Find what you need with Microsoft Search

You can open a search box several ways in Windows, from the Start menu, taskbar, settings apps.

Start menu: From the start menu, press the Windows key or select Start. The Start menu shows pinned apps, recommended files, or the search box. When you select the search box, the menu updates to show  type the name of an app, a filename, or a setting name. The results change to show Recent files, settings, and apps, Quick searches, and Top apps based on your previous searches or usage. As you type, the Start menu changes and shows suggestions you can select by pressing the Right-arrow. 

Taskbar: Select the magnifying glass icon on the taskbar to open the Windows search pane with a search box on the top. If the search box showing on the taskbar, the same window opens but you type your search queries on the taskbar search box. 

When you type a query, the Windows search pane selects the most likely target, Best match of your search and displays it on the right. If you press Enter, Windows takes you right to there.

If it's not what you want, you can select suggestions on the left pane to Search the web, Settings, documents, folders, apps, or photos, based on what you just typed, and what you're recently searched for. 

Settings or Control panel apps: Windows has a lot of settings, and rather than scroll through menus and lists in the Settings app, type part or all what you're looking for in the top search bar. For example, to set the hours when Windows Updates install, from the home page of the Settings app select Windows Update > Advanced options > Active hours. Or, type Active hours into the search box and go directly to it. 

In Windows file explorer, search can save you time. By default, when you type a query into the search box in the upper right of the screen, file explorer searchs for files or folders from the folder you're in, and any child folders. 

Select Search options on the top toolbar and narrow your search to the all folders from the current one on down or just the current folder. You can also select date modified, kind (like document, picture, or video), size, system, or zipped files. 

In Microsoft Edge you can search the web by entering keywords, phrases, or full sentences into the address bar. With the default search engine, the sky's the limit in finding websites, data, prices, local restaurants, air fares, or virtually anything you can think of. The line is blurred between the traditional search engine in Edge and AI. A simple keyword can bring up a website, or a full AI generated explanation. 

You can also select Chat on the top menu and have a conversation with Copilot to describe what you want in plain language. If you don't get what you want on the first try, discuss what you're looking for in more detail like you would with a trusted assistant. For more information, see Getting started with Copilot in Microsoft Edge. For a deeper discussion on Chat in Edge, see Copilot Chat in Edge features.

In most Microsoft apps like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, the search box is located at the top of the page or as a magnifying glass icon that opens the search box when selected. 

Selecting the search box, or pressing Alt+Q, opens a pane of recently used actions, suggested actions, find (in current document, worksheet, presentation, etc), help, or related files. The choices vary by app.  

Start by typing what you want to find in the search box. You'll get the most relevant results if you know the exact name, but if you don't, you can type in keywords or short sentences that are specific to what you're searching for.

Keywords can include people's names, words within titles and the content itself, and for files, file types such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. As you type, personalized results and suggested searches will show up in the drop-down.
 

Use tabs and filters

In Windows and Teams, you can select a tab to narrow the scope of your search to categories such as files, sites, people, messages, images, videos, and more. You can also filter your search even further within many of the tabs. Tabs and filters can vary depending on where you're searching.

Add another keyword

It's best to choose keywords that are very specific to what you're searching for such as words within the file name or within the content itself. This helps you differentiate between similar results and get fewer and more relevant results.

Here are a few other things you can try when adding keywords:

• Quotes: If you know of a sentence or a few words that are in a specific sequence, add them to the search box in quotes and press Enter. For example, "Select a tab to narrow the scope of your search."

• Synonyms: If you're stuck and keywords aren't working, sometimes it helps to think of synonyms to words you would use or the language your team or other coworkers would use and add those words to the search.

If you're specifically looking for files, here are a few keyword suggestions that might be useful for you:

• "My files": If you enter "my files" and go to the search results page, you'll get up to 10 results reflecting what you've been working on recently.

• File type: Words like "ppt," "Word," "deck," and "spreadsheet" filters to the file type you want. For example, if you type in "project status spreadsheet" and press Enter, you'll get a list of Excel files containing the keywords "project status."

  • Combination of keywords such as "Alex Smith marketing deck" or "research insights Excel": Combining keywords automatically filters the results and is more likely to find what you're searching for faster. If one of your keywords is a name, using only the first or last name can work, but if there are multiple people with the same name, it's easier to have the full name.

If you narrow your search too far, you can end up getting no results or not finding the right results. If this happens, you may have too many keywords, filters or are in the wrong folder or site.

Try removing filters or keywords one by one. Check that you're in the right place and have permission to access what you're searching for.

If you're searching for files or documents, maybe try a search from the parent folder of the one you're in. Also check search settings to be sure it's searching child folders.

As you broaden the search, you may find results that aren't relevant to what you're looking for. If that happens, you may need to narrow your search.

Central tools, resources, and information

Administrators can define important tools, resources, and information that in some apps are highlighted on search results pages for easy access. These can include bookmarks, acronyms, answers to common questions in your organization, locations, and more. They will only show up if they're relevant to what you're searching for.

Suggested searches based on your search history

As you start your search, you might get suggestions in the search box for searches based on your previous search history. This is helpful to get back quickly to something you were working on previously.

Depending on the app, your search history contains your searches in Outlook, Microsoft365.com, and SharePoint Online. If a suggestion is not useful, you can delete it by hovering over it and selecting delete.

You can also review your search history by downloading it or clear your search history at any time. To download or clear your search history:

• Go to the Microsoft Search section in the privacy section of your account settings.

• You can also get there manually by going to My Account, selecting Settings & Privacy, then choose the Privacy tab and open the Microsoft Search section.