How to Search in Teams (Messages, Files and People)

Someone sent you that spreadsheet. Or was it a link? And was it in the project chat or the channel? Teams search can find it, if you know how to narrow things down.

1. Click the search box at the very top of Teams, or press Ctrl + E (Command + E on a Mac).
2. Type a word or a name and press Enter.
3. Click the tabs at the top of the results: All, Messages, People, Files, Group chats and Teams and channels.

On the Messages tab, click Filters (or the funnel icon) to narrow by:

• From — who sent it
• Date — today, this week, a date range
• Type — chats or channels
• Chats and channels — a specific conversation
• Has — attachments, links, or messages that @mention you

The Files tab has its own filters for file type, who shared it and where.

Open the chat or channel and press Ctrl + F (Command + F on a Mac). Results stay inside that conversation, which is quicker when you know where something was said.

Type a name in the search box. The person appears at the top; click them to open your chat. Typing a name also works for finding a channel or team.

• Put a phrase in "quotes" to match it exactly.
• Type / in the search box to see commands: /files shows your recent files, /unread your unread messages, /mentions everything you were @mentioned in, /goto jumps to a chat or channel.
• Type @name to go straight to a chat with that person.

Click a message result and Teams opens the conversation with that message highlighted. Click a file result and it opens in Teams; the Open in option on the file lets you open it in the full app or its folder.

I can't find a message I know exists. Spelling matters, and search doesn't look inside attachments or images. Try a different word from the message, or filter by sender and date.

Old messages are missing. Your organisation may delete chats after a set time. Anything older than that is gone.

Files from a private chat don't show. Only files you have access to appear. If someone shared a link to their OneDrive without giving you permission, search can't open it.

Search is slow or returns nothing. Sign out and back in, or clear the Teams cache.

Ctrl + E searches everything, Ctrl + F searches the chat you're in, and Filters cut the results down by person and date. Learn /unread and /mentions and you'll never trawl your activity feed again.