Finding and Launching Applications with Search

Windows 7 includes a fantastic feature called Start Menu Search. To use it, you simply tap the Start button, type the term you’re looking for, and the search results are returned right in the Start menu. It provides an amazingly handy way to quickly find an application you want without mousing around the labyrinthine Start menu submenus.

OK, fine. But with Windows 8 doing away with the Start menu, you may be wondering how you can accomplish the same feat in the new operating system version.

Surprise: It works exactly the same way.

You can also trigger app search by pressing Winkey + Q.

That is, if you’re using the desktop environment and would like to find and then run an application, just tap the Windows key on your keyboard (or otherwise return to the Start screen) and start typing. Instead of a Start menu–based search, you’ll see the new full‑screen Search experience, now called Start Search, as shown in Figure 4‑43. And it’s far more powerful than the old Start Menu Search.

This new Search experience now provides a filter capability where it returns both traditional Windows applications and Metro‑style apps by default. But you can use the various items in the Search pane on the right to change the search to Settings (and control panels), Files (documents and other files), and, interestingly, within Metro‑style apps that support this functionality.

Keep typing to refine the search. When you see the application (or app) you want, simply click (or tap, or select) it. If it’s a desktop application, the view will switch back to the desktop and the selected application will launch immediately.

Knowing that Start Search now works for settings, files, and apps, you’ll probably use it more than ever. But even if a desktop application search is all you need, you can rest easy knowing that one of Windows 7’s best features has carried forward to Windows 8.

If you know the type of search you wish to perform, you can use different keyboard shortcuts. Winkey + F works for file searches. And Winkey + W will jump right to settings search. Check the appendix for a full list of Windows key keyboard shortcuts.

Figure 4‑43: The new Windows 8 Search experience