You can find an old email without remembering the right search words, because you describe what you are looking for and Drift does the searching.
Step 1: Connect Drift to iMessage. In Drift, open Messaging, add the number you text from, and send the first text Drift writes for you to Drift’s own number. It works on every plan, Free included. If Drift’s number is full, connect your own Photon project by pasting its Project ID and Project Secret, then text the 10-digit pairing code to your agent’s number. That takes about ten minutes the first time, and the full walkthrough is in the iMessage setup guide. Once your phone is paired, only your phone reaches your agent.
Step 2: Describe what you are looking for. Text the question you actually have, such as “what did the finance thread from March say about the renewal?”. You do not need the sender’s address or the exact subject, because Drift works out the search from your description.
Step 3: Get the answer, not just the email. Drift searches twelve months of your own mail history and texts back what the thread said. When it has not indexed far enough back to answer, it says so instead of reporting that nothing exists.
Why describing beats searching. Email search only works when you remember the exact words that were in the message, which is usually the thing you have forgotten. Describing what you want, such as the email where someone confirmed the price, is how people actually remember things, so it is a better starting point for the search. The difference between “there is nothing” and “I cannot see that far back” is important here. Drift tells you which one it is, which means an empty answer can be trusted instead of checked again by hand.
"What did the finance thread from March say about the renewal?" — Drift searches your mail history for the thread and texts back what it found.
"When did Jordan say the contract would be ready?" — Drift finds the message and tells you the date Jordan gave and when they said it.