While it’s purposed to be a regular social network, Facebook is one of the go-to places to find anything. Be it a person, business, or items for sale, you can find everything on Facebook. But how do you narrow down the search results to find something quickly? Let’s examine how to use Facebook’s advanced search filters on mobile and PC to find old photos, posts, people, and more.
- How to Perform a Facebook Search on PC
- How to Perform a Facebook Search on Android and iPhone
- How to Search for Old Facebook Posts Using Filters
- How to Search Within Your Profile, Someone Else's Profile, a Page, or Group
- How to Search for People on Facebook
- How to Search for Photos and Videos on Facebook
- How to Search for Items Within Facebook Marketplace
- How to Find Facebook Pages, Groups, and Places
- How to Find Jobs on Facebook
- How to Search Facebook for Events
- Frequently Asked Questions
How to Perform a Facebook Search on PC
To perform a Facebook search on your computer, ensure you’re logged in to Facebook. Click on the search box at the top, and type your search query. Facebook will recommend some queries that are similar to yours. Click on one of these if it appears to be useful. Alternatively, enter your own query, and press Enter.
Facebook will offer search results sorted by categories, like posts, photos, videos, and more. Find what you are looking for by clicking on the appropriate filter from the left sidebar:
- Posts
- People
- Photos
- Videos
- Marketplace
- Pages
- Places
- Groups
- Events
Clicking on any filter will open more filter options under each section to further help you narrow the search results.
How to Perform a Facebook Search on Android and iPhone
Open the Facebook mobile app. Tap on the search button at the top, type your query, and hit the Search icon. You will be greeted by relevant search results.
Filter the results by Posts, People, Groups, Photos, etc., using the tabs at the top. Swipe left to view all of the available filters. Inside each filter, tap on the Options icon in the top-right corner to apply more filters based on each category.
How to Search for Old Facebook Posts Using Filters
You can use Facebook search to find your own previous posts, your friends’ posts, or posts of non-friends without scrolling.
Enter a word from the post you are looking for into the Facebook search box. On the search results screen, click on the Posts filter. You will be greeted by the following options. Use them to find the exact post.
- Recent posts: sort the posts starting with the recent ones on down.
- Posts you’ve seen: show the posts that you had earlier interacted with or shown interest in.
- Date posted: allows you to select the year.
- Posts from: filter between your own posts, your friends, your groups and pages, and public posts.
- Tagged location: filter by selected tagged location.
How to Search Within Your Profile, Someone Else’s Profile, a Page, or Group
You can also search for a post directly from your own profile, someone else’s profile, or within a group or page. This feature is available on both mobile and PC.
If you want to search a profile, page, or group, open it, and click on the Search icon on the right side of the pane. To search your own profile, open your profile page, and choose the More button (three dots) -> Search. This is different from the regular Facebook search.
Enter the search term you are looking for.
How to Search for People on Facebook
Different people will have the same name on Facebook, and it becomes difficult to find the person you are looking for. To make things easier, Facebook lets you find people based on their city, education, and work.
Start by entering the person’s name in the search box, then click on the People filter, and choose the required filters. If the person is friends with your friends, enable the toggle next to Friends of friends.
How to Search for Photos and Videos on Facebook
Similarly, you can filter photos and videos based on parameters, such as tagged location, date posted, type of photo, posted by, and live videos. All of these filters are present under the Photos and Videos filters section. If the pictures do not load on Facebook, see if you can find the answer in this troubleshooting guide.
How to Search for Items Within Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is a great place to buy things, especially when you know how to search correctly.
Enter the item you want to buy in the Facebook search, and click/tap on the Marketplace filter. Filter the products by item condition (new/used), price, date listed, and category. You can even sort items. Additionally, change the location of the marketplace by clicking on your current location. The same filters can be accessed if you search directly within Facebook Marketplace.
Facebook also lets you find your saved items on Facebook Marketplace in case you repeatedly look for the same item.
How to Find Facebook Pages, Groups, and Places
Similarly, if you are looking for a specific page, group, or place, you can narrow the search results using various filters, as shown below:
- Pages can be found by location, verified badge, and category.
- Groups can be found by city and type of group.
- Place filters are based on functionality, such as delivery, takeaway, location, price, status, visited by friends, etc.
- Search for events based on their type, such as online or paid events, location, event date, family-friendly, categories, and popularity with friends.
How to Find Jobs on Facebook
Sadly, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has removed the native feature that finds job listings from Facebook. Only users based in the U.S. and Canada can create new job postings.
You can still find hiring advertisements on Facebook via search. Type popular terms like “hiring” or “looking for,” followed by a job title or profession to find available posts or images. Use various advanced search filters to narrow the results.
How to Search Facebook for Events
Events are quite popular on Facebook. You can easily find events in two ways.
Method 1: Find Events Near Me
In the search function of Facebook, type “events near me” to see the Events card. Tap on it to view upcoming events. Use the filters and categories on the left and at the top to find the desired event.
Method 2: Find an Event Using Its Name
Type the event name, or at least its type, in the Facebook search bar, and hit Enter. Scroll down the left sidebar, and click Events. Use the filter options – location, category, paid, and date – to find your desired event.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I search Facebook without an account?
If you don’t have a Facebook account, there are two workarounds to find public profiles, posts, pages, and groups. First, use the help of search engines, like Google, Bing, etc. Enter your search query, followed by “site:facebook.com.” For instance, if you are looking for a page called Chandni chowk, search using “site:facebook.com/pages Chandni Chowk.” Similarly, replace pages with groups to find a group.
Other ways to search Facebook include dedicated search engines for social media sites and social searcher.
Note that you won’t be able to utilize the advanced search features without logging in or when a profile is locked.
Can someone tell if you look at their Facebook profile or search for them?
Luckily, no. Facebook will not inform the other person, even if you search for them or look at their profile a thousand times. However, be cautious and don’t like a post accidentally on their profile.
How can I stop my Facebook profile from appearing in search results outside of Facebook?
Go to Facebook Settings -> Privacy Checkup -> How people can find you. Review these privacy options, and adjust the settings as desired. If you don’t want people outside of Facebook looking at your profile, disable the toggle for the Do you want search engines outside Facebook to link to your profile?
If you don’t want others to find your profile in their Facebook search, either lock it or make Facebook private. You can even deactivate your account if you want to stop using Facebook temporarily.
Image credit: Pexels. All screenshots by Zainab Falak.
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