Have you ever lost track of a chat in Microsoft Teams and ended up scrolling through your entire sidebar trying to find it? It’s one of those small frustrations that happens more often than it should. The good news is the Microsoft Teams filter text box is already built into Teams and means you should never lose a chat again — and it takes about 30 seconds to learn.
Where to Find It
The filter is tucked away in the Chat section of Teams. Look for the magnifying glass icon at the top of your chat list — it’s next to the three dots menu. I’ll be honest, every time I see it I think it’s a search button. It isn’t. Click it and a small text box appears where you can type a name or conversation title.
How to Use It
Once the filter text box is open, simply start typing. You can type a person’s name, a chat name, or a channel name. Teams will instantly filter your sidebar to show only the conversations that match — everything else disappears temporarily.
I use it most often to search by a person’s name. It’s particularly handy when you’ve got a long list of chats and you just want to get straight to the right one without scrolling.
Clicking Into Your Chat
Once you can see the chat you need, just click on it as normal. You can type and send your message exactly as you usually would. The filter doesn’t change anything about how the conversation works — it just helps you get there faster.
Don’t Forget to Clear the Filter
This is the bit that catches people out. When you’re finished, everything else is still hidden. You need to clear the filter before your full chat list comes back.
It’s easy to do — either delete what you typed, or click the small X at the end of the text box. Job done.
How I Use It Day to Day
I keep the filter text box visible on my screen most of the time. You can toggle it on and off by clicking the magnifying glass, so it’s easy to hide it when you don’t need it. But honestly, once you start using it, you’ll probably want to leave it open too.
It’s a small thing, but these small things add up. Less scrolling, less frustration, more time for the actual work.
Give It a Try
Next time you’re in Teams, click that magnifying glass and have a go. I think you’ll find it just as useful as I do.
If you found this helpful, there are more quick tips like this on the blog and over on my YouTube channel — because getting the most out of Microsoft 365 really doesn’t have to be complicated.
Written with the help of Claude AI from an original transcription.
YouTube Videos
Find Chats Faster in Microsoft Teams with the Filter Text Box
How to Pin Messages in Microsoft Teams (And Where to Find Them!)
Never Lose an Unread Message in Microsoft Teams Again
Jump to Any Teams Chat or Channel with GoTo
Microsoft Teams Status Message — It’s Not Your Out of Office!
Other MS Teams Tips Posts
Never Lose a Teams Chat Again With This Simple Trick (current post)
Pin Messages in Microsoft Teams – and Actually Find Them Again
Can’t Find Your Unread Teams Messages? Try This First
The Quickest Way to Navigate Microsoft Teams
Busy But Not Out of Office? Teams Has You Covered
Recent Posts
- What’s Actually in Your Microsoft 365 App Launcher?
Open your Microsoft 365 app launcher and you’ll find more than 20 apps staring back at you. You’ll only use a small handful of them regularly. The rest fall into “useful sometimes” or “you’ll probably never touch this” territory. This post has Microsoft 365 apps explained in plain English. Each one is grouped by how… Read more: What’s Actually in Your Microsoft 365 App Launcher? - The OneNote Feature I Rely On More Than Any Other
If you’ve ever typed a search word into OneNote, you’ll know the feeling. Every relevant note appears, no matter which notebook it was buried in. That’s why so many people ask how to search across notebooks in OneNote in the first place. Being able to search across notebooks in OneNote is, for me, the single… Read more: The OneNote Feature I Rely On More Than Any Other - OneNote Templates, Your New Time-Saver
Ever find yourself recreating the same layout every time you start a new page in OneNote? OneNote templates solve exactly that problem — they let you save a page’s look and content once, then reuse it whenever you need it, whether that’s for meeting notes, a to-do list, or your own custom format. Once you… Read more: OneNote Templates, Your New Time-Saver - OneNote Meeting Notes Made Ridiculously Simple
I used to think setting up OneNote meeting notes had to involve some typing before the useful part could even begin – the subject, the date, who was on the call. Turns out I was making it far harder than it needed to be. There’s one command that fills all of that in for you,… Read more: OneNote Meeting Notes Made Ridiculously Simple - OneNote Can Hold More Than You Think
If you’ve only ever used OneNote to type the odd note, you’re missing most of what it can do. You can add content to OneNote in far more ways than plain text — think copied web pages, screen clippings, tables, even spreadsheets. It works less like a document and more like a digital dumping ground… Read more: OneNote Can Hold More Than You Think
Microsoft Teams filter text box, mastering teams message filters, microsoft teams filter options