The new Outlook search in the title bar is disconnected from the content it searches

[Mary Branscombe]

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?

[#2]

@Mary Branscombe 

I do not often comment and give feedback but in this case I felt compelled to do so.

100% agreed. This search box on the outlook title bar is terrible. It is an absolute UX step back and a perfect UX decision makers  example of a case of "if it isn't broken... don't break it!" - At the very least it should be configurable so users choosing to do so can move it back to where it should be. 

Thank you

JD

[#3]

Horrible change. offers no benefit and it considerably impacts the user experience. Revert back or offer to move it back in the config would be ideal.

[#4]

@JohnDou

I am going to reiterate for the benefit of the group.   You can get the search bar back in the proper place in outlook by reverting to an earlier version of office.   Here is how you do so:

1. Open Outlook, click on file, Office Account.  Click on Office Update Options, pick disable updates.  Then close all ms office applications

2. Open a command prompt window with admin privileges.

3. Enter the following command:

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe" /update user updatetoversion=16.0.12527.20194

4. You will see the update appear on the taskbar.   Close the command prompt window and wait for update to run.  

5. Restart outlook.  Things look normal again.   Go to file Office Account and make sure Office Updates says this product will not be updated.  You can get back to work now.

There was an earlier post which led me to the solution, but I did not find it.   Thanks and credit to that first poster.

Cheers,

[#5]

nice workaround here:

https://www.itexperience.net/fix-for-search-ribbon-missing-in-outlook/

[#6]

This is a big backwards step - I use outlook all the time, and this change makes searching more cumbersome and less intuitive.  Why change something that worked really well and replace it with an inferior approach?  Its totally disconnected from the normal workflow now.

[#7]

@Mary Branscombe 

To make things even worse, both drag and drop and copy and paste features are disabled! Unbelievable how Microsoft could have this stupid idea to create this new search bar!

[#8]

This change is horrid.  Why did you break something that was fixed?

[#9]

@twhitezzz Hello, please keep pushing it up by voting here!

https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/322590-outlook-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/3904...

[#10]

@monotykamary, thank you for pointing out the dragging ability of search bar, which I think is a nice idea, but on the other side it probably adds to invisibility of cursor inside new search bar, where you must guess cursor position, as it is not visible at all. Or it might be just a side effect of my chosen "dark grey" design of Outlook.

Regarding the position of new search on title bar is - if you ask me - one of Microsoft's poorly examined design feature, which goes on from first Office 2013 and Windows 8 designs. It was not all bad, but some design ideas were obviously "design before functionality" or just poorly analyzed design construct. 

Search field, moved out of focused sight, is one of those bad ideas. There's absolutely no benefit of having to do larger mouse moves and move sight and focus away from list of messages. Actually, those are main reasons people do not like it. Brain does not like to jump around to find info, it is much more satisfied if it can just swipe around focused area and find needed info there. And title bar is definitively not that area of "easy to find info".

Additionally, I totally and simply cannot understand, why designers/developers put functions like "Reply" and "Reply All" into SEARCH suggestions ribbon? For me it is like having tire pressure gauge in post office, sorry, but sometimes sarcasm is just the right way to express how deeply you agree or not agree.

And finally, again I cannot agree more with myself when declaring this move of SEARCH box to the title bar one of forced, meaningless solutions, design before function or even "let's just change something for folks to see we are doing something" without doing any serious research on the subject. What I am talking about is the decade long SEARCH inability to search for regular mail-related expressions, like @and "." dot, which are common in e-mails, while Outlook considering those as OR separators. This disability is pulling nerves on everybody all those years, and Microsoft then changes SEARCH location, adds "Reply" button into search suggestions, but does absolutely NOTHING about improving real-world search functionality and inability to improve search with related suggestions. So searching for microsoft.com runs in my case 1 minute and returns:

- all mails containing "microsoft"

- all mails containing "com", which matches computer and incompatibility

...which is over 50.000 emails in my case. 99% of search results in my case are NOT what I want to find and does not ease on me even a bit. So if you ask me, MS did absolutely nothing to improve search results.

So MS, please, move SEARCH back to where it was for decade and more, and tie it to search related functions, ...or at least make the change optional. And fix the decade lasting search inability to adopt to real world search terms!

[#11]

I have many accounts and folders. Before, the title area showed which account and folder was being displayed in the message list. Now, the search bar is there and (as far as I can find) there is no way to see which account or folder is currently displayed. I must scroll up and down my (very long) account and folder list to find the folder which is highlighted. This is a major problem for which I can find no work around. I can live with the inconvenience of the new search bar. I find it very hard to function when I don't know where I am (or, worse, think I am in a place where I am not).

[#12]

I literally have to take my eyes off what I doing and navigate with my mouse-less touch pad into a minuscule wedge in a place where it's least expected. 

This comment string has been ongoing for 6+ months. Not time enough to nudge the Titanic.

Agility - meh. 

[#13]

Hi

I hate the new placing of the Search bar as much as the rest of the world, but what really annoys me is that MS it not doing anything about it. And why in the first place change something that people like and that clearly works?

Another thing that's puzzling is, that I have two new computers, both with the same version of Outlook, but in one the search bar is in the correct position and the other in the new wrong position (see pictures)???

Carsten

[#14]

Agree completely. New search bar location is lame! 

[#15]

totally agree on the position points plus it adds at minimum an extra click to do a simple search.

[#16]

@Ed_Watkiss I have to add my voice to the chorus. I'm a heavy Excel and Outlook user and while in excel the new search bar is unobstrusive (and mostly useless when you know your shortcuts), in outlook, changing the placement is a huge step back for usability. 

T

[#17]

This is a change for the sake of change, and not a time saver by any stretch of the imagination - quite the opposite in fact. I prefer to use a search form to reduce the amount of typing, and if I need to filter to a particular folder, I have to click the drop down form twice: once to select the folder, then after the form snaps back as soon as that's done, again to restore the form (which as others have pointed out covers up the ribbon and other important content).

[#18]

@Mary Branscombe 

So i just got into work today, and it appears our system has just updated.  

This is absolutely awful! Even so awful I went and created an account so I can log on and add sympathy with you all.

Has anyone found a way of getting the search back or in addition perhaps? It is absolutely terrible in it's new location. 

[#19]

I agree, this search bar move is terrible, where can we leave feedback to Microsoft regarding this?

[#20]

@ChristianBergstrom Looks like they made their decision July 3, and as unpopular as it is, we're going to have to live with it (or switch to LibreOffice)

[#21]

It does look that way. Disappointing but not so surprising that "look" take precedence over function.