In Zendesk Support, you can search for data, such as ticket properties, user properties, comments, tags, help center articles, and so on by using the search tool located in the top toolbar. You can also search live chat and messaging conversations.
Administrators can search everything and agents can search the tickets and users that they have permission to see. For example, if as an agent you are limited to only seeing tickets in the groups that you belong to, you will only be able to see those tickets in your search results.
This article covers the following topics:
Accessing the search tool
There are a few ways you can get to the Support search tool.
- In Support,
click the Search icon (
) in the upper-right of the top toolbar to open the simple search box:
- You can also hover your cursor over the +Add
button in the upper-left of the top toolbar, then
select Search to open the Search
page:
- Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut (Control + Alt + F/Control + Option + F) to open the simple search box.
Using search
You can perform a text search and filter your search by content record type. As you enter your search query text, the menu suggests results based on the text you’ve entered and any filters you’ve applied. You can access the suggested results directly from the search menu.
You can also access a list of all results related to your query.
- In Support,
click the Search icon (
) in the upper-right of the top toolbar.
Your most recent searches and viewed content records appear in a menu. See Accessing your recent searches to learn more.
- Optionally, select a content record type to filter by.
You can choose from tickets, users, articles,
organizations, and side conversations.
- Begin typing your query in the search box. As you type,
results are suggested that match your search
term.
- Select a suggested result to navigate directly to the
content record. Alternatively, press Enter or
click All results to view more results on a
new tab on the toolbar.
From the toolbar, you can apply additional filters. See Filtering your search results.
If you anticipate performing this search often, you may want to save it so that it's easily accessible.
In addition to full text search, you can perform a search using common search operators combined with data property keywords and values to narrow your results. See Zendesk Support advanced search.
Accessing your recent searches
You can access your most recently viewed content records and searches from the search menu. Content records include tickets, users, articles, organizations, and side conversations.
By accessing your recent searches and viewed content, you can save time by reusing common searches and quickly accessing relevant records. See Accessing saved searches if you've saved any of your common searches.
To access your recent searches
- In Support, click
the Search icon (
) in the upper-right of the top toolbar.
Your most recent searches and viewed content appear in a menu.
- Optionally, select a content record type to filter your recent
searches and viewed content. You can choose from tickets,
users, articles, organizations, and side conversations.
- Click a Recently viewed content record to navigate to it or a Recently searched query to perform the search.
Reviewing your search results
Your search results are sorted into categories for tickets, users, articles, and organizations. Each category contains different columns, icons, and other elements, to help you identify, filter, sort, or otherwise organize your search results.
To select the type of result you want to view
- Click the category at the top of the search results page.
Tickets
The Tickets category returns a list of support requests that have your search term(s) in their subject line or comments. This category contains the most options for organizing your results. The Ticket category's columns display the following relevant ticket information:
- ID, the ticket's numeric identifier.
- Subject, the text from the ticket's subject line.
- Requested, the date the ticket was submitted.
- Updated, the last time the ticket was updated.
- Requester, the name of the user who submitted the ticket.
- Group, the group assigned to handle the ticket.
Each result is preceded by an icon indicating that ticket's current status:
If you have custom ticket
statuses activated, closed tickets may be
included in your search results. Closed tickets are
identified by an icon (), which you can hover over for more
information. To learn more about how tickets are closed when
custom ticket statuses are activated, see About closed tickets
solved with a custom ticket status.
You can exclude closed tickets from your results by clicking the Filter menu and clearing the Include closed tickets check box.
- Click anywhere on a ticket result's row to open that ticket in a new tab.
- Click the Requested or Updated column in the search results to toggle between displaying results in ascending or descending order by date.
Users
The Users category returns a list of accounts who include your search term(s) in their names, or elsewhere in their profiles. This doesn't include custom user fields in profiles (see Searching custom user and organization fields).
The results for this category contain the following columns:
- Name, the user's submitted name.
- Email, the user's email address.
- Organization, the company or group they work for.
- Role, the role assigned to that user (agent, admin, end-user, and the like).
- Updated, the last time the user's profile was updated.
- Click anywhere in a user's row to open their profile in a new tab.
Articles
The Articles category returns a list of knowledge base entries that mention your search term(s). The results for this category contain the following columns:
- Title, the article's title.
- Updated, the last time the article was updated.
- Created, the date the article was posted to the knowledge base.
- Click anywhere on an article's row to open that article in a new browser window or tab.
Organizations
The Organizations category returns a list of organizations that include your search term(s) in their names or elsewhere in their profiles. This doesn't include custom organization fields in profiles (see Searching custom user and organization fields).
The results for this category contain the following columns:
- Name, the organization's name.
- Notes, any notes added to their profile.
- Created, the date the organization first registered.
- Updated, the last time the organization updated its profile.
- Click anywhere on an organization's row to open that organization's profile in a new tab.
Filtering your search results
You can further narrow your search results using search filters. You can filter for just the type of elements you want to see: tickets, articles, users, or organizations. Each category offers relevant ways to further refine your results.
To filter search results
- Perform a search.
- On the search results page, click Filters.
- Click the Search drop-down to select the type of
element you want to include in your search.
- Fill out the options as needed to refine your search.
You can further narrow your filtered search results using search operators and keywords.
Previewing ticket details from search results
Hovering your cursor over the subject of a result displays a preview of that ticket, allowing you to glean more information about the ticket without having to open it. In the preview window, snippets of comments or fields containing your search term(s) are displayed, with the search term(s) highlighted, so you can determine whether the ticket is relevant to your search before opening it.
- Hover your cursor over the subject of a result to
display a preview of that ticket.
Updating tickets in bulk from search results
You can make ticket updates to more than one ticket at a time. For example, to assign yourself to multiple tickets, you can select them in the search results and set yourself as the assignee. You can also delete, merge, or mark the selected tickets as spam.
To update multiple tickets
- In your search results, select the tickets you want to
update.
You can pick and choose the tickets you want to update or select the entire list by clicking the check box at the top left of the results list.
- Click Edit from the toolbar at the bottom of the list.
- Update the ticket information as needed. See Managing tickets in bulk.
- Click Submit to apply the changes to your selected tickets, or click the menu drop-down on the Submit button to apply the changes.
Sharing search URLs
You can copy search query strings you create in Support to your clipboard so you can then share them with other users. When the other user clicks the search query you shared, the search is performed in their Support instance using the same query you created.
To copy and share search queries
- Perform a search or access one of your saved searches.
- On the Search page, click the Actions menu, then select
Copy link.
The search query is copied to your clipboard. You can now send the query to other users, for example, by pasting it into an email.
13 comments
Sydney Neubauer
When is the Search history available? I do not see it in my instances
2
Arianne Batiles
Hi Sydney Neubauer,
I wanted to inform you that the rollout of the recent searches and content records feature began on January 30, and it is anticipated to be fully implemented for all instances by February 9, 2024, as per this announcement.
0
Cassandra Hunt
Can we remove the new option to see the three most recently viewed and recently searched? We que hundreds if not thousands of searches and this new little pop up of the last three is not helpful at all and kind of in the way. Also we have found starting today sometimes when we enter a ticket number to search it up, now it does not pop right up it pulls one of the three recent ones. It is slowing us down.
0
Tony
I believe it is not possible to remove this feature for now, but thank you very much for your feedback. There is no need to wait for the pop up to show up. You can write what you are searching and press enter to open the search results directly.
Best,
0
Sydney Neubauer
For your search history - is it possible to see what you searched and the ticket id if you opened a ticket? A lot of times when I check, it has been a while since I last searched and don't recall what I last searched so I end up searching again.
And then with Ticket IDs, if i didn't make note of the ticket, I have to reopen it anyways to get the id rather than it just being viewable there (I check my last opened tickets before I check the recently searched)
0
Ivan Miquiabas
Thanks for reaching out! If you are referring to past ticket searches on Zendesk UI when you opened a ticket, Unfortunately there is no way to do that. This recent search feature will only be available when you try to search on the Magnifying glass itself.
Please also Note: If you clear or change browsers, your recent searches and viewed content records will no longer appear.
Hope that helps!
0
Qasim Ali
Hi,
![](/hc/user_images/01HZGGPVT68ZG8HYGPTJ8HPMRD.png)
new release just implemented on https://central-supportdesk.zendesk.com/
I cannot seem to be able to open search bar using the shortcut Control + Alt + F/Control + Option + F
0
Conrad Fahrenkrug
We are also unable to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + F anymore. This is seriously affecting our efficiency.
0
Destiny
I appreciate you sending over the report, and I regret to hear that the shortcuts are no longer functioning correctly. May I recommend that you contact our Support team for assistance? This will allow the issue to be logged and examined by our Development team. For your convenience, here is the guide on Contacting Zendesk Customer Support
Looking forward to resolving this for you soon!
0
Qasim Ali
It was resolved after I removed a extension. So it was extension that was interfaring with ZD functionlaity.
0
Destiny
0
Qasim Ali
it was graphQL network inspector https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/graphql-network-inspector/ndlbedplllcgconngcnfmkadhokfaaln
0
Destiny
0