Windows Search is learning to do things, not just find them

Windows Search does not have the best press, especially since it searches web and uses Bing 🤣 Nobody ever wanted that, because why would you? 🤣

Now Microsoft is trying to make it more useful by letting you perform actions directly from the search box, if it works as intended it could be actually something useful. I like the ‘change to dark theme’ example 😊

Combining this with ability to now turn off web search, maybe one day Windows Search will actually become a useful tool 🤣

Windows Search improvements

Search is one of the most familiar ways to get around a Windows PC.

And yet it was so bad until now 🤣

Official announcement

From searching to doing: Building a faster, more streamlined Windows Search – Windows Insider Blog

A faster, more focused Windows Search

Microsoft is rebuilding the taskbar Search experience on WinUI 3. The new layout puts results into one list instead of splitting them across a results pane and a large preview pane. Microsoft says early testing shows substantial improvements to performance and memory usage, and that Search should be better at matching typos and synonyms.

Richer previews for files and the web are also planned for later this year, so you should be able to tell similar files apart or see answers to simple searches without leaving Search.

From searching to doing

The more interesting change is inline actions. Search can offer a quick action for everyday tasks such as switching to dark mode, turning on Bluetooth or Night Light, dimming the screen, muting, minimising windows, and arranging windows on screen.

So instead of opening Settings and clicking through to a control, you can type what you want to do and apply it from Search. The “new” (damn they are probably now a decade old 🤣) Settings in Windows I still cannot get use to, so if Search can replace it, that would be fantastic 🤣

Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi describes the goal as moving from intent to action:

For hundreds of millions of people every day, Windows Search on the taskbar is where intent begins and I love how we’re making that everyday experience even more useful.

This week we announced that starting this fall on Windows 11 PCs, Search will let you take thousands of quick actions directly from the taskbar, from switching to dark mode and adjusting your mic volume to taking a screenshot to arranging your window and sending a quick action.

It’s a small shift that can make a big difference: helping you move from intent to action, as fast as you can type.

Phone Link actions are coming too, including sending a text from Search when your phone is connected. Microsoft says it plans to bring this new Search experience to the Start menu next year; for now, searching from Start continues to use the existing experience.

What you can try now

Tech account Pirat_Nation shared some example actions and highlighted the other changes:

Microsoft is turning Windows Search into more than a way to find files.

The new Windows 11 Search can control your PC directly. You can type:

• “Turn on dark mode”
• “Turn on Bluetooth”
• “Dim my screen”
• “Mute”
• “Minimize all windows”
• “Arrange my windows”

Microsoft is also rebuilding Search with WinUI 3, promising better performance, lower memory use, smarter results for typos and synonyms, and richer file and web previews later this year.

I like the direction, hopefully it will work as intended and make it out of the preview 😊

Useful links

• Get started with the Windows Insider Program
• Windows Search improvements: less clutter and more control
• From searching to doing: Building a faster, more streamlined Windows Search – Windows Insider Blog