Microsoft Promises to Speed Up Windows 11 File Explorer Search After Years of Slow Performance
Microsoft has confirmed that it is working on major improvements for the search feature in Windows 11 File Explorer. The first focus will be the This PC section, where searching for files can currently take several minutes, even on computers with very few files. Marcus Ash, Microsoft’s Head of Design and Research for Windows and Devices, said the company plans to bring some of the technology already used in Windows Search into File Explorer.
The announcement follows a striking test carried out by Windows Latest. The publication searched for the same file using both Windows Search and the This PC search inside File Explorer. Windows Search found the image in about one second, while File Explorer took more than eight minutes and did not display the result during the initial recording.
The test computer only had around ten downloaded files, making it clear that the delay was not caused by a large file library.
Microsoft had already introduced some search improvements in March through the KB5079473 update. That update was designed to improve reliability when searching across multiple drives, but real-world performance did not improve significantly. Because of this, Microsoft now plans a deeper upgrade. According to Ash, both search speed and result quality will improve directly inside File Explorer, starting with searches that scan the entire PC.
Microsoft Finally Plans to Fix Windows 11 File Explorer’s Slow Search
Windows Search has changed a lot in recent months. Microsoft has removed features such as MSN news, quizzes, and trending searches. Instead, it now highlights recent activity and provides clearer information about where search results come from. Users can also disable Bing and Microsoft Store suggestions. In addition, the search engine is better at handling typing mistakes and can find files with as little as two characters.
Another useful improvement is partial-name searching. Users no longer need to type the beginning of a long file name. Instead, they can enter a word from anywhere in the name and still find the correct file. These features are already available on standard Windows PCs through recent updates, but File Explorer does not yet use the same search engine. That explains much of the huge performance gap seen during testing.
Search is not the only performance issue Microsoft is trying to fix. This year, the company admitted that File Explorer is still slower than its Windows 10 version. Microsoft has also been improving the Home tab, the address bar, and problems related to mounting disk images. Smaller interface updates have also returned the Refresh button to the context menu and made file sizes easier to understand.
Microsoft has not announced when these search improvements will be released. For now, the updated Windows Search experience remains limited to the Insider testing channel, so the faster File Explorer search may still take some time to reach all users. Even so, Microsoft’s confirmation is an important step, as searching for a file should not take eight minutes, and the company now appears ready to address the problem more seriously.
