Applies ToWindows 10 Windows 11

Search is right there on your taskbar, ready to help you find whatever you’re looking for. Use the search box to find your apps, files, settings, help, and more on Windows—plus unlock the power of the web with quick access to online information like time zone conversions, fact lookup, trending searches, and search results for navigating to websites faster. You can also use Search to find files and people in your work or school organization through  Microsoft Search.   

The search box in Start and Search will periodically update with new content and a fun illustration to help you discover more, stay connected, and be productive.  

Search bar shown at the top of search home

Discover more with search home

Just tap or click  Search  to open search home and discover what’s happening online, in the world, in your organization, and on your PC. Search highlights serves new content to search home daily, helping you learn about interesting and noteworthy moments like holidays, anniversaries, and other educational moments both globally and in your region. Search home also gives you easy access to your recently launched apps, files, settings, and websites. 

Search home can also give you direct access to Bing Chat. For more, see Using the new Bing on the Windows taskbar.

To get to search home even faster, you can use the keyboard shortcut Windows logo key   + S to open Search. 

Search home in Windows 11

Search your PC and the web

To get search results from your PC and the web, tap or click  the search icon , and type what you're looking for in the search box. Suggestions will appear, helping you get to what you’re looking for faster. You can also search from Start just by typing.  

Search home in Windows 11 with suggested apps shown

To find more results of a certain type, choose a category that matches what you’re looking for: Apps, Documents, Settings, Web, and more. You can select a category from the tabs at the top of Search before or after you've started typing.   

Frequently Asked Questions 

To get search highlights on your device, ensure you’ve installed the latest recommended updates for Windows 11. To manually check for updates, select  Start  > Settings  > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates.  

  • Search highlights requires a device running Windows 10, 20H1 (May 2020 update) or later.

  • Search highlights may also be turned off by the administrator of your organization.

Note: If you have the latest version of Windows but still don’t see search highlights in Search, it may be because this feature is being rolled out to customers over several weeks and won’t be available to all customers at once. 

You have control over the appearance of search home and search highlights. To enjoy search highlights in search home, go to  Start >  Settings    > Privacy & Security > Search Permissions > More settings > toggle/clear Show search highlights.  

Note: If you turn off search highlights, you can still use Search to find things on your PC and web results as usual. Search home will continue to show an extended list of recently launched apps, files, settings, and websites as well as your most used applications to help you get back to what you were doing last.

Search is right there on your taskbar, ready to help you find whatever you’re looking for. Use the search box to find your apps, files, settings, help, and more on Windows—plus unlock the power of the web with quick access to online information like time zone conversions, fact lookup, trending searches, and search results for navigating to websites faster. You can also use Search to find files and people in your work or school organization through  Microsoft Search.

The search box on the taskbar periodically updates a fun illustration to help you discover more, stay connected, and be productive. This illustration in the search box gives you a sneak peek of the more expanded content you'll find in search home.  

Discover more with search home 

Just tap or click  Search   to open search home and discover what’s happening online, in the world, and in your organization. Search highlights help you learn about interesting and noteworthy moments today like holidays, anniversaries, and other educational moments both globally and in your region. Search home also gives you easy access to your recently launched apps, files, settings, and websites. 

To get to search home even faster, you can use the keyboard shortcut Windows logo key   + S to open Search, or simply mouse hover on the illustration in the search box on the taskbar.  

Windows 10 search home with Search highlights

Search your PC and the web 

To get search results from your PC and the web, on the taskbar, tap or click  Search  , and type what you're looking for in the search box. Suggestions will appear, helping you get to what you’re looking for faster. You can also search from Start just by typing. 

Windows 10 search home

To find more results of a certain type, choose a category that matches what you’re looking for: Apps, Documents, Settings, Web, and more. You can select a category from the tabs at the top of Search before or after you've started typing.   

Frequently Asked Questions

To get search highlights on your device, ensure you’ve installed the latest recommended updates for Windows 10. To manually check for updates, select  Start > Settings  Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates

  • Search highlights requires a device running Windows 10, 20H1 (May 2020 update) or later.

  • Search highlights may also be turned off by the administrator of your organization.

Note: If you have the latest version of Windows but still don’t see search highlights in Search, it may be because this feature is being rolled out to customers over several weeks and won’t be available to all customers at once.

You have control over the appearance of search on the taskbar and search highlights. 

  • To enjoy search highlights on your taskbar, the search box must be shown. To show the search box, right-click the taskbar and select Search > Show search box.

  • To toggle the appearance of search highlights on the taskbar and search home, right-click the taskbar and select Search, then toggle/clear Show search highlights.

Note: If you turn off search highlights, you can still use Search to find things on your PC and web results as usual. Search home will continue to show an extended list of recently launched apps, files, settings, and websites as well as your most used applications to help you get back to what you were doing last. 

You can open search home and see more search highlights by clicking or hovering over the illustration in the search box. To turn on and off the hovering on this feature, right-click or press and hold a blank space on the taskbar, select  Search  and select  or clear Open on hover. You can still see search highlights in Search when you open search home.  

Need more help?

Want more options?

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.

Find solutions to common problems or get help from a support agent.