🤓 Tip: This article explains the email date fields available in automation search criteria and what each one tracks. Choosing the right field is essential for targeting the correct contacts.
Email Date Fields at a Glance
Field | What it tracks | Best used for |
Last received email date | The most recent date an inbound email was received from the contact (i.e. their reply or any incoming message). | Finding contacts who have (or haven't) responded recently. |
Last sent email date | The most recent date an outbound email was sent to the contact (i.e. your team's outgoing messages). | Finding contacts your team hasn't contacted in a set period — useful for re-engagement automations. |
Ignore year | Matches on day and month only, regardless of the year the activity occurred. | Recurring patterns such as anniversaries or seasonal outreach. |
Last Received Email Date
This field records the date the most recent inbound email arrived on a contact or client record - that is, a message sent by the contact to your team.
📌 Note: This field reflects email activity logged in the CRM, not emails received in your personal inbox.
Example use: Find all clients who haven't replied in the last 90 days by setting the condition to Last received email date is more than 90 days ago.
Last Sent Email Date
This field records the date the most recent outbound email was sent to the contact — that is, an email sent by your team.
Emails are tracked by this field when they are:
Sent through connected integrations such as Gmail or Microsoft 365.
Sent via automation email steps.
Logged as an email activity on the CRM record (including SendGrid emails, if logged back into the CRM).
⚠️ Important: Emails sent directly from SendGrid without being logged as an activity in the CRM will not be reflected in this field. Check your CRM record to confirm email activities are appearing before relying on this field in an automation.
Example use: Find all clients your team hasn't emailed in 183 days by setting the condition to Last sent email date is more than 183 days ago.
Ignore Year
When enabled on a date filter, Ignore year matches records based on the day and month only — the year is not considered.
This is useful when you want to find recurring patterns rather than activity in a specific calendar year. For example:
Contract anniversary outreach (same date each year, any year).
Seasonal re-engagement campaigns that recur annually.
Comparing activity on a particular date across multiple years.
📌 Note: Ignore year is not relevant for inactivity-based automations (e.g. 'no email in 183 days'). Use it only when the specific calendar day/month matters regardless of year.
🤔 FAQs
Q: Which field should I use to find contacts my team hasn't emailed recently? A: Use Last sent email date. This tracks outbound emails sent by your team. Set the condition to Last sent email date is more than [X] days ago.
Q: Do SendGrid emails update Last sent email date? A: Only if the SendGrid email is logged as an email activity on the CRM record. If it appears under the contact's activity log in the CRM, it will be picked up. If it exists only in SendGrid, it will not.
Q: What's the difference between Last received email date and Last sent email date? A: Last received tracks emails coming in from the contact. Last sent tracks emails your team has sent to the contact. For re-engagement automations, you almost always want Last sent email date.