Finding an old post on Facebook can be tricky, especially if it was made many years ago. The good news is that with a few simple steps, you can locate posts from years past on Facebook.
Use the Search Bar
The easiest way to find an old Facebook post is to use the search bar at the top of your News Feed. Just type in keywords from the post, like a name, date, location, or even a phrase you remember. This will bring up all public posts on Facebook that match those keywords. You’ll then just need to scroll through to see if you can find the specific post you’re looking for.
Keep in mind that Facebook’s search tool only searches through public posts, not private messages or posts you’ve been tagged in that your friends may have set to private. Still, if the post was public, the search bar can be a quick way to track it down if you have the right keywords.
Check Your Activity Log
Facebook keeps an activity log of almost everything you do on the platform, going back years. This includes all posts you’ve created, commented on, reacted to, and more. You can access your activity log by going to the Menu button in the top right > Settings & Privacy > Activity Log.
Once there, you can click the Posts You’ve Made tab to see all your posts over the years in chronological order. This makes it easy to scroll back through time until you find the specific post you’re looking for. The filters at the top let you narrow it down by date range and search keywords too.
Browse Your Timeline
If you remember around what year or time period the Facebook post was made, simply going to your timeline and browsing can help you find it. Facebook shows posts on your timeline in reverse chronological order, with the newest at the top.
To quickly jump back to older posts, click the year headings on the left side of your timeline page. This will instantly take you back to posts from that time period. Then just scroll back up towards the present until you come across the post you need.
Check Tagged Posts
If you were tagged in the old Facebook post by a friend, it may show up under the Posts You’re Tagged In section of your profile. Go to your profile, then click Photos then Tagged to browse all the posts you’ve ever been tagged in.
This section goes back years, so scroll through until you find the post you need. You can use Search within it to narrow it down by keywords. One limitation is that tagged posts only appear here if the friend who tagged you has it set as public.
Use Facebook Memories
Facebook Memories are old posts that the platform resurfaces because it thinks you may want to be reminded of them or share them again. Every day new Memories will appear at the top of your News Feed.
Browsing through your recent Memories is a great way to uncover old posts you’ve made. If you don’t see the one you want, click See More to open up a page with years and years worth of Memories to scroll through.
Check Notifications
If someone engaged with the old post by commenting, reacting, or tagging you, it’s possible a notification was generated that you can still find. Go to the Notification icon in the top right corner and click the All Notifications view.
This shows notifications going back for years. Click Older to expand more. Facebook will only store notifications for so long before deleting them, but you may get lucky in finding an old notification tied to the post you need.
Use a Friend’s Timeline
If the old post you’re looking for was on a friend’s timeline, like a photo they were tagged in or status update they made, you can browse their profile to find it. Click on your friend’s name to go to their timeline.
Then use the left sidebar or Search feature to navigate back through their posts year by year until you come across the one you’re looking for. This can be helpful if you remember being tagged by a friend or commenting on their post.
Check Groups
If you posted in a Facebook Group years ago, those can be harder to find because they don’t show up on your personal timeline. To locate old group posts, go to the Groups section of the sidebar and click on the group name.
This will open the group page, where you can use Search or scroll through Posts to browse old content. If you posted something that got a lot of engagement at the time, it may still appear toward the top.
Use a Third Party App
Various third party apps exist that index old Facebook data and make it more searchable. FriendsFeed was one, although it shut down in 2015. Social Recall is another that aims to archive your Facebook Memories and make them easily findable.
Keep in mind you have to grant these expansive access to your Facebook data for them to work. But they can provide an additional way to search for and retrieve old posts if you’re hitting a wall in your search.
Contact Facebook
As a last resort, you can try contacting Facebook’s customer support for help finding a really old post. Keep in mind they typically don’t provide too much assistance with things like retrieving old data.
But it can be worth a shot, especially if there’s something crucially important you need to recover. They may at least be able to advise you on any other steps you could take or if it’s possible to restore the post.
Conclusion
While it can take some digging, with the right approach you can usually find even really old Facebook posts. Start by using Facebook’s own search and filtering tools to browse back through your timeline year by year. Checking tagged posts, Memories, groups and notifications can uncover hidden gems too.
And if you still can’t find that post on your own page, look for it in friends’ timelines and groups as well. Just be patient and thorough in your searching – that old post is likely still out there somewhere!
| Method | How To Do It | Best For Finding |
|---|---|---|
| Search Bar | Type keywords into search at top of News Feed | Public posts you made |
| Activity Log | Go to Activity Log in settings and browse Posts You’ve Made | All posts you’ve made |
| Timeline | Click year headings on left to browse back through your timeline | Posts from a certain time period |
| Tagged Posts | Go to your profile then Photos > Tagged to see posts friends tagged you in | Posts you were tagged in |
| Memories | Check the Memories that appear at the top of your News Feed | Your old posts that Facebook resurfaces |
| Notifications | Click through years of notifications in the top right bell icon | Posts you got engagement on |
| Friend’s Timeline | Browse back through a friend’s profile if it was their post | Posts made by friends |
| Groups | Search through Facebook Groups you posted in | Posts made in Groups |
Facebook’s interface and algorithms are constantly evolving, so finding old posts requires some creativity. But with the right tools and targeted searching, you can typically unearth posts from many years ago. The memories are still there – you just have to dig them back up!
Here are some final tips for finding old Facebook posts:
- Use descriptive keywords when searching – names, dates, locations, quotes from the post itself
- Try broadening your search terms if you get no results at first
- Check Memories daily as Facebook adds more old content
- Browse back through timelines year by year, don’t just scroll endlessly
- Look through posts you were tagged in, even those set to Friends only
- If all else fails, contact Facebook support for guidance
With billions of users, Facebook hosts endless old posts and long-forgotten memories. While it may take some determination, you can usually resurrect posts from years gone by. With the range of search tools at your disposal, you can relive old Facebook moments again and again.
Now go and take a nostalgic trip down memory lane on Facebook once more!