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How to access the hidden Facebook inbox you might not know about

Thanks to a few curious users and a dozen or so media reports, the so-called “hidden inbox” is finally getting its 15-minutes of fame – and as it turns out, it was right there under our noses the entire time. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Facebook messenger boasts over 900 million monthly users – but many of them may not know about a hidden Messenger inbox on their profile, hiding dozens of messages that have been marked as spam.

Just like your email, Facebook has an automated spam filter that flags annoying messages from people who aren’t your friends and stores them in a separate inbox called “Message Requests.”

READ MORE: Global News gets lightning-quick with Facebook Instant Articles

Thanks to a few curious users and a dozen or so media reports, the so-called “hidden inbox” is finally getting its 15-minutes of fame – and as it turns out, it was right there under our noses the entire time.

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My hidden inbox had a few nice messages from Global News readers, one unnamed person simply wrote “good selfies” (thanks – I  think). There were also messages from Groups I used belong to on Facebook. The messages dated all the way back to 2007.

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Want to see what’s in your hidden inbox? Here’s how to access it:

On Facebook.com

Click on the Messages icon (the little chat bubbles) on the top right hand side of your Facebook profile. At the top of the drop down, you will see two tabs – one that says “Recent” (this is you default inbox) and another that says “Message Requests.”

Click “Message Requests” and then click “See filtered requests.”

On the Messenger app

Open the app and tap on the gear icon. Tap on “People” and then “Message Requests.” Then select “See Filtered Requests.”

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