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Slack is making its in-app search less awful

Slack is making its in-app search less awful

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Slack search will stop slacking off soon

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For a communication app that has become a such crucial part of so many workplaces, Slack sure does have some really poor internal search tools. Fortunately, it looks like the company is finally changing that, with revamped in-app searching that looks like it might finally fix — or at the very least, improve on — the feature.

Slack’s new search looks a lot like Alfred at first glance. Now when you search, a big, pop-up search bar will appear over your window, and intelligently suggested results will pop up below based on who you chat with, what channels you’re in, and what the search term is. If that doesn’t find what you’re looking for, you can hit enter to dive into an expanded view that will let you filter your search by file types, categories (like messages or files), people, channels, and direct messages. The filters that Slack suggests will even change depending on what your search query is, suggesting the people and channels it thinks are most appropriate to the term first.

Slack’s new search should be rolling out over the next few weeks, so you’ll probably have to wait to see whether or not things are better with the new system whenever it hits your group or organization. But at the very least, it probably won’t be worse than what’s already there. (Hopefully.)