How to search your old tweets

The short answer

1. Request your archive in X: More → Settings and privacy → Your account → Download an archive of your data.
2. When X says it’s ready (usually within a day), download the ZIP.
3. Drop it, unopened, on Search & clean up.
4. Type any word. Every matching post, reply or repost appears with the words highlighted.

Why X’s own search isn’t enough

The search box on X is built to surface what’s popular and recent, not to be an index of your own history. Old posts can be hard to reach, and there’s no clean way to say “show me everything I posted in 2014”. Your archive doesn’t have that problem: it’s a complete copy of what your account holds.

What you can do once it’s searchable

• Full-text search over every post, reply and repost, with matches highlighted.
• Filter by year and type (posts, replies, reposts), and sort by date or by most liked.
• Search your own words: an ex’s name, a former employer, a place, anything you’d rather not have found later.
• Run a clean-up check that flags swearing, alcohol and drug references, and personal info such as phone numbers and e-mail addresses, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, French and German.

The clean-up check is a starting point, not a verdict. Read each flagged post yourself before you decide.

Deleting the ones you don’t want

Unwrapped can’t delete anything for you, because that would need your password and it never asks for it. Each result opens on X with one click, and you delete it there yourself. It’s slower than a bulk tool, and your account stays safe.

When this is worth doing

• Before a job search: a recruiter or a new boss can scroll back through your history. Our guide to a social media clean-up covers the rest of your accounts.
• Before you start posting for a business or a client.
• Whenever you just want to find that one tweet from years ago.

Everything is read in your browser, so your posts are never uploaded. Searching and the clean-up check are free; exporting the results as CSV is part of Plus.

FAQ