diff --git a/frontend/src/components/webmail/EmailList.vue b/frontend/src/components/webmail/EmailList.vue
index f7141ff05..45da064a2 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/webmail/EmailList.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/webmail/EmailList.vue
@@ -228,9 +228,7 @@ const autoRefreshContent = () => {
 }
 
 const submitSearch = () => {
-  if (search.value) {
-    fetchEmails()
-  }
+  fetchEmails()
 }
 
 const toggleAllSelection = (value) => {
diff --git a/modoboa/webmail/lib/imaputils.py b/modoboa/webmail/lib/imaputils.py
index 706e6ebc0..cfc9adbd6 100644
--- a/modoboa/webmail/lib/imaputils.py
+++ b/modoboa/webmail/lib/imaputils.py
@@ -301,8 +301,8 @@ class IMAPconnector:
                 key = "SUBJECT"
             else:
                 continue
-            criterions = or_criterion(criterions, f"({key} {pattern})")
-        self.criterions = [bytearray(criterions, "utf-8")]
+            criterions = or_criterion(criterions, f'({key} "{pattern}")')
+        self.criterions = [bytearray(criterions, "utf8")]
 
     def messages_count(self, **kwargs) -> int:
         """An enhanced version of messages_count.