Windows search annoying? Google has an answer - but not for everyone

Martin Jud

17.9.2025

Translation: machine translated

A new search app from Google for Windows could be faster, slimmer and smarter than Microsoft's on-board tools. Sounds good, if there weren't several catches.

Google is testing its own search solution with the new «Google App for Windows», which can be superimposed as an overlay over what is currently displayed using a keyboard shortcut. Alt + spacebar allows you to search files, apps, web content and Google Drive without switching windows. Google Lens is also integrated: Content on the screen can be highlighted, translated or analysed. If you want, you can even call up AI-supported answers - including follow-up questions and links.

The whole thing runs under the label «Experiment in Labs» - not as a finished product, but as a publicly accessible prototype with an open outcome.

The catch

The app is only available in the USA, only works with private Google accounts and requires Search Labs to be activated. Company and school accounts are excluded. OneDrive is not supported, nor are other cloud services such as Dropbox or iCloud. The app is firmly anchored in the Google cosmos.

This means that the tool should be of particular interest to those who already work with Google Drive and feel annoyed by the Windows search. For everyone else - especially users who are consciously turning away from Google Search - this is not a solution, but rather a shifting of the problem. Openness? Not at all.

Those who hoped that Google would set new standards with this app will get more Google instead.

Martin Jud

Senior Editor

martin.jud@digitecgalaxus.ch

I find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.

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