How to search

The Search charm uses Bing Smart Search so you can search your PC, the web and OneDrive, plus some applications and the Windows Store. You can search once to get results from everywhere, and you can go back to your search results without having to search again.

To use the Search charm

  1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, then tap Search.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the bottom-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, then click Search.)

  2. Enter your search term. As you type, you'll see a list of search results and suggestions.

  3. If you can see the application, file or setting you're looking for in the list of search results, tap or click it to open it. To see all of the results for your search term, including web results from Bing, tap or click the Search button The Search button (or tap or click one of the search suggestions) to go to the search results page. You can also tap or click one of the search suggestions.

    On the search results page, tap or click a search result to open it.

Tips

Tips

  • On the Start screen, you can tap or click the Search button The Search button to open Search. Or if you have a keyboard, just start typing.
  • You can press the Windows logo key Windows logo key +S to open Search. To search for a file on your PC or OneDrive, press the Windows logo key Windows logo key +F. And to search for settings on your PC, press the Windows logo key Windows logo key +W.

To go back to the search results page

If you open a search result and find it’s not what you're looking for, you can go back to the search results page without having to search all over again.

  • Swipe in from the left edge of your screen. (If you're using a mouse, move your pointer into the top-left corner of your screen and click.)

Tip

Tip

If you're on the desktop, you can tap or click the taskbar button for the search results page to go back to it.

To change the scope of your search

By default, the Search charm searches the applications, files and settings on your PC and OneDrive, plus the web. But you can choose to search for only one type of result, like settings, files, images on the web, or videos on the web. And if you're in an application when you open Search, you can choose to search only that application (this might not be available in some applications).

  1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, then tap Search.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the bottom-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, then click Search.)

  2. Tap or click the arrow The arrow in Search, then tap or click the scope you want to use.

To change search settings

You can delete the search history that's stored by the Search charm, choose how much of your search info is shared with Bing, and filter adult content out of your web search results.

  1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, then tap Change PC settings.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the bottom-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, click Settings, then click Change PC settings.)

  2. Tap or click Search and apps, then tap or click Search. All the settings for the Search charm are here.

Note

Note

Deleting your Windows search history doesn’t delete the search history that particular applications save. For info about deleting search history in an application, look on the application developer's website or in help for that application.

To stop getting search results and suggestions from the web

You can choose not to get search results and suggestions from Bing when you use the Search charm. If you turn this setting off, the Search charm will only search the applications, files and settings on your PC and OneDrive. (You might want to do this if you're using a metered Internet connection.)

  1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, then tap Change PC settings.
    (If you're using a mouse, point to the bottom-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, click Settings, then click Change PC settings.)

  2. Tap or click Search and apps, then tap or click Search.

  3. Tap or click the Get search suggestions and web results from Bing slider to turn it off.

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