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At the top of your Microsoft 365 apps on Windows you'll find the Microsoft Search box. This powerful tool helps you quickly find what you're looking for, from text to commands to help and more. Let's take a look at what it can do for you. 

If you're a small business owner looking for more information on how to get Microsoft 365 set up, visit Small business help & learning.

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Get started quickly

Select the Microsoft Search box, or press ALT+Q. Before you even type anything, Search recalls recently used commands and suggests other actions you may want to take based on what you appear to be doing. If you're using a business edition of Office 365, you also see people with whom you frequently collaborate and files that you've worked on recently. 

The Microsoft Search box selected

Find help articles

If you need help doing a task, just type your question into the Search box. Choose Get help on in the results list and Microsoft Search will recommend related support articles. 

Collaborate with colleagues

This feature is only available in business editions of Office 365.

Are you working on a file awaiting input from a teammate? Type their name into the Microsoft Search box to see a list of matching names in your organization. Select the person you want to work with. You can then easily share the file with them or simply open their contact card for more information.

Access related files

This feature is only available in business editions of Office 365.

Do you want to view or reuse content from a related document, presentation, or workbook? Start typing the file name in the Search box and a list of likely best-match files will begin to appear. Only files that you have permission to see will appear in the search results. Select any file to view or copy its content for use in your current work.  

Also, if you don't find the file you're seeking, select More search results for and see additional files that match on the Files tab of the Search pane. 

Type in the search bar to see suggested results

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As with the quick search, only files you have permission to see will appear in these results.

If the file you're looking for is actually a picture from the web, choose the Media tab to see a gallery of pictures that match your query. By default, the results are filtered to only pictures with Creative Commons licenses. 

Immediate word definitions

Looking for a quick definition? Type the word into the Microsoft Search box, select it from the Definition results, and Bing opens the Search panel to tell you what it means.

Resizing the search box

If the Microsoft Search box is taking up too much space, you can collapse it down to just the magnifying glass icon. On the File tab, select Options and choose Collapse the Microsoft Search box by default.

The File > Options dialog box showing the Collapse the Microsoft Search box by default option.

With the Search box collapsed, you can still access it by selecting search  Find magnifying glass button Magnifying glass on the right side of the title bar, or by pressing ALT+Q. 

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