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How to search within Slack to access information faster in your team? Step by step guide

To search within Slack to access the information in your work team faster it is convenient that you continue reading this article until the end. We will show you how use search modifiers and filters appropriately.

But this is not all you will find, we will also teach you the step by step to quickly and easily use search modifiers.

Finally, you will discover how to filter information in searches for Slack to make them more accurate and efficient. Don’t miss out on tips and tricks to better search your workspace!

Slack Search Modifiers and Filters What are they and what are they for?

Being Slack a platform in which not only direct messages from your co-workers or from a channel converge, but also actions that are related to external tools that are integrated, you probably have hundreds (and maybe thousands) of messages on your profile. This can cause inconveniences when looking for a conversation within this large group of chats.

For this reason, so that you can quickly and accurately find the message you are looking for, Slack offers users filter function, with which you will be able to find general results of related conversations.

But this is not all, to improve work efficiency, there is another much more accurate alternative you can use, called Search modifiers. This feature further refines the results (obtained by filters) through combinations of different factors to find the conversations you need much faster. Based on this, when you want to search for a message by sender’s name or subject, it is convenient to use this function.

Learn step by step how to use Slack search modifiers quickly and easily

Once we have analyzed what and what are Slack’s search modifiers for, it is time to learn how to use them to increase work efficiency within this platform.

Pay attention to each of the steps that we show you below:

Learn how search modifiers work

The first thing to know is how modifiers work. These are commands that are added in the search function to activate a window in which you must write a parameter, which allows determining what kind of action the search modifier will do.

The commands are entered, in this case, with the name of the action that is desired, followed by 2 points and then (leaving no space) the extension is added. For example, in the search bar you will have to enter in:[escribir el nombre del canal en el que se desea realizar la búsqueda].

Learn all the modifiers you have available

Learn all the modifiers you have available

Once you know how modifiers work, is the moment that you know what are the advanced filters you have to perform your searches with more precision.

These are:

  • from: @ Slack username. You will be able to use this modifier when you need to find a conversation that a certain person sent you. You must bear in mind that to use this tool you will have to be sure that it was that User Nick who sent you the chat.
  • in: channel name. In this case, the information you will seek will be delimited in a specific channel of the work group.
  • in: @slack name. As in the previous case, you can search for a conversation within the name of a user. This variable is important when one remembers exactly who has mentioned a topic, or if that person has commented on something specific.
  • to: @your username in Slack. With this command you will search for direct messages that you have received.
  • before: MM / DD / YYYY. You are going to use this modifier when you want to find messages that you received or sent before a certain date. You can also use after: MM / DD / YYYY, when: MM / DD / YYYY or during:[escribir el mes o el año]. In addition to this, you can use year, Yesterday, today, month and week to refine your search.
  • includes :: emoji-code:. This search will return the results of conversations that contain a certain emoji.
  • includes: pin. You should use this search modifier when you want to find conversations that are marked with a pin.
  • it is saved. If what you are looking for is a message that you have previously saved, you will have to use this command.
  • includes: link. It is necessary to use this modifier when you are looking for information that contains a link.
  • Other modifiers. You can also use Shared by:; Shared in:; Type: (to search files or any item exactly); Date it was shared: and Work space:.

Activate the filter tool

For the determinants to work, it is necessary enable search or filter tool. If you want to access it, you should look at the top of the screen, click on the field in the bar and then press Enter or the magnifying glass. You can also do it by pressing Ctrl + G from Windows or Linux, or by pressing the keys Command + G from a Mac (if you do it from a mobile you will have to press the magnifying glass).

Type the search modifier

What remains to be done is to choose the modifier that you need most in the search bar and then press the key Enter. You will see a new window with the results divided into several categories; Messages, Files, Channels and People. In addition, you can activate the boxes Search only in my channels and Hide apps, bots, and workflows.

Discover how to filter information in Slack searches to make them more accurate and efficient

We will show you below how to filter the information you need in each search you do in Slack, this will make them more accurate and efficient.

Let’s get started:

On mobile

On mobile

On your Android device you will have to follow this step by step:

  • Once you open the application you will have to go to the upper right part of the screen and look for the icon represented by a magnifying glass.
  • When you click on the function Look for write the keywords that will represent your exploration. In this step you can also use the search modifiers to further filter the results.
  • Press in the magnifying glass keyboard to Activate the function.
  • Choose any of the tabs, Records or Messages, according to what you are looking for. That is, if it is a conversation you will have to choose the second option, while if it is a document you should lean towards the first alternative.

If you are using Slack from an iPhone or iPad, then you will have to do the same process as you We indicate for Android.

In the computer

When you need to search for information on your Windows or Linux computer, you should do the following:

  • At the top of the screen you will find a search bar. Take the mouse pointer to that area and click on it to activate it.
  • Write the words you want to find or enter the search modifiers you need. You can also choose a filter to improve results.
  • When you finish you will have to press the key Enter so that the messages and files that contain the keywords appear.

From your Mac you will do the same steps to filter the information in searches.

Tips and tricks for better searches in your Slack workspace

So you can get the most out of Slack you will need to continue reading. We will show you the best tricks and tips that you should keep in mind when searching on the platform.

See below:

Use double quotes

Use double quotes

This typographic sign help you get results that match specific terms search, as well as with words close to what you are looking for. For example, if you write “analysis” you will have as results messages and files that include the word “analysis”, but they will also appear to you “cash analysis”, “daily money flow analysis”, etc.

Use an asterisk to complete words

When you need to get in the results words that start with certain letters you can use an asterisk to improve the search. This technique is ideal when you can’t remember what a specific word or file was called. You can use it as the following example, enter in the search bar Ana* and they will appear as results analysis or anatomy.

Add a hyphen to remove a word

If you hyphenate a word when searching for files or direct messages, Slack It will show you all the related results that do not contain that word. For example, if you write analysis -box, you’ll see “daily money flow analysis”, but will exclude “cash analysis”, we continue with the previous example.