In previous article, I mentioned How To Enable Or Disable Desktop Stickers On Windows 11 but in this article, I have mentioned how to enable or disable search bar in Windows 11.
The search bar comes in handy when you need to find something on your computer or the internet. You only need a keyword to find any document, file, or application.
If you are used to Windows 10 and have upgraded to Windows 11, you may have noticed that the search bar is no longer in the taskbar. Instead, Microsoft has made Windows 11 have a centralized taskbar with updated icons. One of these icons is the "Search" icon which replaces the search bar from Windows 10.
This article will teach you how to add a search bar to your taskbar on Windows 11 and also how to manage it. Read on!
What You Should Know About Search Bar In Taskbar On Windows 11
Before you learn how to add a search bar to the taskbar in Windows 11, here are a few things you should know:
- Adding a search bar to Windows 11 is not an option Microsoft has added to Windows 11, but it is not impossible to add it.
- Microsoft is considering adding a search bar to Windows insider build 25136.
- Microsoft may replace the Search icon with a Search Bar.
- If you add the search bar to your taskbar in Windows 11, it may look like Windows 10.
How To Add Search Bar To Taskbar In Windows 11
Follow these steps to add a search bar to the taskbar on your Windows 11 computer:
- Since you can not officially add a search bar to the taskbar on Windows 11, you need to download a third-party app named ViveTool from GitHub. Click here to download the Zip file.
- Click on the 'ViVeTool-v0.3.1.zip' link on the page.
- After downloading the Zip file, you need to extract it. To do this, right-click on the Zip file and choose "Extract all."
- Select the destination folder and click Extract.
- Next, open the elevated Command Prompt. Press Windows + R, press cmd in the search field, and then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
- Click Yes in the User Account Control prompt.
- Type the command .\vivetool /enable /id:39072097 /variant:1 and hit the enter key.
- There are 5 different variants, and each variant gives a different type of Search Bar.
- After this, you will get a message saying, "Successfully set feature configuration."
- After you see the message, close the Command Prompt.
Note that ViveTool is a third-party app and may not be trusted. Use it at your own risk.
You may not see the search bar immediately, so you should restart your computer to effect the change.
In addition, you can not see your recent searches by using the mouse pointer to hover above the search bar.
If you do not want to go through the process of adding a search bar to your taskbar, you can access the search bar by opening your start menu or pressing the Windows key.
How To Hide Search Bar From taskbar In Windows 11
If you have added the search bar to your taskbar and you do not like your new addition, you can hide it by following these steps:
- Right-click on your taskbar.
- In the options that appear, select "Taskbar Settings."
- You will find a "Search" switch. Toggle it to hide the search bar in your taskbar.
After following these steps successfully, the search bar will be hidden from your taskbar but still be enabled. Follow these steps and toggle the "Search" switch to make the search bar reappear on your taskbar.
How To Disable The Search Bar In Taskbar On Windows 11
If you have added a search bar to your taskbar and you prefer to remove it instead of hiding it, follow these steps:
- Download ViveTool from GitHub if you no longer have it. Click here to download the Zip file.
- Extract the ViveTool files.
- Open the Command Prompt as an administrator.
- Input the command .\vivetool /disable /id:39072097 and hit the enter key.
- After you have successfully executed this command, close the Command Prompt.
You may still see the search bar in your taskbar. To effect this change, you have to reboot your computer.
Conclusion
The search bar is usually more comfortable to use on Windows 11 than the Search Icon. You can add it to your taskbar with the option in this post.
You may also like to read:
Top Common PowerShell Commands
How to Enable or Disable Virtual TouchPad in Windows 11
