Twitter's search works best when you remember part of what you wrote

The fastest way to find an old tweet is to search Twitter directly using a keyword, phrase, or username. If you remember even a few words from the tweet, type them into the search box at the top of your Twitter feed. Twitter will show you matching tweets in order of relevance, with the most recent matches first. This works whether you're looking for your own tweet or someone else's.

If you remember roughly when you posted it — say, "sometime in 2022" or "last summer" — you can narrow the search by adding a date range. Type your search term, then add since:2022-01-01 until:2022-12-31 to the search box. Replace the dates with the year or months you're looking for. Twitter will then show only tweets posted within that window.

For tweets from your own account, you can also scroll through your profile directly. Go to your profile, click the "Posts" tab, and scroll backward through your timeline. This is slower than searching, but it works if you remember roughly how far back the tweet is and don't remember the exact wording.

Key Takeaways

  • Search Twitter using any words or phrases you remember from the tweet, and Twitter will show matching results ranked by relevance.
  • Add date filters like since:2022-01-01 until:2022-12-31 to narrow results to a specific time period.
  • Your own tweets can be found by scrolling through your profile's "Posts" tab, though this takes longer than searching.
  • If you remember the username of who posted it, search for their name and scroll their profile to find tweets from a specific time.
  • Deleted tweets cannot be found through Twitter's search, but the Internet Archive may have saved a copy.

Using Twitter's advanced search operators

Twitter's search box accepts several operators that make finding old tweets much easier. The most useful ones are from: to search only tweets by a specific person, to: to find tweets directed at someone, and since: and until: to set date boundaries. You can combine these in a single search.

For example, if you're looking for a tweet you sent to a friend, type from:yourname to:friendname and Twitter will show only tweets you posted that mention or reply to that friend. If you want to find tweets you posted about a specific topic in a specific month, type from:yourname pizza since:2023-03-01 until:2023-03-31. Twitter will return only your tweets about pizza from March 2023.

You can also search for tweets that contain links, images, or videos by adding filter:links, filter:images, or filter:videos to your search. This is useful if you remember that the tweet included a photo or a link but not the exact text.

Scrolling your own timeline when search doesn't work

If you remember posting something but the search isn't turning it up, your profile's timeline is the backup. Open your profile, click the "Posts" tab, and scroll down. Twitter loads older tweets as you scroll, so you can go back months or even years this way. It's tedious for very old tweets, but it works.

On mobile, the process is the same: tap your profile icon, go to your profile, tap "Posts," and scroll down to browse older tweets. The further back you go, the longer it takes to load, but Twitter will keep loading older content as long as you keep scrolling.

Finding someone else's old tweet

To find a tweet posted by someone else, start by searching for their username. Type from:@username into the search box, and Twitter will show all their public tweets in reverse chronological order (newest first). Scroll down to browse older posts, or add date filters to narrow to a specific time period.

If you remember a phrase from the tweet but not who posted it, search for that phrase alone and Twitter will show all matching tweets from any account. You can then look through the results to find the one you're thinking of. If the tweet was popular or got retweeted a lot, it will likely appear near the top of the results.

Keep in mind that if the tweet was deleted, it won't show up in Twitter's search. The same is true if the account that posted it was deleted or made private after you saw the tweet.

Checking the Internet Archive for deleted tweets

If a tweet has been deleted and you can't find it on Twitter, the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine may have saved a copy. Go to web.archive.org, paste the URL of the person's Twitter profile into the search box, and click "Browse History." The Wayback Machine will show you snapshots of that profile from different dates. Click on a date close to when you think the tweet was posted, and you may see the tweet in the archived version of the profile.

This only works if the Wayback Machine happened to crawl and save that profile around the time the tweet existed. It doesn't work for every tweet, and the archived version may be incomplete or partially broken. But it's worth trying if the tweet was from a public account and you remember roughly when it was posted.

What to do if you still can't find it

If you've searched, scrolled, and checked the archive with no luck, the tweet may have been deleted, or your memory of the exact wording may be too different from what was actually posted. Try searching with different keywords or phrases — sometimes a single word change makes the difference in what Twitter's search returns.

If you're looking for a tweet someone else posted and you can't find it, ask them directly. They can tell you whether they deleted it, and if they didn't, they may remember it well enough to help you search for it. If it was a popular tweet that got retweeted a lot, you might also try searching for it on other social media platforms or doing a general web search for the phrase.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I search for tweets by date without remembering any words from them?

Not effectively. Twitter's search requires at least a keyword or phrase to work. If you only remember the date, try scrolling your own profile or the other person's profile directly. You can also try searching for a general topic you think the tweet was about, then add date filters to narrow the results.

Why isn't my tweet showing up in search results even though I know I posted it?

Twitter's search sometimes lags or doesn't index every tweet immediately. Try searching again after a few hours. If the tweet is very old, make sure you're using the correct date filters. Also check whether the tweet is still public — if you changed your account to private or deleted the tweet, it won't show up in search.

Can I search for tweets I liked or retweeted?

Yes. Go to your profile, click the "Likes" or "Retweets" tab (depending on what you're looking for), and scroll through that list. You can also search for a keyword and then filter results to show only tweets you've interacted with, though this requires using Twitter's advanced search operators.

What if I only remember that someone tweeted about a topic on a specific day?

Search for the topic, then add since:YYYY-MM-DD until:YYYY-MM-DD to narrow to that single day. If you also remember their username, add from:@username to the search. The more details you can remember, the easier it is to narrow the results.

Does the Internet Archive save all tweets?

No. The Wayback Machine only saves pages it has crawled, and it doesn't crawl every page every day. Popular accounts and frequently-visited profiles are more likely to be saved. If a profile was private when the Wayback Machine tried to crawl it, the archive won't have saved it.