- Google just has a launched a new search app for Windows
- It comes with a built -in search tool that can quickly find your files
- It is currently experimental and is not available for everyone
I use both Windows 11 and MacOS Tahoe in my daily life, and comparing them lets me see how they are stacked against each other. An area where Windows is far behind is search (especially now that Apple has turned on spotlight) and if there is an aspect that is guaranteed to get you to pull out your hair when using Microsoft’s system, this is.
But hope is on the horizon. It doesn’t come as an update from Microsoft that solves Windows’ dirty search tool, but in the form of an app from Google that will pick up slack instead. That’s because Google has just released an experimental new app that brings the company’s search skill to your desk.
As described in an official blog post, the Google app has arrived on Windows, and it has a built-in search feature that can scan your installed apps and computer files to find what you have after. Its search can also cover Google Drive and the Internet, in case you are not just in search of something on your PC, while the included Google Lens feature allows you to look up, search and translate something on your screen.
Putting Google’s search skills for use on your computer already gives me hope that it surpasses Windows’ own search tool (although it would not be difficult). But the icing of the cake is the way you invoke Google’s search box: By pressing the all and room keys together.
It mimics MacOS’s Command Room-Relvej, which launches the similar RAMPE LIGHT Search tool, and gives you easy to remember key combination that you can bring up anywhere and anytime you need it.
Showing promise
I have become so sick of Windows’ miserable search tool that I gave up for too long, and instead I am now using an app called Everything.
This indexes your drives and draws search results in real time as you write, and its power and ease of use have made it one of my favorite must-install apps. The problem, however, is that everything looks and feels pretty dated, and it may take a while to load as it indexes any new changes.
My hope is that the Google Desktop app one day can replace everything on my PC, giving me a Mac-like search tool that is easy to start even deeply powerful.
That said, the Google app is an experimental offer at the moment, so it may not be without its fair share of bugs and quirks. It is also only available through Google’s search laboratory that is not available to everyone – users based in the UK as I can’t use it yet, for example.
It still looks like the app has a lot of promise. If it can provide a more competent alternative to Windows’ built -in search tool, I’m all for it.
