Microsoft has unveiled a huge update to search on Windows 11 that look to be focused on improving the search experience with more accurate results, less reliance on the web, and even a removal of annoying ads and promotional material.
"You’ve have 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," Microsoft says in a new blog post. "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."
The company is highlighting several key improvements, including clearer results that does a better job at showing why a search result is appearing when a query has been typed, alongside prioritizing local results before reaching out to the web.
Search is also getting better at handling things like typos, which should help surface the right results even when the user misspells an app or file. The search home pane will no longer show MSN or Bing content, and promotional content and ads will no longer appear in search results.
Here's a complete list of the changes Microsoft has announced for search on Windows 11:
- 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.
These upgrades are now rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Experimental Channel, and are expected to roll out to all Windows 11 users later this year. Insiders may not see the changes right away as they are rolling out in waves.
These improvements are part of Microsoft's larger Windows K2 effort, which is an effort to fix Windows 11's biggest problems and reposition the platform as a viable competitor alongside macOS and Linux.
Search has been a sore point of Windows for a number of years, and so hopefully these improvements will be exactly what Windows users have been waiting for to bring it back up to par with the rest of the competition.
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