What Happened to Desktop Search

T

TheBigCheese

New Member
Messages
13
Location
Philadelphia, PA USA
I was a heavy user of the Windows 7 desktop search, either by the taskbar or the start menu. I most often used it to find emails, especially when I didn't remember which of my many accounts received the item. It worked across Outlook 2010, Live Mail, and Thunderbird.

Is it somewhere hidden in Windows 8? If not, is there an alternative? I believe the mail is still being indexed so it may only be a client that accesses the database that is needed.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
It's technically hidden, as Brink said it's in the Search charm (Start key + C, or moving your mouse pointer to the right hand side corners and move to the middle of the edge). The Search charm can do searching from your local PC's contents, to the internet, to the Windows Store, and to other apps that can be searched. It's like a universal searcher. :)

Or, if you're at the Start Screen, just type away like normal. The reason this was done was partly a UI decision because when you opened up the start menu, you never had to click the box to type in something and you never really even thought about it; you just hit the Start button or key and typed. Microsoft decided, to keep things simply designed, to just chuck out that piece of UI.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS
Why on earth would you want to search emails from the desktop? That would drive me insane if every time I tried to search, 10,000 email results cluttered my results.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
    Case
    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
What email client are you using?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
Coke Robot said:
It's technically hidden, as Brink said it's in the Search charm (Start key + C, or moving your mouse pointer to the right hand side corners and move to the middle of the edge). The Search charm can do searching from your local PC's contents, to the internet, to the Windows Store, and to other apps that can be searched. It's like a universal searcher. :)

Or, if you're at the Start Screen, just type away like normal. The reason this was done was partly a UI decision because when you opened up the start menu, you never had to click the box to type in something and you never really even thought about it; you just hit the Start button or key and typed. Microsoft decided, to keep things simply designed, to just chuck out that piece of UI.
Click to expand...

These searches do not search the emails. The search from the start menu in Windows 7 and the task bar search did this. Is it gone? The data is still going to the database.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS
I wouldn't imagine Classic Shell would help anything as I have Outlook indexed, and I can't seem to search for emails either. So it might be either Outlook 2013 being weird or indexing being weird.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
Well good news for you. Now the latest public beta version of Classic Shell which is available from the home page (3.9.0) has full Windows Search integration, including file search and Outlook email search. Try it if you are interested.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Microsoft Windows
    Other Info
    I do the testing and give feedback on User Experience and ideas for Classic Shell.
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top