Find a File in Teams, SharePoint, or OneDrive

Questions

  • Where did my department's files go after the move to Microsoft Teams?
  • How do I search for a file in Microsoft Teams?
  • I cannot find a file I know exists. What should I check?
  • How do I search for words inside a document instead of searching the file name?
  • What is the Shared view in OneDrive, and whose files are in it?
  • How do I find a file a coworker sent me in a chat?
  • Does search in Microsoft Teams look at every team, or only the teams I belong to?
  • How do I search inside a single channel on a Mac?
  • Why does searching the words in a scanned document return nothing?
  • As a new staff member, how do I find where my office keeps its shared files?

Environment

This article applies to Bowdoin College faculty and staff searching for files in Microsoft Teams, on a SharePoint site, or in OneDrive for work or school. A Bowdoin account is required, and search returns only content you already have permission to open, so two people searching the same words see different results.

  • People: Bowdoin faculty and staff, including anyone whose department has moved files from the Microwave department drive (J:) into Microsoft Teams.
  • Systems: the Microsoft Teams desktop app, Microsoft Teams in a web browser, SharePoint, and OneDrive, reached after signing in at https://office365.bowdoin.edu. Search boxes sit in different places in each one.
  • Computers: Bowdoin-issued Windows 11 computers and Bowdoin-issued Macs running macOS Sequoia (15.x), Tahoe (26.x), or newer, plus iPad running the current version of iPadOS. Personal computers are supported on a best-effort basis only.
  • In some versions of Microsoft Teams a channel's Shared tab is labeled Files. Both labels open the same place.
  • Not in scope: getting back a file that was deleted. Deleted items are recoverable for 93 days, and the steps are in How to Recover Documents in OneDrive, Teams, or SharePoint in the Related Articles section.
  • Not in scope: reaching a department network (Microwave) drive that has not yet moved to Microsoft Teams, which is covered in Access a Department Network (Microwave) Drive in the Related Articles section.

Resolution

Pick the right search box for the size of the search

Each search box in Microsoft 365 covers a different amount of ground, and picking the narrowest one that still contains the file is both faster and more reliable.

Where you search What that search covers
Search box at the top of Microsoft Teams Every team and every chat you belong to
Search box on a channel's Shared tab Only the files in that one channel
Search box in SharePoint The whole team site, including every channel folder
Shared view in OneDrive Files other people have given you access to, wherever those files are stored
Note: A file that was added or moved within the last hour can be missing from search results while Microsoft 365 indexes the file. Browse to the folder instead of searching when a file moved very recently.

Search everything you belong to from the top of Microsoft Teams

The search box at the top of Microsoft Teams covers the teams and chats you belong to, and it groups results into Messages, Files, Group Chats, and Teams and Channels.

  1. Select the search box at the top of Microsoft Teams and type part of the file name, or a phrase from inside the document.
  2. Select Files to drop the message results and leave only files.
  3. Narrow the list of files using the Team, File Type, Modified by, and Date filters.

Modified by is the most useful filter when you remember who sent a document but not what the document was called.

Search inside one channel or one SharePoint library

  • In a channel or a chat, press Ctrl + F on Windows 11 or Command + F on a Mac to search that conversation. From a channel's Posts tab you can also select Find in channel.
  • On a channel's Shared tab, the search box filters the files stored in that one channel.
  • In SharePoint, the search box covers the whole team site, including every channel folder, not only the folder you are standing in. SharePoint search is the one to use when you know the department but not the channel. To get to SharePoint, open the channel's Shared tab and choose Open in SharePoint.

Look at the files you opened recently

The Files app in the Microsoft Teams sidebar lists files you have opened recently, wherever those files are stored. Checking the recent list first is worthwhile when you had a file open last week and cannot remember which channel it came from. Select the file in the recent list, then choose Open file location to see where the file lives.

Search the contents of a document, not only the file name

Microsoft Search reads inside documents, so keywords can match a person's name, words in the title, and the text of the document itself. A phrase you remember from page two is a legitimate search. Results are filtered by permission, so you see only documents you are allowed to open, and you can narrow results by category, date modified, file type, and file size.

Searching contents does not work on everything. A scanned Portable Document Format (PDF) file and a photograph of a page hold a picture of text rather than text, so searching for the words on the page finds nothing. Search for a scanned document by its date or by the person who added it instead.

Find a file someone shared with you

Sign in at https://office365.bowdoin.edu, open OneDrive, and select Shared. The Shared view is a view, not a folder. The Shared view lists files other people have given you access to, wherever those files are stored, and those files stay owned by the colleagues who shared them. Nothing in the Shared view belongs to you, and you cannot reorganize it. If a file in the Shared view matters to your department, the file needs to move into a channel to survive, and the steps are in Move Files into a Microsoft Teams Channel in the Related Articles section.

Why a file you know exists does not appear in search results

  1. You are not in the channel. Search covers only content you have access to. A file in a private channel you were never added to does not exist as far as your search is concerned.
  2. The file was shared in a chat, not posted in a channel. Chat files live in the sender's OneDrive and are visible only to the people in that conversation, which is explained in Files You Share in a Chat Are Not in the Channel in the Related Articles section.
  3. The search words are wrong. Try a distinctive phrase from inside the document rather than the name you believe the file had.
  4. The file was deleted. Deleted items are recoverable for 93 days.
  5. The file was renamed during cleanup. Filter by Modified by and by date instead of searching the old name.

Ask a Team owner when no search turns the file up

Because search is limited to your own access, a file that is invisible to you and a file that is gone look exactly the same. A Team owner can see the whole Team and can say whether a file sits in a channel you are not a member of. Ask an owner to confirm which channel your department's files landed in, and to add you to any channel you are missing. A file that seems lost after a move is most often a membership question rather than a search problem, and every Team should have at least two owners you can ask.

Important: Ask a Team owner before you recreate a document you cannot find. Recreating a file that already exists in a channel leaves your department with two versions and no way to tell which one is current.

Additional Help

If you need further assistance, you have several options:

  • Bowdoin Bot: Chat with Bowdoin Bot directly from any KB page for instant answers.
  • Phone: Call the Bowdoin College Service Desk at (207) 725-3030.
  • In person: Visit the Tech Hub in Smith Union during business hours.
  • Submit a ticket: Request assistance through the Service Catalog.

Additional Resources

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