> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.heyy.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Global search

> Find a conversation, contact, or message from a name, phrase, or detail.

**Global search** is a universal search across **messages, contacts, and chats** at once — you don't need to know which one you're looking for in advance.

## Open search

Click the **search icon** at the top of the [conversation list](/help/inbox/inbox-tour#the-conversation-list) to open the search modal, then type your query.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/heyy-c8bd5c9e/DhJ_IMhg_f5FskkC/assets/inbox-global-search-modal.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=DhJ_IMhg_f5FskkC&q=85&s=e6cde4c8e9141f4b308043b6ee64595a" alt="Search modal with a query typed in and matched results" width="451" height="780" data-path="assets/inbox-global-search-modal.png" />
</Frame>

## What you can search by

| Search by                 | Finds                                                                                                                                                                   |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Contact name**          | The contact's profile — click through to open their full conversation history.                                                                                          |
| **Message content**       | Individual messages containing that phrase, even buried in an old thread — a product name, order number, or complaint.                                                  |
| **Phone number or email** | The matching contact, especially useful when someone messages you again on a *different* channel than before and you want to confirm they already exist in your system. |

Think of it less like a card catalog, where you need to already know the exact title or author, and more like a search engine — throw in a fragment of what you remember and it surfaces the relevant conversation or contact.

<Tip>
  Searching by phone or email before creating a contact is a quick way to avoid duplicate contact records when someone reaches out on a new channel — see [Contacts across Heyy](/help/contacts/the-contact/contacts-across-heyy).
</Tip>

For narrower, reusable filtering rather than a one-off lookup, see [Advanced filters](/help/inbox/find-and-organize/advanced-filters) and [Saved inbox views](/help/inbox/find-and-organize/saved-inbox-views).