Outlook Email Watch vs. Search

Hello,

I have a scenario that I would like to trigger when an email is received with specific phrases in the subject. I know how to filter for the messages I want using the subject field, but need help with the trigger.

My scenario currently uses a Microsoft 365 Email search module that I have scheduled to run every 2 hours. I would like the scenario to be triggered when the email is received. I see that there is a “Watch” function in the M365 Email module but I note that it too is subject to a scheduling setting so it isn’t going to trigger any faster than what I can specify with the “Search” function. They appear to have the same options.

I have read that the “watch” function will only process “new” email, but I haven’t seen an explanation of what defines a new email. I don’t know if that means unread, or is make.com storing a record of message IDs and comparing that with email in a folder?

In testing the Watch function it is behaving oddly: it is returning the oldest email it finds that matches my search criteria. I don’t see where I can specify that it watch from a certain date forward or that it reverse sort the email by date received.

I promise I’ll keep my inquiries concise, but if anyone has experience with the Microsoft 365 Email module, I’d be grateful to exchange a few messages to get a better understanding of how the functions within it are different and how they should be configured to achieve this. It could be a good reference for others in the future since the module documentation does not provide this information.

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Hi @Scott_Snyder ,

The Watch modules will perform a search, similar to the “Search” module, but will only return any records that have changed since the last run—so Make.com does internally store when the module was last run.

They are a type of polling trigger (https://www.make.com/en/help/modules/types-of-modules#polling-triggers):

To return more than 1 email, change the “Maximum number of results” option within the module to a higher number.

To choose to only see emails after a certain date, right-click on the Module and select “Choose where to start”—you’ll then see options to only return emails from now on, or after a certain date etc.

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