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zulip/templates/zerver/help/search-for-messages.md

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Searching for messages

Zulip has a powerful search engine under its hood. Search for messages using the search bar at the top of the app.

Basics

Here's an example of a search query in the app: stream:design has:link -is:starred new logo

It searches for messages in the stream #design that have a link, that you haven't starred, and that contain the words new and logo.

The permalink for that search (web only) will look something like this:

https://your-zulip-url/#narrow/stream/123-design/has/link/-is/starred/search/new.20logo.

As you start typing, Zulip will suggest possible operator completions. Operators can be used with keywords, or on their own. For example,

  • stream:design logo will search for the word logo within the stream #design
  • stream:design will navigate to the stream #design

List of search operators

Searching stream messages

  • stream:design: Search within the stream #design.
  • stream:design topic:emoji+picker: Search within the topic emoji picker.
  • streams:public: Search the history of all public streams in the organization, including streams you are not subscribed to.

Searching private messages

  • is:private: Search all your private messages.
  • pm-with:ada@zulip.com: Search 1-on-1 private messages between you and Ada.
  • pm-with:ada@zulip.com,bob@zulip.com: Search group private messages between you, Bob, and Ada.
  • group-pm-with:ada@zulip.com: Search all group private message conversations that include you and Ada, as well as any other users.

Searching by message sender or message ID

  • sender:ada@zulip.com: Search messages sent by Ada.
  • sender:me: Search messages you've sent.
  • near:12345: Show messages around the message with ID 12345.
  • id:12345: Show only message 12345.

Searching by message characteristics and flags

Excluding messages

Zulip's search operators can be negated, to exclude messages matching the rule. For example, stream:design -is:resolved -has:image will match all messages that don't contain an image and were sent to unresolved topics in the #design stream.

Searching shared history

Zulip's stream permissions model allows access to the full history of public streams and private streams with shared history, including messages sent before you joined the stream (or organization) or those sent to public streams you are not subscribed to.

By default, Zulip searches messages in your history, i.e. the messages you actually received. This avoids cluttering search results with irrelevant messages from public streams you're not interested in.

If you'd like to instead search the organization's shared history, any query using the stream: or streams: operators will search all messages that you have access to in the selected stream(s). For example:

  • streams:public keyword searches for keyword in all public streams in the organization.
  • streams:public sender:user@example.com searches for all messages sent by the user to any public stream.

Words and phrases

Most searches consist of a list of operators followed by a list of keywords.

  • new logo: Search for messages with both new and logo.
  • "new logo": Search for messages with the phrase "new logo".

Zulip does some basic stemming, so wave will match waves and waving. Keywords are case-insensitive, so wave will also match Wave.

Emoji are included in searches, so if you search for octopus it will include messages with octopus.

Note that Zulip ignores common words like a, the, and about 100 others. A quirk in Zulip's current implementation means that if all of your keywords are ignored, we'll return 0 search results.

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