Use Vault to search Google Chat

To search your Google Chat messages in Chat, go here instead.

As part of your Google Workspace data eDiscovery projects, you can use Vault to search Google Chat messages, review message contents and participants, download attachments, and create an export of your search results. 

In this article: 

• Things to know before you search
• Chat search examples
• Search for chat messages
• Preview messages in search results

Things to know before you search

Before you search for messages, we recommend you review the Chat messages supported in Vault and the Vault Search FAQ.

Chat search examples

    Participant 1: hi

    Participant 2: hello

Search for Chat messages

1. Sign in to vault.google.com.
2. Click Matters. You search for data in matters, which are workspaces for your Vault projects. Matters let you group related holds, searches, and exports together. Matters don't restrict what data you can search—all data that you are allowed to access is searchable from any matter.
3. If the matter you want to run the search query in exists, click it to open it. Otherwise, create a matter:
   1. Click Create.
   2. Enter a name for the matter and, optionally, a description.
   3. Click Create.

   The Search tab automatically opens.

4. For the service, select Chat.
5. Select the source data to search:
   • All data—Search all messages in your organization.
   • Held data—Search only messages on hold for the matter.
6. Select the entity to search:
   • Specific accounts—Enter up to 5,000 account email addresses.
   • Organizational unit—Search accounts in a specific child organizational unit.

   • You can't search the top-level organizational unit (your entire organization). Selecting this unit won't return any results. 
   • If the organizational unit has child organizational units, accounts in the child organizational units are also searched.
   • If you have a large organizational structure, selecting a parent organizational unit might not show any results. Instead, you must select a specific child organizational unit. 
   • Each organizational unit must have fewer that 5,000 members. 

• Chat spaces—Search one or more spaces:
  1. In the dialog that opens, enter one or more email addresses of members of the spaces you want to search.
  2. Click Find.
  3. In the list of spaces, select the spaces you want to search and click Add.

1. (Optional) If you search accounts or an organizational unit, to include messages in spaces, click Include messages in Chat spaces . Vault searches a space only when a searched account is a member of the space.
2. (Optional) Select a time zone.
3. (Optional) Enter a range for Date sent.

   Note: If you enter dates, Vault returns all conversations that have messages in that date range and match your query terms. The results might also include messages that match query terms but occur outside of your date range.

   • If you enter a start date, Vault returns all messages sent on or after that date.
   • If you enter an end date, Vault returns all messages sent on or before that date.
4. (Optional) In Terms, enter one or more search terms:

   Search terms can't exceed 2,000 characters.

   • To search for one or more keywords in the message, enter words preceded by a plus (+) and separated by spaces. For example, +project +goals.
   • To search for a phrase, put the words in quotes and precede with a plus (+). For example, +"project goals".
   • To search only direct messages, enter is:dm. To search only messages in spaces, enter is:room.
   • To search by account, date, or message properties use search operators.
5. Click one of the following:
   • Search—Run your search and return a list of messages that match your query.
   • Export—Directly export the search results and skip the search results preview. Learn more about exports
6. After your search or export completes, you can take the following actions:
   • To edit your search, click Expand.
   • To open a preview of a message and its conversation, click the message.
   • To create an export of your search results, click Export. Learn more
   • To save your query, click Save. Learn more
   • To clear all fields and start a new search, click Clear.

Preview messages in search results

After you run a search, you can review the messages that matched your query, review the participants, and download attachments.

To preview a message, in the search results list, click the message. A list of messages opens.

To provide context for matching messages in DMs, group chats, and spaces with in-line threading, Vault includes messages sent 12 hours before and 12 hours after the matched message. See Vault Chat search and export scope for details.

Messages with a  have one or more attachments. To download an attachment, preview the message and click Download.