rallyHelpChapter 2 · Canvases / 2.11
Search and links
Find any message, link, artifact or file, and share links that open the right place in Rally.
Pins keep things close. Search is how you find something when you have forgotten where you left it. Links are how you point someone else at the exact spot.
Search your Organization
Press ⌘ ⇧ Shift F from anywhere in the main window, or click Search organization (the magnifying glass) at the top of the sidebar's list. A search window opens over everything else.
Start typing. Results appear after a short pause, with no need to press anything. Search looks through:
- Messages in every Canvas and Sidekick conversation you can read.
- Links that people and Rally have shared in conversations.
- Artifacts, the documents and files Rally has made.
- Files that people have attached or brought in.
For artifacts and files, it matches their names and descriptions, and also the readable text inside documents. That is how you find "the contract that mentions the break clause" when nobody remembers what the file was called.
The tabs along the top, All, Messages, Links, Artifacts and Files, narrow the results to one kind. More results load as you scroll down.
Opening a result
Click a result, or move to it and press Return.
- A message opens its Canvas or Sidekick and jumps to that exact message.
- A link opens in your web browser.
- An artifact or a file opens in a preview. See Opening, docking and downloading.
Press Esc to close the search window without opening anything.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↑ ↓ | Move through the results |
| Return | Open the highlighted result |
| ⌘ 1 to ⌘ 9 | Open the first to ninth result directly |
| ← → | Switch tabs, when a tab is selected |
| Esc | Close search |
Every shortcut in Rally is collected in Keyboard shortcuts.
What search will not find
- Things you cannot read. Search only shows results from conversations you have access to, and checks again when you open one.
- Canvases and Sidekicks by name. This search looks inside conversations, not at their titles. To find a Canvas or a Sidekick by name, use the search box on the Canvases or Sidekicks home page.
- Anything, while you are signed out. The Search button is greyed out and the shortcut does nothing until you are signed in.
Results can be up to about 30 seconds old. If you repeat a search straight away, you may briefly see something that changed a moment ago. Opening it shows the current state.
When something goes wrong, the search window says Search could not be completed. Please try again. If more results fail to load as you scroll, click Retry loading more results.
Links to the right place
Every Canvas and Sidekick has a web link of its own. Send one to a teammate and it opens Rally at exactly that place.
| To copy a link to | Do this |
|---|---|
| A Canvas | Click the Canvas's header pill, or right-click it in the sidebar, and choose Copy link. |
| A Sidekick | Open the Sidekick, click … (or its header pill) and choose Copy link. |
If the copy fails, Rally says so and you can try again.
The links are ordinary web addresses starting with https://rallywith.ai/app/,
which beats a link only the app understands in two ways:
- They work in email, Slack and documents, anywhere a normal link works.
- They survive being forwarded. Whoever opens one signs in as themselves, so the link shows each person only what they are allowed to see.
What happens when someone clicks one
On a Mac with Rally installed, the link opens straight in the app. Otherwise it opens a short web page that says it is opening Rally and hands over to the app a moment later. If nothing happens, click Open Rally. If Rally is not installed, the page says to install it and come back.
If you belong to several Organizations and the link is for a different one, Rally switches to that Organization first.
Important
A link is an address, not a key. Opening one uses the person's own Rally account and permissions, so it grants nothing by itself. A teammate who cannot open a Canvas still cannot open it after you send them the link. To let them in, add them as a participant, as Who can see what explains. For someone outside your Organization, see Sharing with people outside your Organization.
For the curious: rallywithai:// links
Behind the scenes, the web page hands over to the app with a link that starts
rallywithai://. Sign-in, connecting your tools and accepting invitations use
the same kind of link to bring you back to the right place in the app. You will
rarely see one, and you never need to type one.
Links from the earliest days of Rally began with avalon://, Rally's old code
name. They still open, though Rally no longer makes them. Links to Channels, Threads and
Breakouts, the conversations Rally had before Canvases, no longer open, because
those conversations are gone.
If a link will not open, Rally tells you why in a small window. Every message, and what to do about it, is in When a link won't open.