The inbox search box looks at both contact names and the text of every conversation, ignores Turkish letter variants, and jumps straight to the message it found.
"Somebody asked for a tracking number last week — which customer was it?" The inbox search answers exactly that question. It scans contact names and the full text of your conversations, then takes you to the precise spot where the message sits. This guide explains what it finds and what it cannot.
How to search
Open the inbox.
Type your word into the box at the top of the left column.
Search people or messages…
The list filters as you type; there is no button to press.
Tap the row you want. When the match is inside a message, the chat opens around that message, so you do not have to scroll back through months.
Press the clear button inside the box to end the search.
Opening a conversation from a search result lands you on an older page. To get back to the newest messages, tap the same conversation in the list again; the message marker drops out of the address and the chat opens at the last message.
The search term travels in the address bar, so you can copy the link of a result and send it to a colleague; they see the same search and the same message.
⚠️ Search needs at least two characters. A single letter does not filter the list, and that is deliberate: one letter would return nearly every conversation.
What the search covers
Search works in two places at once:
Contact details — the name and the handle.
Message text — the text of every conversation in that account.
When a conversation matches only on the person's name, the row keeps its usual last-message preview. When a message matches, the preview is replaced by that message with your word highlighted. In long messages only the area around the match is shown, trimmed with "…" at both ends.
Your word is highlighted inside the open chat as well, so your eye finds it immediately in a long conversation.
A conversation can match on both the person and their messages. When that happens the row shows the message, because that is what actually helps you recognise it.
Letters and letter case
Search treats every spelling variant of Turkish letters as the same. "İstanbul", "istanbul" and "ıstanbul" all return the same result, and the same holds for ç/c, ğ/g, ö/o, ş/s and ü/u. So even if a customer typed the accented form, the plain form finds it.
Upper and lower case make no difference either.
What the search cannot find
Knowing these limits keeps the search from looking broken:
The inside of files is not searched. Text inside a PDF or an image is never scanned; only the message text is.
A message with no text cannot be found. A photo without a caption or a voice note has nothing to match.
Notes are not searched. Conversation notes are internal records and this box does not scan them.
Conversations outside your scope stay hidden. An agent who only sees their own chats also only finds their own chats.
Other accounts are not included. Search is limited to the account you have open; switch accounts and search again there.
% and _ are dropped. Those two characters mean "anything" in a database search, so they are ignored.
Combining search with filters
Search is applied on top of the filters you have selected. On the Closed tab it searches only closed conversations; with one connection selected it searches only that connection.
When you are looking for an old conversation, switch to All first: the default Open tab does not include closed chats, and the conversation you want may have been closed long ago. Two combinations come up often:
All + a person's name: finding what was discussed with that person in the past.
Closed + a product name: returning to a sale that was wrapped up.
One connection + a word: searching only the messages that arrived on that Instagram account or that WhatsApp number.
Changing a filter does not clear the search box. Getting used to thinking about the two settings together removes most of the "no results" surprise.
A worked example
A florist remembers making a custom bouquet for a customer two weeks ago but cannot recall the name. What they do:
Switch to the All tab.
Type bouquet into the search box.
Read the highlighted matches in the list ("… could you put together a custom bouquet …").
Tap the right row and land on that exact point in the chat.
Scroll up a few messages to check the price that was quoted.
Common mistakes
Typing the whole word. Search matches partial words, so ship also finds "shipping", "shipped" and "shipment". Typing more narrows the result.
Forgetting the filter. If nothing comes back, you are most likely on Open while the conversation you want is closed.
Typing a phone number with spaces. Text is searched exactly as it was stored; try it in the form the customer typed it.
Forgetting to clear the search. A leftover word makes the list look empty and feels like "my chats disappeared". Clear the box.
Related concepts
Every box in the chat that a search opens is explained one by one in The inbox screen. If you cannot reply to an old conversation you found, the reason is almost always The 24-hour messaging window.
If you still cannot find what you are looking for and none of the limits above apply, contact our Support team.