Search in Slack
Accessing the right information in Slack is key to working smarter, faster, and more productively. Search your team’s conversation history in Slack to find the relevant messages, files, channels, and people you need to get work done.
Tip: Type ⌘G (Mac) or CtrlG (Windows/Linux) to start a new search, or use ⌘F (Mac) or CtrlF (Windows/Linux) from a channel or direct message (DM) to search in a specific conversation.
Start a search
Desktop
iOS
Android
- Click the search field at the top of Slack.
- Select a filter if you'd like, then type what you’re looking for into the search field and along with any modifiers you’d like to include.
- Click a suggested search result from the list to open it in Slack, or press Enter to view all results.
- Tap the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of the app.
- Type your search terms. You can also type search modifiers along with your query to filter your results, if you'd like.
- Tap Messages or Files. (You can toggle between these options when viewing your search results, too.)
- Tap Search on your device's keyboard.
- Tap the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of the app.
- Type your search terms. You can also type search modifiers along with your query to filter your results, if you'd like.
- Tap Messages or Files. (You can toggle between these options when viewing your search results, too.)
- Tap the magnifying glass on your device's keyboard.
Add search modifiers
Search modifiers narrow the scope of what you’re looking for in Slack. Use a single modifier or combine multiple modifiers to help you find information more quickly. If you're not sure which modifiers to use, you can filter your search results.
Search modifiers
| Description | Modifiers | Examples |
| Search for info shared by someone | from:@display name | from:@sara |
| Search a specific channel or DM |
in:channel name |
in:#team-marketing in:@sara |
| Search for DMs sent to you | to:@your display name | to:@anna |
| Search a date or time frame |
before:date |
before:4/12/2019 |
|
Search for a specific emoji reaction |
has::emoji-code: |
has::white_check_mark: |
| Search for something that's pinned, saved, or has a link |
has:pin |
Tip: To search for specific dates, use MM/DD/YYYY or MM-DD-YYYY formatting in the United States, or use YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY-MM-DD if you’re outside the U.S. You can also use these keywords: yesterday, today, week, month, or year.
Filter your search results
To help you search in Slack, filter your results to find exactly what you need. Keep in mind that the desktop app offers more filtering options than the mobile apps.
Desktop
iOS
Android
When you search in Slack, you can select one of four filters just below the search field to show only one type of results: Messages, Files, Channels, and People.
Messages
See all messages in Slack that fit your search criteria. Just above the search results, you can use the dropdown menu to sort results by relevance or recency. When you hover over a result, click View in channel to jump to the original message, or click the link icon to copy a link to the message.
Files
Search will scan all files you have access to in your workspace and you’ll see results that match either a file’s title or content. Just above the search results, you can use the dropdown menu to sort results by relevance or recency. Click a file to open it, or hover over it for additional options.
Note: If an image of a file, like a PDF, is uploaded to Slack, the file content cannot be indexed and it will not show up in file search results.
Channels
Search for channels by name, description, or subject (like "marketing" or "redesign project"). Just above the search results, you can use the dropdown menu to sort results alphabetically or by relevance, date created, or member count (most to least). Click a result to open the channel in Slack.
People
Search for people you work with by name, title, profile information, email address, and the things they discuss. Just above the search results, you can use the dropdown menu to sort results alphabetically or by relevance. When you hover over a result, click Message to send someone a DM, or click View Profile.
Tip: You can also filter people results by profile fields. Keep in mind that Workspace Owners and Admins can choose which profile fields are available as search filters.
More filter options
Once you’ve run a search and selected a result type, you can filter your results further. Depending on your search result type, you may be able to filter results with the following options:
- Shared by: Search for messages or files shared by a specific person.
- Shared in: Search for messages or files shared in a specific conversation.
- Type: Search for specific types of files, accounts, or channels.
- Date shared: Search for messages or files shared within a date range.
- Workspace: Search for messages, files, people, or channels in a specific workspace.*
* Workspace will only display if you’re a member of an Enterprise Grid organization.
After performing a search, you can filter your results:
- Tap Messages or Files to narrow your results.
- Tap Newest in the top right, then tap Most relevant or Most recent.
After performing a search, you can filter your results:
- Tap Messages or Files to narrow your results.
- Tap Newest in the top right, then tap Most relevant or Newest messages.
Additional search tips
- After searching, you'll see a list of results that match your search terms and any close matches. For example, if you search for report, you may get results that include reports or reporting.
- Use quotation marks to only see results for a specific word or phrase, ex., "reports."
- Add an asterisk to a partial word with at least three characters to see results that begin with those specific letters, ex., rep* may show results for reply or report.
- Add a dash in front of a specific word to see search results without that word. ex., design and budget -report will show results for design and budget that do not contain the word report.
- Slack may attempt to find fuzzy searches, like fixing misspelled words. Any fuzzy search results will show up in a Related Results section.