Microsoft's Cortana gets refined search results in Windows 10 for PC with filters

It looks like the Cortana team is continuing to update and improve search results using Cortana in Windows 10. A cursory glance at local search results using Windows 10 for PC (not mobile) reveals that search strings can now break down the results by category such as apps, files, settings, and the web. Those categories can thing work as filters letting you narrow down the results you are searching.

Previously, Cortana just displayed results with only a general 'My Stuff' and 'Web' categories near the bottom. Those remain but the new filters will be available at the top of the results page.

As many users have noticed Cortana can be updated from the backend since the data presented is just a web page. That's the good news. The bad news many Windows Phone fans are still not a fan of the UI layout, which seems to have lost some of its finesse between 8.1 and 10. Of course, one other reason for the design change is so Cortana can work across devices including on Android and now iOS.

It is not clear exactly when this update happened, but users who are in the few regions where Cortana is available should notice the refresh coming through. For reference, we are still not seeing the update on our end.

You now may return to your previous and inevitable favorite topic of discussion: 'When will Cortana become available in your country' instead of deliberating the news presented here. Or, you could just let us know if you see the changes as well.

Thanks, Farshad, for the tip

Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.