Searching and filtering contacts

Building a list like "VIP customers who wrote in the last month and still have no reply from us" by hand takes hours. The search box and the five filters on the Contacts screen bring it down to three taps. This guide explains exactly what each filter selects, what it leaves out, and how the filters combine.

💡 Filters are kept in the address bar. You can bookmark the list you found or send it to a colleague; it opens with the same filters. Save a combination you use often as a Segment.

In this article you will find:

• How the search box works
• The channel filter
• The tag filter
• The last-message filter
• The quiet-for filter
• The reply-state filter
• Combining and clearing filters
• A worked example
• Common mistakes

How the search box works

The search box is live: shortly after you stop typing, the list narrows by itself. There is no confirm button.

Search looks at four fields:

• Name — the name on the contact card.
• Username — the Instagram username.
• Phone — the number on the card.
• E-mail — the address on the card.

The hint inside the box names only the first three; e-mail is searched as well. Matching is "contains" and ignores case: typing mar finds both "Maria" and "Ann-Marie".

Search does not look at message text, notes, custom field values or the AI profile. To find a word inside a conversation, use the inbox search instead.

When the search changes, the page number returns to page one; the other filters stay as they were.

The channel filter

This dropdown appears only if you have more than one connected account. With a single account everyone arrives from the same place, so the filter is not drawn at all.

The options are not channel types but the accounts you connected: each row is the name of one Instagram or one WhatsApp account. If you have two Instagram accounts, both appear as separate rows and picking one shows only the people who wrote to that account.

The default option is All channels.

⚠️ Note: Contacts of a channel type that has been switched off in the portfolio never appear in the list, and that type has no option in the filter. The contacts are not gone; that channel is simply closed in the panel.

The tag filter

The dropdown labelled All tags lists the tags in use on this account in alphabetical order. Only tags that are actually attached to someone are listed, so unused tags never pile up. On accounts with very many distinct tags, the list stops at the first 200 tags.

The panel picks one tag at a time. A person can carry several tags; whichever you pick, everyone carrying that tag is returned.

A faster route: click a tag badge in a list row. The badge switches the filter to that tag without opening the panel at all.

Spelling differences are ignored when tags are compared: "VIP", "vip" and "Vip" count as the same tag. Details: Managing contact tags.

The last-message filter

This filter answers "when did this person last write to me". The options are:

• Any time (no filter)
• Last 1 day
• Last 7 days
• Last 30 days
• Last 90 days

The period counts backwards from now: "Last 7 days" returns people who sent you at least one message within the last seven days. People who never wrote never appear under this filter.

The filter looks only at messages the person sent you. Your own messages, messages an automation sent, comments and referrals from an ad do not change that date. It is the same date the 24-hour window is counted from. See The 24-hour messaging window.

The quiet-for filter

"Quiet for" is the opposite of the last-message filter: it says "this person has not written for this many days". The options are:

• Any (no filter)
• Quiet for 7 days
• Quiet for 30 days
• Quiet for 90 days

This filter also includes people who never wrote at all. Someone who arrived from an ad or a comment and never sent you a DM will show up under "Quiet for 90 days". That behaviour helps when you are building a re-engagement campaign and surprises you when you are trying to list "my old customers".

Using the last-message and quiet-for filters together produces nothing useful: "wrote in the last 7 days" and "quiet for 30 days" exclude each other and the list comes back empty.

The reply-state filter

This filter has two options: Any reply state and Awaiting our reply.

Awaiting our reply returns people who satisfy both of these:

1. At least one message has been sent to this person (by you or by an automation).
2. No message has arrived from the person after that.

Never having written at all also satisfies the second condition. So if the welcome message an automation sent to someone who came from an ad went unanswered, that person lands in this list.

This filter shows the conversations where the ball is in the customer's court, not the ones waiting on you. To find unanswered customer messages, use the unread filter in the inbox.

Combining and clearing filters

Filters narrow each other: all of them must hold at the same time. Choosing "Instagram account + vip tag + last 30 days" lists the people who meet all three.

The search box is live, but the dropdowns are not: after making your choices you must press Apply. On a phone the panel closes and the list is redrawn with the new filters.

The Clear filters link removes the dropdown choices and keeps the text in the search box. To clear the search too, use the cross at the right edge of the box.

The badge on the Filters button counts the filters other than search; if it says "2", two dropdowns have a selection.

A worked example

Before sending a discount message, a boutique builds the right list like this:

1. Open Filters.
2. Pick the customer tag from the Tag list.
3. Pick Quiet for 30 days from the Quiet for list.
4. Press Apply.
5. Read how many people that is from the count above the list.
6. Type "Dormant customers" in the segment box and press Save filter.

From now on one tap returns the same list every month. To add a tag to all of them at once, see Bulk actions on contacts.

Common mistakes

• Choosing a filter and not pressing Apply. The dropdowns are not live; a selection alone does not change the list.
• Picking last-message and quiet-for together. They exclude each other and the list comes back empty.
• Reading "quiet for" as "old customers". People who never wrote are in that list too.
• Not finding a tag in the tag filter. The list only holds tags attached to at least one person. A tag you have not used yet does not appear.
• Expecting search to look inside messages. It only looks at name, username, phone and e-mail.
• Sharing a filtered address and hearing "it looks different here". If the other person's role has a narrower scope, the same address shows them fewer people.

Related articles

• The Contacts screen
• Segments
• Managing contact tags
• Bulk actions on contacts
• I cannot find a contact in the list

If the filters will not produce the list you expect, see I cannot find a contact in the list or get in touch with our Support team.