# What's the most reliable way to find an older Slack message or DM once it's out of recent history in a large workspace?

<p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">Six months after a decision gets made in <a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/slack/reviews">Slack</a>, someone needs the message, so I've been working through the most reliable way to find an older message or DM once it's out of recent history in a large workspace. What people mention on G2 is searching on a specific keyword or the person's name rather than a general phrase, and pinning important messages and documents in the channel at the time so they don't need finding later. The searching takes longer as channels and DMs multiply.</p><p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">Search is also one of the features people value most, for finding past messages, files and decisions. Across <a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/categories/business-instant-messaging">business instant messaging</a>, that makes Slack a good fit for teams that keep decisions in channels rather than private messages, since a decision made in a named channel is far easier to find than one inside a long DM thread.</p><p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">Pinning at the moment of the decision seems to be the habit that pays off most.</p><p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">What's your actual method for finding something from months back? And does your team pin decisions as they happen, or only after someone has gone looking?</p>

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: 1 day ago
- Author title: Marketing Executive
- Net upvotes: 1


## Comments
### Comment 1

Has anyone tried a dedicated decisions channel where everything important gets pinned? I&#39;m wondering if one place beats pinning across lots of channels.

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: about 10 hours ago
- Author title: Jr. SEO Specialist





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