Add filter by date, author, room to search

[MurzNN]

At now search interface allow only search messages by keywords. Will be good to add advanced filter to search form for filter results via other useful fields:

• Date interval (from-to)
• Author of message
• Mentioned user
• Room name & description (for All rooms search)

Good implementation of this filter we can see at Twist app: https://static.twistapp.com/8545d0058b88794f6bb55eda07d40003.png

[MurzNN]

Seems at now there are no Client-Server API that can filter search results by date interval: https://matrix.org/docs/spec/client_server/r0.2.0.html#id60 so this must be also implemented in server side too, here is issue about this: https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/issues/969

[MurzNN]

Also will be good to add searching by star and other tags, when they will be implemented in https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/issues/2938

[turt2live]

It would also be nice to be able to specify particular tags to look in. I often find myself trying to find that one conversation I had with someone, but my options are manually going through ~900 rooms or using the "All Rooms" function with generic keywords (like "sewing machine"). If I could say "only look at Direct Chats", that'd be much easier to find that one conversation I know I had with someone.

[MurzNN]

Good example of easy interface with filters we can see in Discord:

[Pestdoktor]

Experimental branch adding search by author:
https://github.com/Pestdoktor/matrix-react-sdk/tree/author-search

Oddities:

• nolacking gui
• only works on current room members
• serverside search only (no e2ee support)

I'd be willing to take this further... Should I make a PR so it can be commented on? Or iron out the aforementioned deficiencies first?

[aaronraimist]

It probably makes sense to open a draft PR while you work on it

[DJCrashdummy]

referencing https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/issues/2938#issuecomment-629764841, also a filter for reactions would be nice.

[DJCrashdummy]

IMHO also filters for files (#9754), links ( vector-im/element-web#8746) perhaps also mentions and/or keywords (#5382) should be merged into a more advanced search... else sooner or later we would end up with a panel for every filter. 😒
beside that, additionally the discussion, whether a panel should just display the current rooms items or globally, is addressed (for now i would prefer a switch to toggle either or) and even combined searches are possible and superior to the panel approach ("i'm looking for a link and given its topic it must have been in one of these 3 rooms." -> 1 search with 2 filters and you don't have to go through 3 different rooms one after another).

[DJCrashdummy]

thinking a little bit further, this could also help to streamline the UI:

• remove the panel-icons from the top right, except the one for the member-panel
• also remove the search-icon from the top right
• add a search-section to the left panel like direct messages, rooms etc.:
  • with the +-icon you'll get to the full blown search interface (or use instead of the + a magnifier-icon to "mark it as a special section")
  • and then (similar to virtual folders in thunderbird) within the search-section a bunch of pre-/user-defined searches can be saved without bothering anyone.
• perhaps the saved searches can also be (optionally) included into the shortcuts to recently viewed rooms above the room list
• and for sure the results of every search should be displayed in the main window and not squeezed into a side panel

as a result all icons on the top right are room-dependent (settings, integrations, share & members) and every user can define & save his own repeatedly needed searches/filters, no mater how much.

btw: the majority of my noobs never look at the top right icons anyway, especially since the right panel is closed by default.

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it seems to me that, if this issue is solved properly, it also closes a bunch of other issues with even higher priority as well. 😉

[kittykat]

The foundations for how we could do filtering are being set up as part of IA 2 search experience

[rltas]

Good example of easy interface with filters we can see in Discord

Or Mattermost: https://docs.mattermost.com/channels/search-for-messages.html

[ell1e]

I think if I enter a user in the full canonical format (that would be @[email protected], right?) it should also be automatically taken as a filter for messages that returns all messages that are either written by that person or mentioning that person in the currently viewed community space (or just the room for the cases where I'm not browsing it through a selected space I'm in).

[thibaultmol]

Is any progress being made on this? it's honestly one of the main things that's holding me back from switching to Discord bridging instead of Discord directly. Discord's search is surprisingly decent when it comes to filtering ability