Searching for messages

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

Example

• stream:design has:link is:starred new logo

Searches for messages in #design that have a link, that you starred, and that have the words new and logo.

The permalink for that search (web only) will look something like https://your-zulip-url/#narrow/stream/123-design/has/link/is/starred/search/new.20logo.

List of operators

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 #design
• stream:design will navigate to #design

Here is the full list of search operators.

• stream:design: Search within the stream #design.
• stream:design topic:emoji+picker: Search within the topic emoji picker.
• is:private: Search all your private messages.
• pm-with:ada@zulip.com: Search 1-on-1 messages with Ada.
• group-pm-with:ada@zulip.com: Search group private messages that include Ada.
• sender:ada@zulip.com: Search messages sent by Ada.
• sender:me: Search sent messages.
• near:12345: Show messages around the message with ID 12345.

• id:12345: Show only message 12345.

• is:alerted: See alert words.

• is:mentioned: See mentions.
• is:starred: See starred messages.
• is:unread
• has:link
• has:image
• has:attachment

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 .

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.

Other notes

• By default, search only displays messages that you actually received. However, if your search is restricted to a stream where you have access to stream history, you can search for messages from before you subscribed to the stream (or even joined your Zulip organization).

• To see the list of search operators in-app, click the gear () icon in the upper right, and select Search operators.