Users outside of the beta testing programme can access Windows 11 KB5019980, which has many features including support for tabs in File Explorer and more.
A required security update called KB5019980 was released on Patch Tuesday in November 2022. In other words, unless you deliberately pause the updates, it downloads and instals itself. It’s likely that the update has already been installed on your computer, and new features like a tabbed File Explorer and a taskbar overflow UI are now operational.
This cumulative update appears to include yet another undocumented change, a new taskbar search interface. The search function on the taskbar of Windows 11 is an icon pinned next to the Start button, unlike Windows 10, which lets you switch between the small search icon and the large search bar.
KB5019980 activates the updated search bar layout.
The taskbar search feature Microsoft is now testing in the production release is not the one you were hoping for. As seen in the screenshot up top, Microsoft is replacing the small search symbol with a search bar that looks like Windows 10.
This new search bar appears to be smaller than the one in Windows 10 and better matches the Fluent WinUI design of the new OS, but its functionality is the same and it will function in a very similar manner.
Select users are starting to receive this modification with KB5019980.
According to a person familiar with Microsoft’s Windows development, the search bar is now being tested in a number of different configurations. In the next weeks, Microsoft will formally introduce the new design based on user interaction and input.
Microsoft has further modifications in store for the taskbar search. For instance, in the Windows 11 preview build, new “display tips” are being tested to give users more access to Windows Search.
Microsoft is experimenting with several methods for offering guidance on how to utilise Windows Search.
The business stated that “only select English-speaking Windows Insiders in the U.S. will see this.”
Of course, many of us had anticipated that the operating system’s crippled taskbar will receive additional critical functionality, but it appears that the firm intends to prioritise design, at least for the time being.
One of the characteristics that will help Microsoft more than customers is this one. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Microsoft intends to advertise Bing and Edge-related services in the area left by the search bar given that it did the same on Windows 10.
