For: everyone
Looking for a message from last month, a link or a name? Element can search the messages in one room or in all your rooms.
In the browser / on the computer
- Open the room you want to search.
- Open Room info (the "i" icon at the top right of the room).
- Click the Search messages… field and type a word.
- Press Enter. The results appear in the room.
- To widen the search, switch between Search this room and Search all rooms.
Click a result to jump to that place in the conversation.
Searching encrypted chats
Direct messages and private rooms are end-to-end encrypted, so the server can't search them for you. The search has to happen on your own device:
- Element in the browser can't search encrypted messages. Element shows a hint like "Use the Desktop app to search encrypted messages".
- Element Desktop (free, from element.io/download) can. It keeps a secure local index of your encrypted messages. You find the option under Settings → Security & Privacy → Message search.
Element Desktop can only index messages your device can read. If old messages show "Unable to decrypt", see Fix "Unable to decrypt" messages.
Find a room or a person
To find a room or a colleague rather than a message, use the search at the top of the room list (in the browser) or at the top of the chat list (on the phone). It finds everyone on your server by name.
Good to know
- The AI assistant
@aican also search the history of a room for you. Mention it in the room and ask, for example "@ai what did we decide about the offer last week?". See Use the AI assistant. - Text messages are kept, but images, videos and files are removed from the server after 365 days. See Send files, photos and videos.