Windows Search Is Getting Its Biggest Upgrade in Years, but There’s a Catch

Windows 11 is getting one of its biggest changes in years with the introduction of native language search. While it will fundamentally change how you search for files on your Windows PC, not everyone will be able to use it right away.

Semantic Search Is Microsoft’s Next Big AI Push

Semantic search, or natural language search, is finally coming to Windows 11. Sure, you can already improve Windows Search results with a few simple tricks, but this new method of search will allow you to search on your Windows PC using more natural language.

Instead of having to search for specific settings or file names, you’ll be able to simply type something like “change my theme” to do that, or “uninstall a program” to bring up the program's settings where you can remove apps you’ve installed on your PC.

Credit: Microsoft

The catch, though, is that this is part of Microsoft’s next big push to bring more powerful AI features to Windows. As such, it will only work on Copilot+ PCs that have been built to fully take advantage of Microsoft’s AI features.

But that isn’t the only caveat. While the feature will eventually come to all Copilot+ PCs, it will initially only be available on Copilot+ PCs running a Snapdragon chip. This means that PCs with AMD or Intel-based AI-powered chips will need to wait for semantic search to release in broader availability.

Microsoft hasn’t provided an official release date for the update that will enable semantic search. However, we do know that it is currently available in the latest Release Preview for Windows Insiders, which means it will likely come with April’s Windows update. Until we have a solid release date, though, all we can do is speculate.

The Benefits of Natural Language Searching

Companies have been pushing hard in recent months to make search easier and more natural. Apple and Android-powered devices have all started incorporating more natural language processing into their search systems. But this is the first time we’ve seen the feature come to Windows natively. Microsoft first detailed semantic search as part of a Windows Developer update post several months ago.

There are many benefits to more natural language-driven searches. The biggest is that it will be much easier for your Windows PC to find the files or features you’re looking for.

Once semantic search becomes available on Windows 11, you can search with broader terms like “eco-friendly clothing” in the below image. This will bring up results without forcing you to search for more specific terms.

Credit: Microsoft

Another great example of how natural language search will work is looking for files you don’t know the name of. For example, if you wrote up a document on Apple AirTags, you could search for “document on Apple AirTags” in Windows Search, and it would bring up what you’re looking for.

Of course, like any search system, the more specific you are, the closer your results will likely be to what you’re looking for. This is a common problem I’ve seen while using Apple’s version of semantic search in its various apps, and I expect Windows will suffer from the same problem.

Sadly, semantic search isn’t likely to dethrone File Pilot as my go-to file management app on Windows—it’s just hard to beat how fast File Pilot is. However, it will at least make using Windows Search functionality more enticing for everyday users if they have a Copilot+ PC that supports it.

Like most of Microsoft’s big AI features, it’s unlikely semantic search will ever come to non-AI powered systems, which is probably part of Microsoft’s push to move more people to Copilot+ PCs in the long run. However, Microsoft still has a long way to go to overcome the fact that Copilot+ PCs are a disaster for everyday people.