Show context around old Teams messages from search results

Anonymous
2020-09-29T18:45:59+00:00

Looking for help with a particular issue with searching for older messages inside of Teams.

When I search for a certain keyword - say, "hot dog" - I get results that are both old and recent from past conversations. If I look at the recent results I get the full message context that surrounds it - messages coming and going.

If I read older messages, however, I only get the single message result without any surrounding context. This is only marginally helpful, as the context is necessary to add, well, context to the conversation!

Has anyone figured out how to do this? Is it an admin side thing that needs to change?

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams for business | Chats | Search messages and conversations

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-06-28T22:54:07+00:00

    Could you clarify how this works?

    1. I can't perform a search in the popped-out chat window. Do I repeat the search in the main Teams window where I initially did the search?
    2. Where do you see "Go to message"?

    Wow, I can't believe this actually works, lol.

    To answer your question with a full example:

    I need to search for "password for ServerX" because i know i talked about it with someone, just cant remember who or when.

    • Open teams and in the standard search type in "password for serverX"

    Ah, there it is, I talked about it with John Smith on October 1st, 2020. 2 years ago on the same day I posted about this issue in this thread for the first time.

    • If you have talked with John Smith recently, find his name in the recent chats in the chat pane, right click then click "pop out chat"
      • leave this new window open.
    • If they aren't in your recent, search for the person to start a new chat and then click the "pop out chat" icon (the little square with the arrow) in the top right of the message
      • leave this new window open
    • Go back to the main teams window and search again for "password for serverX"
    • When it finds it, hover your mouse over the message and "Go To Message" will appear on the right. Click this
    • Your popped out window that you left open will magically scroll to where the searched text was and you can see all the context.
    • Curse Microsoft for screwing up yet another very basic function and making us come up with ridiculous solutions.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-06-28T22:16:59+00:00

    Could you clarify how this works?

    1. I can't perform a search in the popped-out chat window. Do I repeat the search in the main Teams window where I initially did the search?
    2. Where do you see "Go to message"?

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-06-13T19:14:31+00:00

    Couldn't get either above to work :(

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-06-03T12:20:00+00:00

    Nice find Chris09! You should apply for a patent. Excellent solution!

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-06-02T20:53:42+00:00

    I may have found a functional workaround to the insanity that is Team Desktop's lack of a functioning search.

    It seems that if the chat that contains your search result is in a *Pop Out* window, that the popped-out window will scroll to the search result when you hit "Go To Message" rather than presenting you the message in a window by itself.

    So:

    * Type a query in Teams Search, find a result you are interested in, click "Go To Message", and Teams stupidly shows you the message you clicked, all by itself, with no context.

    * Type a query in Teams Search, find a result you are interested in. Go to the Chat list, find the person whose conversation your desired result was within, POP OUT that chat window into a new window. Repeat your search query, hit "Go To Message", and the popped out window scrolls to the result!

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