Forum Discussion
The new Outlook search in the title bar is disconnected from the content it searches
I appreciate the benefits of Microsoft Search in the Office apps but I'm getting feedback form multiple people that having the search in the title bar is unhelpful because they need to use the title bar for dragging the window around. In Outlook in particular, having the search box so far away from the content that you're searching is jarring. I understand the value of consistency, but I think that the utility of putting search with the content it searches overrides being consistent at all costs. Can we have an option to move the search box back down to the content in Outlook, and perhaps not to have it in title bars at all?
Please MS, change this!
I really don't know who's bad idea was this, but I'm positive he never used outlook search feature ever before.
try using outlook search when you RDP into a remote computer.
smartest engineers on the planet, great job, keep up the bad work
Did you know that you can resize and reposition the RDP bar? You should get a resize arrow if you hover near the slanted ends of the bar. Drag in the middle of the bar to move left or right.
That doesn't change the search bar for Outlook, but hope this helps.
samimetro - I agree 110% - this is how I use Outlook all the time, and its damned near impossible to use the ridiculous search when its stuck up in the title bar. Totally rubbish MS - for goodness sake LISTEN to your users.
MaryB Perhaps the most "brilliant" feature is the way the search bar expands when you click in it, covering up all the various search icons.
Potters1981 just lovely!
Potters1981 Then there's that too! Why don't they listen to their users??? This has been such a heated topic for so long.....
*sigh* sometimes, "advancement" is nothing but massive steps back!
MaryB
This design is awful. Always wondered how Microsoft manages to screw up things that were working fine.MaryB
For those who opt not to spend all their time filing emails a quick, intuitive search function is essential.
With the recent update to the Outlook 2021 interface and ribbon was extremely disappointed to find that the search functionality was significantly degraded.
I have found little guidance other than to use either the advanced search feature or search folders instead.
However, I have now found that you can still use the same filter criteria by firstly clicking into the search bar above and *then* clicking on the "Current Mailbox" text that appears to the right. This then restores the classic search and filter fields you could affix using the green cross icon previously.
I've put a couple of printscreens below highlighting where to go. I hope this helps people - was a massive relief to rediscover this functionality after a few weeks of frustration!- Unfortunately the fields are just dumb text boxes. With the old version when you typed a few characters of contacts name Outlook provided a list to choose from. The From and To dates had date pickers, etc. Also, it makes you type the seach criteral in each place you want to search. So if I want to search for something in the Body or the Subject I have to enter the criteria in two places.
- Awesome post, thank you!
MaryB Moving the search bar to the header for outlook has significantly interfered with my ability to use the search feature (which I use many times a day). Formally the search bar was inline with All and Unread at the top of the email results grid. Clicking into the bar enables the "Search" menu and adds new options such as From, To, Subject, etc. At the same time, the type ahead window opens down and covers nothing of importance.
However, in the new position in the header of the app, the type ahead covers the search options so I have to click away from search to enable the From, To, Subject commands. Moving the search bar makes the experience clunky, it now requires more clicks, and it feels frustrating. For Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc haveing the search in the header is fine. In Outlook the placement does not support the user because it hinders the full functionality of the search feature. Microsoft Support How do I move the search bar back?
This just changed for me within the last few days. Horrible UI choice. The search bar makes all my Outlook folder windows look the same... can't tell which folder the window content is for anymore (or even which application the window belongs to, for that matter, if only the title bar is visible). Completely obliviates the purpose of the title bar, as now no window-identifying description is visible in the title bar. Seriously, all I see in the window title bar is the search input box, even though there is space for a window title.
Tried to provide feedback/vote at user voice (https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/322590-outlook-2016-for-windows/suggestions/39046513-search-at-the-top-option) but they have shut it down.
I am an IT professional and have designed GUIs myself, but it is hard to fathom what the product managers were thinking when this design decision was made. Maybe they need to read "The Inmates Are Running the Asylum" (seriously, this is a book about interface design). Developers love to overload UIs with functionality, to the point it gets in the way of usability, or to drive the design by what is easiest to implement, rather than what will be most user-friendly.
Just one other observation I meant to make... When I first saw that the search input box was in the title bar, I thought Outlook had malfunctioned, that some kind of bug had manifested itself – that's how discordant this felt. (I don't think I'm alone in having this reaction.) Honestly, it really seems like a hack rather than a well-designed interface change.
SQLEngineer I totally agree! Now how can we get MS to listen to its paying users?
SQLEngineer
Agreed, just awful and doesn't work for the user at all. Over-designed but not thought through for the actual user.
1. Only users who closed has closed outlook windows received a tooltip that search has shifted on top, while users like me who have outlook opened for a week didn't receive and I thought its a bug in the system. After I searched online I realized it shifted above.
2. It's dragging the cursor extra
3. It's not noticeable plus disconnected to the major work area of the user
I can't believe this thread has been going for coming up to 2 years and it looks like nothing has been done. No flexibility has been provided for the user to put the Outlook search where they find it most useful.
Microsoft please provide user customised search field placement.
We just changed ours here and I as well would like to voice my annoyance with the new location!
It is really annoying that a dropdown menu pops up and hides the ribbon that contains the search options!
