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?
I think its location should be customizable like the Quick Access toolbar and Ribbon. It shouldn't be forced into the title bar which removes or impairs the function & consistency of the title bar.
Adam Lein Aint gonna happen. People begged and begged MS to leave the menu bar as an option you can turn on and off, instead of have to use the ribbon; where you literally have to go to google to find out where they have a hidden a function in it that you need (I still do to do this day, and I think most people have to to find something they don't use often). And that was over a decade ago.
Fortunately third party addin Classic Menus fixes that, but as a system admin my users wanted to throw their PC's out the Window when we upgraded to Ribbon-using Office versions.
They seem to be equally pissed about this search bar's terrible location. It completley breaks the flow of work. Not intuitive - and objectively clunky.- I agree. The search option in the title bar does not make any sense to me. First time, I could not find the search option.
Hey
I had to post an answer here.
We are at the end of October and nothing changed, last week I updated office and now I have this disgusting feature...
This is a nightmare, first with inbox in the cloud even with local sync we have a much more slower search than before, now we have to struggle to find the search bar.I hate this.
I agree 100%. The Outlook search in the title bar is awful. Please put it back!
I agree 100%. The Outlook search in the title bar is awful. Please put it back!
This is an extremely unfortunate design decision, especially if they're not giving us a way to revert or choice where our search field is. The Title bar, is for me the please to display the ... wait for it ... Title of a document or email, or the closest equivalent to that. I could see some people arguing over what the Title of any particular piece of information is -- Is a Filename a title? If so, should it include a path? What about Inbox, or mailbox folder name? Perhaps the subject line of an email?
But you know what isn't a Title --- a search field input box. That is not a Title.
This decision by MS to move the search bar without flexibility is extremely shortsighted.
The functionality obviously was not tested by heavy Outlook users.
ere are a few comments. I am dealing feedback from a sample set of about 5000 users many who use the search bar frequently.
1) I very much like the filter drop down, Great addition.
2) The position of the search bar.
Moving the bar above the ribbon to the top left of the window and makes it much less user friendly. Sounds petty but time wasted accumulates when you have to move the mouse further especially if you are a frequent searcher. The current location, pre-update on the right side below the ribbon, works just fine.
Standardization is nice but Outlook is not Word and Outlook is not Excel. They are used differently.
MS .... Please reconsider or at least do some additional research.
Regards,
RobGfyrlwwhen I first brought this up nearly a year ago, the Microsoft response was that they were going to wait and see what the wider group of users thought about it; I see that I'm going to be reporting back the next time I talk to anyone on the Outlook team that the wider group of users finds it as annoying and displaced as I continue to do a year later 😉
- Ever since they fixed the ribbon so that the search ribbon tab stays selected more easily, when you've clicked into the title bar search box, I have started to no longer mind it. As long as the ribbon tab is still the same as before, all they've done is move the little search box which is puny and not a big deal. It was just the shock factor that got me initially.
With Click to Run, the whole world is on a conveyor belt and so the shockwaves keep coming here. Eventually it will dwindle and be just fine as is.
MaryB Thanks Microsoft... another change that no one wanted - and it is explicitly less convenient than the previous UI.
The old search bar was quick and easy to access, and I didn't fill half your screen with its drop down menu, and it wasn't of garbage suggestions that I don't want or need, all before you start typing ANYTHING. The old ones drop down was small and simple.
Please don't force this down our throats. If you focus grouped this Microsoft you didn't do your due diligence, I doubt you survey existing Outlook users. Your crappy consulting firm likely focus grouped man-on-the-street type people... Who don't Outlook 2016 every single day.
This is another feature that I don't see anyone liking. People have adjusted to the ribbon that you forced years ago, but you still have to Google where thigns are anytime you use a function that your don't use regularly; the ribbon because completely non-intuitive (you could have lept the option to keep the menu bar, and you know this).
I dare say this search bar is a worse change than the ribbon.
- Microsoft PLEASE read as Mary is absolutely right. The new search feature is almost useless and has immediately causes huge loss of time just trying to find a note I sent 2 days ago. PLEASE FIX THIS ASAP - cannot overemphasize how bad this change is for us.
Covering the ribbon with the much needed refiners is a very bad thing.
Searching on multiple categories is very hard now. I use categories a lot. We need categories for proper single folder archiving. While working on it, please provide a scrollbar in the categories search list, to easy select multiple categories.
Its is not cofigurable enough.
BertI too don't have the option 'Remove or shrink Search box in title bar' in my Outlook 365 on my notebook.
I simply don't want to use it for now.
So how to revert to the usual way?
I really find it a bad idea to implement new features without the option to disable them.
