diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 7afef15..565d6e2 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ module.exports = MailListener;
 function MailListener(options) {
   this.markSeen = !!options.markSeen;
   this.mailbox = options.mailbox || "INBOX";
+  this.searchFilter = options.searchFilter || "UNSEEN";
   this.fetchUnreadOnStart = !!options.fetchUnreadOnStart;
   this.mailParserOptions = options.mailParserOptions || {},
   this.imap = new Imap({
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ function imapMail() {
 
 function parseUnread() {
   var self = this;
-  this.imap.search([ 'UNSEEN' ], function(err, results) {
+  this.imap.search([ self.searchFilter ], function(err, results) {
     if (err) {
       self.emit('error',err);
     } else if(results.length > 0) {
@@ -83,4 +84,4 @@ function parseUnread() {
       });
     }
   });
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 84cb46b..e33e23e 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ var mailListener = new MailListener({
   tls: true,
   tlsOptions: { rejectUnauthorized: false },
   mailbox: "INBOX", // mailbox to monitor
+  searchFilter: "UNSEEN", // the search filter being used after an IDLE notification has been retrieved
   markSeen: true, // all fetched email willbe marked as seen and not fetched next time
   fetchUnreadOnStart: true, // use it only if you want to get all unread email on lib start. Default is `false`,
   mailParserOptions: {streamAttachments: true} // options to be passed to mailParser lib.
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ mailListener.on("mail", function(mail){
 });
 
 // it's possible to access imap object from node-imap library for performing additional actions. E.x.
-mailListener.imap.move(:msguids, :mailboxes, function(){}) 
+mailListener.imap.move(:msguids, :mailboxes, function(){})
 
 ```