How to search and explore your content in Dropbox Dash

Updated May 06, 2026

How to search and explore your content with Dropbox Dash

You can find and create content from apps that you or your admin have connected to Dash. Learn how to connect apps to Dropbox Dash.

How does searching web content in Dash work?

Dash uses OpenAI’s web search API (gpt-5-mini) to search the internet and summarize relevant web content in your Dash Chat results.

Enter your query in the search bar to find specific items, or click one of the options below the search bar before entering your query to use that feature:

Attach sources: Attach supported files or folders to include with your query.
Chat controls
- Web search: Enable or disable web search by using the checkbox.
- Model: Select the AI model you want to use, or leave it on “Best” to select the best option for your task.
- Connect apps: Connect third-party apps to Dash.

Note: You can only use the search bar to search content on the Dash desktop app and the Dash mobile app.

Attach sources

Follow these steps to attach sources to your query:

Log in to dash.ai.
- If you’re using the desktop app, press control-shift-e (Windows) or command-shift-e (macOS) to open the app window.
Click (add) and select your desired files or folders.

Notes:

File upload size limit: 25 MB per file.
Supported file types include:
- Documents: .csv, .doc, .docx, .md, .pdf, .txt, .xlsx, .xls
- Images (up to 50 per chat session): .bmp, .gif, .jpg (.jpeg), .png, .tiff, .webp
- Videos: .3gp, .3gpp, .3gpp2, .asf, .avi, .dv, .m2t, .m4v, .mkv, .mov, .mp4, .mpeg, .mpg, .mts, .mxf

Chat controls

Web search

You can use Dash to search the internet for answers to your questions from across the web and view them directly in Dash Chat.

Follow these steps to search the web from dash.ai.

Log in to dash.ai.
Click①(slider) All content at the bottom of the text box near the (Attach sources) button
Check “Web search”
- Note: Web search will be enabled by default. You can toggle between web search and searching your content and connected apps by checking or unchecking this box within the current or future chats.
Enter your question in the text box.
Click (send) to generate your answer.

Dash Chat will generate answers based on its web search. You can ask follow-up questions and refine answers by typing instructions in the text bar.

Learn more about Dash Chat.

Sharing chats

You can share individual chats with others through a shareable link.

Follow the steps below to share your chat:

Log in to dash.ai.
Enter a question or message into the chat box.
Click (send) to generate your answer.
Click Share.
Click Copy link.
- Note: Your chat link will be copied to your clipboard.
Send the link to the intended recipient(s).

Note: Drafts of content created with Dash aren’t included in shared links. Only chat messages will be shared. Learn more about drafting content with Dash.

Manage shared chat links

You can manage shared chat links to control access or revoke them at any time.

How to manage links directly after sharing

After you share your chat link, in the confirmation window:

Click Manage links.
Navigate to the chat link you want to manage.
Select the action you want to take.

How to manage links from settings

Log in to dash.ai.
Click Account.
Click Settings.
Click General.
Click Data & Security.
Navigate to the chat link you want to manage.
Select the action you want to take.

Note: Managing a link to revoke access will prevent future access to that shared chat using that specific link. This doesn't impact anyone’s document access levels.

Model

You can select the AI model you want to use by browsing through the Model menu in the bottom left corner of the chat box.

By default, “Best” is selected and will automatically determine the most useful model for your query.

Learn more about choosing chat models in Dash.

Connect apps

Use this option to connect supported, third-party apps to Dropbox Dash. Connected apps allow you to access, search, and interact with content directly in Dash.

Learn how to connect apps to Dash.

Notes:

Dash uses third-party AI to reference the web.
The data you send is not used to train or improve OpenAI models.
Dropbox does not use your data to build generative AI models. Learn more about Dropbox Dash’s AI trust and security principles.

You can use Dash to search for content in your account and across your connected apps.

Log in to dash.ai.
- If you’re using the desktop app, press control-shift-e (Windows) or command-shift-e (macOS) to open the app window.
Enter your search term, question, or phrase in the search bar.
- Notes:
  - You can ask about content from a connected app, limiting results to that app.
  - Dash uses text from titles, content, and your recent interactions to quickly rank relevant results for you while you type. Select a suggestion or enter your full query.
  - You can search for video, image, and design files by title, folder and file path, and EXIF data (location, date taken, resolution, and camera model), where applicable.
Press Enter.
- Click App, Type, Updated, or People at the top of the search results page to further refine your search.

You can use text filters to refine your search. To apply a text-based filter to your query, use:

“from:” to find files or messages from a specific person
“in:” to search within a particular app
“time:” to filter by date
“type:” to search by file type (such as documents, spreadsheets, emails, and images)

You’ll see previews of videos and images that match your query, and can enlarge that preview by clicking the thumbnail.

The following file types are supported when searching for multimedia:

Image files: .gif, .heic, .jpg, .png, .svg, .tiff, .webp
Text from image files: .jpg, .pdf, .png, .tiff
Video files: .3gp, .3gp2, .3gpp, .asf, .asx, .axv, .avi, .dif, .dl, .dv, .fli, .flv, .gl, .m2t, .m4v, .mkv, .mov, .movie, .mpe, .mp4, .mpg, .mpv, .mts, .mxu, .ogv, .qt, .ts, .vob, .webm, .wm, .wmv, .wmx, .wvx
Design files: .aep, .ai, .indd, .psd, .prproj, Canva files

Dash can retrieve these multimedia file types from apps connected to your Dash account only.

Learn how to connect apps to Dropbox Dash.

Searching for images by content

You can search for imagesin your library based on the content of the image. For example, you can enter “sunset type:image” or “party type:image” in the search bar, and images featuring those terms will appear in your search results, even if the title or metadata of the file doesn’t include that search term.

Note: You can’t search for images of people by name using this feature.

When you view an image in Dropbox, visually similar images from your library will populate in the right-side panel.

You can filter for text found in images. To do so:

Log in to dash.ai.
Enter your query.
Click Type.
Click Image.
Click Text in image.

Notes:

Only .jpg, .pdf, .png, and .tiff file types are support for text from image searches.
Searching for text in image files is currently only supported on dash.ai and the Dropbox Dash desktop app.

Tip: You can use the shorthand “photos:” or “images:” before your search terms, or write “photos of” or “images of” to automatically filter results to image file types.

Note: This feature is only available on Chrome and Edge browsers.

You can quickly search across all of your Dash content through the Dash browser extension.

To do so:

Click in the top-left of the panel.
Click (Dropbox) next to the address bar of your browser.
- If you don’t see (Dropbox), click (extensions) and select Dropbox Dash from the dropdown.
Enter your query in the text bar.
Click (send) to generate your answer.

Tips:

In the Dash desktop app, use control-e (Windows) or command-e (macOS) at any time to open a search box and start a search instantly.
If you have the Dropbox Dash browser extension installed, you can also search by entering “ds” and the space key directly into the address bar on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. “Dropbox Dash |” will appear, and you can start entering your query.
Admins can set files as verified, indicated by a (verification checkmark), meaning those files have been reviewed and confirmed as the most relevant and up-to-date resource for specific search terms. Learn more about verified results.