Windows 11 brings the return of widgets to Microsoft’s desktop OS, but for the most part, they’re limited to a widgets board that slides out from the left side of the screen when you want to use it It hides when not in use. Ton.
Now Microsoft has rolled out an experimental search box widget that lives on the desktop.It is now available as part of the test Windows 11 Insider Preview build 25120, but only for certain members of the Windows Insider Program. It’s unclear if or when the search widget will make its way to the stable version of Windows.
Microsoft says the search widget allows users to search the web without opening the browser or even the Start menu. Just type your query into the search box on your desktop.
This idea is not unique. For years, Google has put a search box on the Android home screen. But it remains to be seen whether it’ll work just as well on the desktop home screen… It’s certainly useful to Microsoft, though, as a way to let you use the company’s Bing search engine instead of Google, DuckDuckGo, or other alternatives.
search results also Always open in Microsoft’s Edge web browser, whether or not it’s set as your default browser. While that may change in the future, for now it looks like the search widget is tied to Microsoft’s search engine and browser.
Don’t want to use the search widget on your Windows 11 desktop? Microsoft notes that you can disable it by right-clicking the desktop, selecting “Show More Options,” and then sliding the toggle for the “Show Search” setting to the off position.
