The search field at the top of your chat list looks for one word across everything you are in. Under the results is a row of tabs, and those tabs are what make it usable: media, links, files, music, voice.
Most searches that fail do so because the thing being looked for was not text. Picking the tab first solves it in one tap.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Search every chat you are in at once, and narrow by what kind of thing it was.
- check_circle Find a file or a link when you cannot remember the wording around it.
- check_circle Find public channels and people, not only your own history.
- check_circle Understand what is searchable about you in return.
The tabs appear as soon as you start typing, and they can be tapped before or after the query.
search Global search is two searches at once
Typing into the field at the top of the chat list looks through your own messages, in every private chat, group and channel you are a member of, and at the same time through Telegram's public directory of channels, groups, bots and usernames.
The results are grouped, so your own conversations and public results do not get mixed up. It is also why this one field answers both "where did I see that" and "is there a channel about this".
Pick the tab before you refine the words
Four of the tabs do work that no amount of better keywords can.
folder Documents, spreadsheets, archives
link Something somebody linked
image Photos, video and voice notes
group Finding a channel or a person
The order that works: pick the tab, then the words, then narrow by date.
settings Using it
- Tap the search field Top of the chat list. On desktop it is always visible.
- Choose a tab The row under the field. You can do this before typing anything.
- Type as little as possible Narrowing by kind and date does more than adding words.
- Tap a result to jump It opens the chat at that message, not at the bottom.
- Use an empty query deliberately A tab with no words is a list of everything of that type, which is the best way to browse.
This page is the tabs on global search. The curriculum step covers the operators behind them: combining sender, date and type, how the media index is built as you receive things, and searching a single enormous chat efficiently.
At a glance
- 1Search everywhere
Search all chats from the list and filter by type.
- 2Public results
Global search also finds public channels and people.
- 3You are searchable too
Messages you post in public chats can be found.
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