Improving Windows Search Box, with less clutter and more control

Hello Windows Insiders,

You’ve been asking for search that is faster, more relevant, and easier to use—whether you’re opening an app, finding a file, or changing a setting.

Because the Windows Search Box is where many people start, we focused first on making results more dependable, easier to scan, and clearer before you click.

Windows Search Box improvements gradually rolling out today to Windows Insiders

Today, we’re rolling out several improvements to Windows Search Box available to Windows Insiders in the Experimental channel. These improvements are gradually rolling out via Controlled Feature Rollout so not all Insiders will see them right away. You can reboot to see if you receive them today. They are also available via feature flags.

• A calmer home screen. Search home has been simplified to reduce visual clutter and make it easier to get back to recent searches quickly.

• Clearer results. Search does a better job showing where a result comes from—app, setting, file, web result, or Store suggestion—so it’s easier to tell what you’re looking at and where you will go before you click.

• Promotional content has been removed from web results. Web results show the most relevant answer, instead of first showing related products and promotions, helping search feel more focused and less distracting.

• You’re in control of web and Microsoft Store results. A new setting in Settings > Privacy & Security > Search lets you choose whether web and Microsoft Store suggestions appear alongside local results.

• Local results prioritized when they’re the better match. Apps, settings, and files more reliably appear ahead of web and Store suggestions when your content is the stronger match. System items like This PC and Recycle Bin are easier to discover.
• Finding apps is more forgiving. Search is better at handling typos, dropped letters, extra letters, and partial words for apps. Queries like “utlook” can still find Outlook.

• Settings results are improving. We’ve made a first round of ranking improvements to help more relevant settings appear higher in results, with more tuning planned in the coming months.

• Finding files is improving. Search is better at surfacing the right local files with added support for two-character file searches. We’ve also made improvements to show cloud and connected files in results when they’re the stronger match. These changes help you get to the document, download, or folder you are looking for faster.
• Reliability is improving. Improved search reliability, including reducing likelihood of crashing and loading issue, with more work underway.

Try the changes and give us feedback

These improvements become available to Windows Insiders today in the Experimental channel.

The changes in this post reflect the feedback you’ve shared, and we’ll keep refining them as they roll out to more Insiders. Share your thoughts in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Search.

Jeff & Anderson

NOTE: Experiences vary by region.