How to Use an Email Address to Find Someone on Facebook

Written by Travis Boylls

Last Updated: December 9, 2024 Tested

This wikiHow guide teaches you how to look up a person on Facebook by using their email address. Be aware that not all users can be found via email address. The person you're searching for must have their email address set to Public, and they must have their "Who can look you up using the email address you provided?" privacy option set to "Everyone".^{[1]
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Search For Someone on Facebook Using an Email Address

You can search for someone by email address if they've made their email address public in their settings. To search, just type the email address into the search bar at the top of Facebook (tap the magnifying glass first if using the mobile app), type the email address, and press Enter or Return.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

On Mobile

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1
Open Facebook. Tap the Facebook app icon, which resembles a white "f" on a dark-blue background. This will open your News Feed page if you're logged in.
- If you aren't logged into Facebook, enter your email address and password when prompted before proceeding.
It's the icon that resembles a magnifying glass. It's in the upper-right corner of the app. This displays a search bar at the top of the screen.

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It's the "Search" text box at the top of the screen. Doing so will bring up your smartphone's on-screen keyboard.
4
Enter an email address. Type in the email address that you want to use to search for a person.
- You’ll have to type it completely, as Facebook cannot search for a partial email address.
It's in a drop-down menu below the "Search" text box. Doing so will search Facebook for profiles matching the email address.
6
Review the search results. If the email address belongs to someone on Facebook, their profile will appear in the search results.
- You can click their profile to view it, or click Add Friend to add them directly from the search results.
- If the search returns no results, the person may use another email address for Facebook , or they may have changed their privacy settings in such a way that their email address is not searchable.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

On Desktop

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1
Go to https://www.facebook.com in a web browser. This will open your News Feed if you're logged in.
- If you aren't logged into Facebook, enter your email address and password to log in before proceeding.
It's the text box that says "Search Facebook". It's in the upper-right corner.
3
Enter an email address. Type in the email address that you want to use to search for a person.
- You’ll have to type it completely, as Facebook cannot search for a partial email address.
It's at the top of the "Filters" menu to the left. Doing so will search Facebook for all profiles matching the email address.
5
Review the results. If the email address belongs to someone on Facebook, their profile will appear in the search results.
- You can click their profile to view it, or click Add Friend to add them directly from the search results.
- If the search returns no results, the person may use another email address for Facebook , or they may have changed their privacy settings in such a way that their email address is not searchable.^{[2]
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Community Q&A

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Question

Can you use somebody's date of birth to find them on facebook?

Community Answer

There's no way to do this on Facebook, though it was once possible with Graph Search.

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Question

How do I cancel my Facebook account if I don't remember the password and no longer have access to my email address?

Community Answer

When attempting to sign in to Facebook, click "Forgot your account?" or "Can't log in?" at the top of the page, then follow the steps to recover your password. You'll have the ability to select "No longer have access to these" when prompted to enter your email address.

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Thank you for your feedback.
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