# Making "search messages" less prevalent **URL:** \ **Category:** UX\ **Created:** [January 10, 2016, 12:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-search-messages-less-prevalent/37705 "2016-01-10T12:39:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![erlend\_sh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/erlend_sh/32/119475_2.png) [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 12:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-search-messages-less-prevalent/37705/1 "2016-01-10T12:39:14Z")
Continuing the discussion from [How do you search Your Private Messages?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-do-you-search-your-private-messages/22111): Searching messages exists now (I honestly don’t know since when). There’s no “in:messages” directive yet though. But I think it’s a bit too prevalent. It currently shows up anywhere on your user page. ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/2/6/267cd763d390e1226fc8d1e8831b3b24a17cda6c.png) That includes the content filters for: - All - Topics - Replies - Likes given - Bookmarks All of which ought to trigger their own search filter. I also think the global one should be “Search my posts”, not “Search messages”. The global presence of “search messages” adds to the possible confusion that “when I do a normal search, does that include a search in my Messages?”. Actually I think an even better UX solution for “search messages” would be to not have the option at all, but to override it completely when on the Messages page: ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/e/e/eeaebc2232fb0a5756c142c325d924de1f8e47a1.png) “Private messages do not feel private enough” is a valid UX concern that has come up before. PMs need to be in their own safe space. It also make sense to differentiate it because many normal search parameters like `category:` won’t work in messages. --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-search-messages-less-prevalent/37705)._