You can search for posts and profiles on Mastodon by typing ordinary words or hashtags or emoji into the search box. Select the type of result you want (posts, accounts, hashtags) and then browse through the results.
The search box may be in different places depending on how you’re accessing Mastodon. Here’s how to find the search box:
- On the official app, tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, and type in the search box at the top of the screen. The results will appear below it.
- On your server’s website, if you’re using a phone click on the 🔍 magnifying glass icon at the top, then type in the search box that appears.
- On your server’s website, if you’re using a computer type into the search box at the top and press enter. The results will appear beside or below the search box, depending on your window size. (Note that some servers have the search box in the top left of the screen, others in the top right.)
- Third party apps will have various interfaces for search, but they’re usually quite obvious, using a magnifying glass icon or the word “search”. (One exception is Toot! which has its search function bizarrely hidden away in the ⋯ menu in the top right corner.)
What order are search results shown in on Mastodon?
Chronological, with newest posts at the top.
How do I make my own posts more visible in search results?
If you want your post to be more easily found in searches, opt into full text searches and also include relevant hashtags. Remember to use CamelCase on hashtags that contain multiple words. Hashtags are really good for actively indicating a topic being discussed, instead of a word just used accidentally or incidentally.
Although hashtags are no longer required to appear in search results on Mastodon servers, hashtags are still important in making posts visible, because many people follow hashtags and many people search for them (especially as some servers still only allow hashtag searches). You can find out more about hashtags in this special guide.
How do I search just my own posts?
To search just your own posts, include the phrase from:me in your search. If you want to also search posts that you’ve interacted with (such as bookmarks, likes, boosts), include the phrase in:library in your search.
There are lots more operators like this, scroll further down this page to see them all.
Are there any special operators for filtering searches on Mastodon?
Yes, Mastodon 4.2.0 introduces a number of operators you can use to filter your search results with:
- has:media – Only shows posts with an attachment (images, audio, video)
- has:poll – Only shows posts with a poll
- has:embed – Only shows posts with a link that produces some kind of embedded media (such as a YouTube or PeerTube link)
- language:fr using language codes – Only shows posts using that language, the example would filter for posts in French. Click here to see a complete list of language codes on Mastodon.
- is:reply – Only shows posts that are replies
- is:sensitive – Only shows posts marked as sensitive
- from:(FEDIVERSE ADDRESS HERE) – Only shows posts by that particular user, for example from:@FediTips@social.growyourown.services
- from:me – Only shows posts you have made yourself
- in:all – Searches all posts visible to you
- in:library – Only searches other people’s posts you have interacted with (such as bookmarks, favourites, boosts etc) or your own posts
- before:date, during:date, after:date – Filters for posts before, during or after the selected date. Dates are written in the format YYYY-MM-DD, so for example posts after 1st June 2023 would be after:2023-06-01
Make sure there’s no space between the : and the other words when using these operators. For example, to search for posts with the word “elephant” that are in English, you would search for elephant language:en
Wait, what’s an “operator”?
It’s a special phrase you include in your search that makes the search behave in a special way. The list above describes all of the ones available in Mastodon.
Can I use several operators in the same search?
Yes, just include several operators along with the keyword or hashtag you’re searching for.
Can I use negative operators to exclude certain kinds of posts?
Yes. Just add a minus sign before the term, for example to exclude posts with polls from results you would include the operator -has:poll
Can I exclude posts with certain words?
Yes, just include the word in your search with a minus sign in front of it. For example batman -robin would show you posts containing the word “batman” but hide those containing “robin”.
How do I search for stuff I’ve bookmarked or boosted or liked?
Include the operator in:library, this will also search your own posts too.
How do I opt in to my posts being searched by words as well as hashtags?
If you want your public posts to appear in keyword searches as well as hashtag searches, click this link to find out how to opt in to being in full text search results.
Even when I search for stuff, there’s never anything I want!
If you’re on a very new server, it’s possible that it hasn’t noticed much of the Fediverse yet. Try following some groups as they will send all their content to everyone who follows them. Also try asking your server’s admin if they might connect to a relay server, so that the server can see more of the Fediverse.
Wait… I can search for emoji?
Yes! Any emoji can be entered in the search box, and will show posts and profiles containing that emoji in the search results.
It’s a bit more complicated with custom emoji though, you may have to strip away the colons :: around the alt text that appears when you add a custom emoji to a post. The alt text without the colons will show you posts and profiles containing that custom emoji.
My server says search options are unavailable, what’s going on?
Advanced search options require the server to be running a special add-on called “Elasticsearch”. If the operators don’t work and/or you can’t search posts by keyword, ask your server’s admin about this. It’s possible they haven’t installed Elasticsearch, perhaps because they lack the resources as it costs extra.
However, hashtag searches should work fine on all servers, even the ones without Elasticsearch.
Why are search results different on different servers?
Servers can search for posts and accounts they have noticed. Different servers notice different things on the Fediverse, so they produce different search results. If you want to find out more, see the guide to what servers notice.
I thought Mastodon only allowed searches with hashtags?
Before September 2023 Mastodon searches were entirely based around hashtags. Since then Mastodon also allows full text searches where you just type what you want and it searches the entire texts of posts for matches.
HOWEVER… for privacy reasons the full text search system is opt-in, so you can only get search results for people who have opted into their posts being included in full text searches. If you want your posts to be fully searchable you need to opt into this system, click the link to find out how.