Solved Windows App store... no way to search?

darvin

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I am trying to use the Windows 8 App store to find some benefits to Metro but I can't seem to find a way to search for an app. With more apps hopefully on the way, there must be some way to sort though all the variations via a feature search? No?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Core II
    Motherboard
    EVGA 680i
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia 8800GT
When in app store, simply start typing, and this will start search (press enter after you finish typing)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Hewlett Packard/Compaq
    CPU
    Intel Pentium Dual Core 2.17GHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built-in
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    WD 140GB
    Cooling
    Built-in fan
    Keyboard
    Silvercrest
    Mouse
    Silvercrest
    Internet Speed
    20MB/s
The problem is that you have to know what to type. You put in the word/s that you think are right, but you can get everything but what you want, so you never really know what are the correct words to use. Type in car, motor, engine and you get completely unrelated results. Therefore, you don't know whether that means there is no app for what you want, or you're just not using the right words.

And if the search result doesn't come up with any matches, why do you have to press ESC or go looking for the icon in the top left corner to get out of that screen? Why can't you drag the window down like you do with every other screen in the Modern interface?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64

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
Wow, another tutorial for such an easy interface. But how about when you want something a bit more uncommon than mail, which I was trying to point out? The task becomes far less rewarding.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64
Wow, even I didn't you could type to search in the Windows Store!

There is the Search Charm that is used to search apps and the Windows Store and files locally on your hard drive. Basically, the Search Charm is literally the best universal search tool you can use.

To pull up the Charms bar, hit the Start key and C, or mouse over to the top or bottom left corners and move to the middle edge of the screen. Or, you can hit the Start key and F to search for files, along with some other key commands, to get to the Search charm. '

And yes, you need to know what you're searching. Real vague terms like "car" doesn't do much. "Weather" or "Reddit" or "USA Today" or "Windows" or "Windows Phone" do better.
 

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
WHOA! You really can just type to search in apps!! :what:

Neat!
 

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
The problem is that you have to know what to type. You put in the word/s that you think are right, but you can get everything but what you want, so you never really know what are the correct words to use. Type in car, motor, engine and you get completely unrelated results. Therefore, you don't know whether that means there is no app for what you want, or you're just not using the right words.

And if the search result doesn't come up with any matches, why do you have to press ESC or go looking for the icon in the top left corner to get out of that screen? Why can't you drag the window down like you do with every other screen in the Modern interface?
Well, you do need to narrow the search results down by trying to search using as close to what you are looking for. Plus, you can use the 3 sort filter menu options to help sift through the search results.


You can close the Store or no results screen like any other Store (Metro) app. At lease it works just fine for me.​



Wow, another tutorial for such an easy interface. But how about when you want something a bit more uncommon than mail, which I was trying to point out? The task becomes far less rewarding.
Well, the tutorial is designed to help folks like yourself that are having trouble searching for apps in the Store, or would just like to read more about it. ;)

Rewarding just depends on what you are searching for and how you filtered the results. The more specific you can get, the better the results.

 

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
Personally, that's just making excuses for a failed system. But maybe I think that way because I've only been using computers for about 35 years and still have to work at it a bit longer to become familiar with how they work. I don't know why they moved away from punch cards, and I actually enjoyed the Zen of using a pencil to mark the boxes before punch card typewriters came out. But what do old farts like me know about usability?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64
WHOA! You really can just type to search in apps!!

You can typically just start typing to search in most Microsoft apps, including the start page, but some require that you actually go to search, either by command key or charms bar. It depends on whether typing is a common function in the page that's presented.
 

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
I totally missed that you could just start typing and thanks to Viper for pointing that out. Very cool.

It still needs a few options though.

1) If I want to narrow my search I have to go back and do it all over. The Search Charm fixes this but isn't as intuitive and disappears rather than stay on the screen.

2) There needs to be an option in the drop down for most popular / most downloaded. Sorting by ranking isn't working because just a few votes appears to throw an app to the top of the list. Popular would be more useful especially if it was based on a time frame of say, last month, year....

Thanks for all the feedback.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel Core II
    Motherboard
    EVGA 680i
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia 8800GT
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