Microsoft Teams search just got this major update

Microsoft has updated the search function in Microsoft Teams with a new results interface and an AI boost for more relevant results. 

The Teams search function should now be more consistent with search in other Microsoft products and deliver faster results, according to a Microsoft blogpost. The update is generally available. 

Microsoft has redesigned four search pages and introduced a new version of the “All”, “Messages”, “People”, and “Files” filtering tabs. Results should be more relevant since Microsoft is using AI to ensure results are influenced by the people and content users engage with most in Teams and other Microsoft 365 applications. 

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Microsoft recommends “all” as the place to start a search. It delivers the most relevant results from Teams across the three categories. Results returned could include, for example, results from “Files” and “Messages”. 

There’s also a new form of results in “All” when Teams users type a question in the search bar. If the question is, for example, ‘What is a TEE?’, the results include multiple possible definitions for the acronym. Each result should indicate the source of the result, such as a File, from email, or a generic definition. 

The new “Messages” page should speed up search by returning results from messages only. There will be no result from People or Files, according to Microsoft. In other words, it should now obey the filtered search request. Additionally, results from longer messages also show a snippet of the section of a conversation that matches the search. 

The new “People” page is designed to help co-workers find information about each other, including details about their location, team, email, and phone. 

The “Files” page has been updated to display file information, a preview image of the file, and the snippet of information from the file that matches the search. Results can be expanded to reveal more of a matched snippet when one is available. 

Microsoft has also introduced customized and discoverable filters, allowing Teams users to get more targeted results. Filters in the Messages tab, for example, can include file type, location, person, a date or date range, @mentions, and who a message has been modified by. Users can exclude message by apps and bots. To start a new search with different filters, there’s also a “Clear all” button. 

In addition to the search revamp, Microsoft is rolling out an update to the Teams app store to make apps more discoverable, including via a new carousel of apps selected by its editors. 

Several Teams features are reaching general availability this month, including video filters to customize appearance, transcription for one-to-one calls, a view switcher button to switch between modes like Gallery, and Together Mode.