Search and pinned messages
Find a message in a chat by its text, sender or date, and pin important messages so everyone in the chat can get back to them. To find people instead, see Search.
Search a chat
Section titled “Search a chat”- In the chat, select Search messages.
- Type in Search in chat.
- To narrow the results, choose a filter:
- Content searches message text. This is the default.
- Username shows messages from one member. You can also type text to search only their messages.
- Date limits results to a date range. Choose the dates, then select Done.
- Select a result to jump to it in the chat. Select Search older to look further back.
Results include thread replies, marked Thread. Search covers the first 16,384 characters of each message or reply.
In the desktop app, click the search button in the conversation header or press ⌘F (Ctrl+F on Linux), type your search, and click Search. The desktop app searches message text in the main conversation only, without person or date filters. Click More results to see more.
Jump to a message
Section titled “Jump to a message”Selecting a search result, a pinned message, a mention in Activity, a bookmark, a message link or a notification opens the chat at that message and highlights it. To get back to the newest messages, select Scroll to latest message. In a thread, select the thread’s title to jump to the original message in the chat.
In the desktop app, search results, pinned messages, mentions and bookmarks open in a side panel beside the conversation, and message links open in your web browser.
If the message was deleted or you no longer have access to it, you see Message unavailable. Select Open conversation to open the chat instead.
Pin a message
Section titled “Pin a message”Any member can pin messages in a chat’s main conversation, and everyone in the chat sees the pins. Thread replies can’t be pinned. A chat can have up to 50 pinned messages.
Long-press a message (desktop: open its ⋯ menu) and choose the pin option. Pinned messages are marked in the chat. When a chat already has 50 pins, the app offers to replace the oldest one, except in the desktop app.
| Platform | Pin | Unpin | When a chat has 50 pins |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone | Pin Message | Unpin Message | Replace oldest |
| Android | Pin | Unpin | Replace |
| Desktop | Pin to chat | Unpin from chat | Shows an error. Unpin a message first. |
| Web | Pin | Unpin | Replace Oldest |
See pinned messages
Section titled “See pinned messages”Select Chat info > Shared content > Pinned Messages. Each pin shows who sent the message and who pinned it. Select a pin to jump to the message, or use its unpin button to remove the pin.
In the desktop app, click Pinned messages in the conversation header.