# Search
| Item | Content |
|—|—|
| Suitable for | All members |
| Menu location | Search bar at the top of the sidebar, or shortcut `Ctrl/⌘ + K` (as indicated on the interface) |
| Plan dependency | Basic search is available by default; **Advanced search** (across more messages, more accurate) may require a plan subscription |
Used to find conversations, contacts, messages and Help Centre articles in the workspace without having to page through lists.
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## 1. How to search
1. Click search in the sidebar, or use a shortcut.
2. Enter a name, email address, phone number, sentence that appeared in the conversation, article title, etc.
3. Results are grouped by type; click to navigate.
4. Certain interfaces support filtering by type (contacts only, articles only, etc.), subject to the current page.
We recommend searching using **the customer’s email address, order number, or unique words from the conversation**, which is more effective than just searching for ‘hello’.
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## 2. What you can find
| Type | Typical match |
|—|—|
| Contact | Name, email, phone, identifier |
| Conversation | A conversation related to contacts or messages |
| Messages | Chat and email body (coverage depends on whether advanced search is enabled) |
| Help Centre articles | Title / content of published articles (when the Help Centre is enabled for the workspace) |
You can only see results **within your permissions**. If a custom role cannot view all conversations, search will not list those conversations either.
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## 3. Usage tips
– Search for the email address first, then go to the contact page to view ‘Past conversations’ – it’s faster than filtering through the conversation list.
– Whether private notes are searchable depends on the current search implementation; do not leave the only clue in the notes without adding tags.
– Help Centre drafts are not visible to customers, so it is better for agents to search in the back-end article list.
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## 4. Frequently Asked Questions
**Know you’ve chatted before, but can’t find it in search?**
Message-level search may not be enabled, conversations may have been cleared according to retention policies, or you do not have permission for this inbox.
**Search is slow or incomplete?**
When workspace message volume is high, administrators can check with Chatips to confirm whether advanced search / indexing is enabled.
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## Related documents
– [Conversation Workbench](./3-conversation-workbench)
– [Contacts](./05-contacts)
– [Help Centre](./8-help-centre)