Use Windows Search in the taskbar or File Explorer to quickly locate files, apps, and settings. Integrated search helps return relevant results quickly, reducing time spent navigating folders.
Find your files
Search from the taskbar:
- Select
Search on the taskbar and type the name of a document (or a keyword from it) into the search box. - Results for documents and files are show from across your PC and OneDrive. To filter your search, select the Documents tab—and then your search results will only show documents.
Search from File Explorer:
Open File Explorer doing one of the following:
- Select
File explorer from the taskbar. - Select and hold
Start or right-click and choose
File Explorer.
- Select
To quickly find relevant files from your PC and the cloud, search from Home, or choose a drive or folder.
Do one of the following:
- To find files stored inside a folder, search from a folder like Downloads.
- To do a slow but in-depth search, search from This PC instead of Home.
You can also find files from Microsoft365.com from File Explorer Home. To change this setting:
- Select More
and choose
Options. - On the General tab under Privacy, choose your settings for Include account-based insights, recent, favorite, and recommended files.
Find an app or program
There are several ways you can find what you need.
Select
Start, select All, and then scroll through the alphabetical list on the left.Tip
To reduce scrolling you can select any letter in the list, then in the alphabet links that display, select a letter to jump down to that section. For example, select "T" if you're looking for the Teams app.
- Select
Search on the taskbar and type the name of the app or program.
- Press the
Windows key on your keyboard and start typing.
Note
Students using Windows 11 SE will not be able to download apps from the Microsoft Store. Apps are managed by their IT Admin. Learn more
Are there any improvements for search?
To improve your search results, Copilot+ PCs perform semantic indexing along with traditional indexing. Supported file formats include .txt, .pdf, .docx, .doc, .rtf, .pptx, .ppt, .xls, .xlsx for documents and .jpg/.jpeg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .ico for images. Semantic indexing makes your searches more powerful since items that are close and related to your search terms would also be included in your search results. For instance, if you searched for pasta you might also get results for lasagna, including images that contain pasta or lasagna.
All data gathered from semantic indexing is stored locally on your PC (or local to your Cloud PC storage, when running on AI-enabled Windows 365 devices). None of it is stored by Microsoft or used to train AI models. Semantic indexing is enabled by default on Copilot+ PCs. If you want to disable indexing and searching for specific locations or file types, you can do so by selecting the appropriate options under Settings
> Privacy & Security > Searching Windows > Advanced indexing options.
Note:
For improved Windows Search on Copilot+ PCs, it is recommended that you plug in your Copilot+ PC for the initial search indexing to get completed. You can check your search indexing status under Settings > Privacy & security > Searching Windows.
Microsoft's commitment to responsible AI
Microsoft has been working to advance AI responsibly since 2017, when we first defined our AI principles and later operationalized our approach through our Responsible AI Standard. Privacy and security are core principles as we develop and deploy AI systems. We work to help our customers use our AI products responsibly, sharing our learnings, and building trust-based partnerships. For more about our responsible AI efforts, the principles that guide us, and the tools and capabilities we've created to assure that we develop AI technology responsibly, see Responsible AI.
Index your files
Improve search speed and efficiency by indexing files and their properties, so Windows can quickly locate and return the information you need. For more info, see Search indexing in Windows.