Windows 11 search sucks. Microsoft is finally trying to fix it

Microsoft is finally addressing one (of many!) big complaints about Windows 11: search. In a recent blog post for Windows Insiders, the company acknowledged it hasn’t delivered the experience people want, writing that users have “been asking for search that is faster, more relevant, and easier to use—whether you’re opening an app, finding a file, [...]

Microsoft is finally addressing one (of many!) big complaints about Windows 11: search. In a recent blog post for Windows Insiders, the company acknowledged it hasn’t delivered the experience people want, writing that users 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.”

As someone who largely interacts with my tech through search, that all sounds great to me. Sure, I could clutter up my desktop or taskbar with apps and icons, but I much prefer keeping things clean and typing a few characters to find what I need. It’s part of why I’ve been using macOS over Windows lately — Spotlight search is so dang good!

While Microsoft won’t be ripping off Spotlight, it does have several notable changes coming. The company also shared several before and after photos, which you can check out in the gallery below. Search changes include reduced visual clutter and an increased focus on showing recent searches, clearer results, priority for local results, better file searching, better handling of typos (especially when searching for apps), and general improvements to search rankings.

The company also says it’s improving the reliability of search, which should mean fewer crashes and loading issues overall. More importantly, Microsoft is also removing promotional content from web results that appear in web results. That should make search more effective for getting quick answers.

All of this sounds great and should be welcome improvements for most. Unfortunately, unless you’re a Windows Insider, you’ll need to wait a while before you can enjoy the improved search experience. Insiders are starting to get the changes now, but regular users won’t see the upgrades until later this year.