Whether you’re looking for a specific conversation or just want to find messages that mention a particular hashtag, you may be wondering how to search or filter within Instagram Direct Message (DM) conversations. Unfortunately, Instagram’s search feature is not available natively. Instead, you must manually scroll through each conversation to find a specific word or phrase. Luckily, there are ways to do this that don’t require downloading a third-party app.
The first option is to go to the DMs tab in the app and tap the “DM” icon. From there, select the conversation. Scroll down until you find the first few or most recent messages. You can also sort by date and open or reply to specific messages by using a specific keyword or phrase. Once you have located the messages you want, you can reply by sending them a message with text, pictures, GIFs, or videos.
To do this, navigate to the main screen of the app and tap on the Messenger icon. Messages are listed from the most recent to the least recent. Messages marked as unread have a blue dot. Tap the message to reply. You can even search for a specific keyword or user name to see a list of messages from that person. This method is available only on the desktop version of the app.
Once you’ve filtered your messages and selected the ones that you want to see, you can move them to the primary or general tab. From there, you can sort them by date or importance. You can also delete or accept a Direct Message from someone who doesn’t follow you. If you receive a direct message from someone who doesn’t follow you, simply tap on the triangular icon at the top right of the screen.
