Search for messages#

plans-img Available on all plans

deployment-img Cloud and self-hosted deployments

Use Fangout search to find messages, replies, and the file operations shared across all channels you’re a member of in your studio’s conversation history. You can also search by hashtags or perform more advanced searches using search modifiers.

Search for message and files#

Search for messages

  1. Select the Search field, select Messages, then enter your search criteria.

Use the Search field to search for messages.

  1. When message results display in the Search Results pane, select Jump to view a full message in context.

From search results, you can go to the full message by selecting Jump.

Search for file operations

File operation search is available as well. Select the Search field, select Operations, then type your search criteria.

Use the Search field to serach for files attached to messages.

File operation that match on file name, operation type are returned in the Search Results pane. Each search result includes file name, extension, and size details, as well as details about when and where the file was originally shared.

Filter results by file type

To narrow search results further, in the Search Results pane, select the File Type Filter option, then select specific file types, such as documents, spreadsheets, or images.

You can filter search results by file type.

Tip

Select the File Operations icon to the right of the channel name to access file operations recently shared in the current channel.

Use the Channel Files option to access recently shared files in the current channel.

To access files recently shared in a channel:

  • Select the Use the Channel Files icon to search for files attached to messages in a given channel. icon to the right of the channel name to access file operations recently shared in that channel.

  • Select the channel name, select the View Info Use the Channel Info icon to access additional channel management options. icon, then select Operations in the right pane.

Search modifiers#

You can apply search modifiers to any search to reduce the number of results returned. Select a search modifier to add it to the Search field. Supported modifiers are described below. Your search results include messages from all of your studios.

from: and in:#

  • Use from: to find messages or files from specific users.

    • For example, searching from:john.smith only returns content from your direct message history with John Smith.

  • Use in: to find messages or files posted in specific public channels, private channels, direct messages, or group messages. You can specify channels by display name or channel ID.

    • For example, searching Fangout in:town-square only returns results in the Town Square public channel that contains the term Fangout, while searching Fangout in:john.doe only returns results that contains the term Fangout in your direct message history with John Smith.

before:, after:, and on:#

  • Use before: to find messages or files posted before a specified date.

    • For example, searching website before: 2018-09-01 returns messages or files containing the term website posted prior to September 1, 2018.

  • Use after: to find messages or files posted after a specified date.

    • For example, searching website after: 2018-08-01 returns messages or files containing the term website posted after August 1, 2018.

  • Use both before: and after: together to search in a specified date range.

    • For example, searching website before: 2018-09-01 after: 2018-08-01 returns all messages or files containing the term website posted between August 1, 2018 and September 1, 2018.

  • Use on: to find messages or files posted on a specific date. Use the date picker to select a date, or type it in YYYY-MM-DD format.

    • For example, searching website on: 2018-09-01 returns messages or files containing the term website posted on September 1, 2018.

    Select the on modifier to specify messages or files for a specific a date.

Exclusions#

Use the hyphen - symbol to exclude terms from your search results. For example, searching test -release only returns results that include the term test and exclude the term release.

This exclusion modifier can be used in combination with other modifiers to further refine search results. For example, searching test -release -in:release-discussion -from:eric returns all results with the term test, excludes posts with the term release, excludes posts made in the release-discussion channel, and excludes messages sent in direct messages by eric.

Quotation marks#

Use quotation marks " " to return search results for exact terms. For example, searching "Fangout website" returns messages containing the exact phrase Fangout website, but doesn’t return results containing Fangout and website as separate terms.

Wildcards#

Use the asterisk * symbol at the end of the word to perform a wildcard search. The wildcard search returns all words that begin with the specified letters. The wildcard in search cannot be used at the beginning or in the middle of a word. For example, searching rea* returns messages or files containing words like reach, reason, reality, real, and other words starting with rea. However, searches like *each and re*ch are invalid wildcard searches.

Hashtags#

Hashtags are searchable labels for messages. Anyone can create a hashtag in a message by using the pound sign # followed by alphanumeric or other unicode characters. Hashtag examples include: #bug, #marketing, #user_testing, #per.iod, #check-in, #마케팅.

Valid hashtags:

  • Don’t start with a number.

  • Are at least three characters long, excluding the #.

  • Are made up of alphanumeric or other unicode characters.

  • May contain dots, dashes, or underscores.

To search for messages containing hashtags, select a hashtag in an existing post, or type the hashtag (including the pound # symbol) into the search bar.

Note

Hashtags don’t link to channels. If you have a channel named “Marketing”, selecting a #marketing hashtag does not take you to the Marketing channel. To link to public channels, use the tilde ~ symbol followed by the channel name. For example ~marketing.

Notes about performing Fangout searches#

  • Multiple-word searches return results that contain all of your search criteria.

  • Search modifiers can help narrow down searches. See the search modifiers section for details.

  • Like many search engines, common words such as the, which, and are (known as “stop words”), as well as two-letter and one-letter search terms, are not shown in search results because they typically return too many results. See the Technical notes about searching section below for details.

  • IP addresses (e.g. 10.100.200.101) don’t return results.