Conversations Inbox Adds Keyword and In-Thread Message Search

TL;DR

HighLevel added cross-conversation and in-thread keyword search along with message filters to the Conversations inbox. You do not need to take any action or modify existing automations to use it.

Who this affects

HighLevel has not confirmed specific plan gating or sub-account restrictions for this feature. Agency owners, account managers, and support agents handling communication inside the Conversations inbox will see this tool. If your agency strictly uses HighLevel for backend funnels and headless automations without ever touching the manual inbox, you can safely ignore this.

What changed

HighLevel introduced several search tools directly to the inbox:

• Cross-conversation keyword search across the entire Conversations inbox.
• In-conversation search inside individual message threads, including match counters, highlighted text, and up/down navigation arrows.
• Support for contact names, email addresses, and phone numbers directly in the primary search box.
• Search filters for Date range, Channel (Email, SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram), Direction, Owner, Has attachments, and Followers.

Limits, plan gating, and rollout status have not been confirmed by HighLevel. Whether this replaces or breaks any legacy inbox search behaviors is also unknown.

Where to find it

Inside any sub-account, click Conversations in the main navigation menu. The primary search bar sits at the top of the Conversations inbox, allowing you to search by keyword, contact name, email, or phone number, and apply channel and date filters. The in-conversation search controls, match counters, and navigation arrows are located inside the individual message thread view.

How agencies will use this

A client support rep working inside a client sub-account needs to find a past conversation where an end customer mentioned an address change or specific billing question. Rather than manually scrolling through weeks of messages or checking separate communication channels, the rep types the keyword into the primary search bar in Conversations. If the rep already knows the contact, they can open that contact's thread, search the keyword directly within the conversation, and use the match counters and up/down navigation arrows to jump directly to the right SMS or email. When dealing with high message volume, the rep can apply the Channel filter to isolate Instagram, Facebook, SMS, WhatsApp, or Email, or filter by Direction and Owner to isolate internal handoffs.

Our take

This is a standard usability update that resolves a long-standing inbox limitation. It will not change how you build snapshots, configure workflows, or sell your SaaS offer. It simply makes daily inbox triaging faster for team members who handle manual messaging.