsovMicrosoft Outlook MVPCommented:
For some reason Microsoft gave us the only (too broad) option to search across all mailboxes (including online archives).  This may suite or may not. I really can't understand why we can't have some option to save search queries that allow us to select any storages (at least).
Dave KongAuthor Commented:
Thanks, Alex.  I am not finding an acceptable solution for this anywhere.
Dave KongAuthor Commented:
We have found a solution, and it is native within Outlook!  You can search a folder and its Online Archive equivalent, using keywords.  In the Outlook search window, enter:

- Keyword "Folder:":  Use this keyword to set the name of the folder
- Additional Keywords:  Use any other keywords to help narrow down your search
- Change the scope of the search from This Mailbox or This Folder to All Mailboxes

In my initial testing this has worked for most searches.  I had one instance where a search in this form did not find as many hits as searching in the Online Archive folder directly.  Not sure why that happened, but otherwise I am getting the desired results.

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Dave KongAuthor Commented:
This is the only solution I have found and it works in most cases (see above).  Giving myself a B since it is not 100%.
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