Search pane (8.1) Guide

A guide for users of the Jaws screen reader, written by David Bailes. More guides are available on the Jaws Guides page of the VIP Software Guides website.

Contents

Introduction

This is a guide to the Search pane in Windows 8.1, which is also sometimes referred to as the Search charm. This introduction describes the search pane, and the following sections of the guide then provide descriptions of searching for various kinds items.

In this guide, programs which are installed from the Windows Store are referred to as Windows Store apps; other names for these programs are Windows 8 apps and modern apps. Traditional programs are referred to as desktop programs, though Microsoft often call them desktop apps.

When the search pane is opened it appears on the right hand side of the screen and contains:

The options for scope of the search are:

You'll rarely need to use the search scope selection button to set the scope of the search, since there are convenient keystrokes for commonly used scopes, which open the Search pane with the desired scope already set. These keystrokes are given in the relevant sections of the guide, and can also be found in the Keystrokes section at the end of the guide.

If you open the search pane, and decide that you don't want to open anything, then you can close the search pane by pressing Esc. Note that if you've entered text in the search box, you'll need to press Esc twice: the first to clear the text, and the second to close the search pane.

Searching everywhere

When the scope of the search is set to everywhere, then the results can include items on the Apps screen (desktop programs and associated items, Windows Store apps, and items pinned to the start screen), settings, files, web pages, and search suggestions. If you don't want web pages and search suggestions to be included, then you can turn these off, as described in the Customizing the search pane section.

You'll probably use searching everywhere most often for opening items on the Apps screen, for example desktop programs and Windows store apps. If you're searching for settings or files, you'll probably find it easier to search for them with the scope of the search set to settings or files as described in later sections.

For sighted users, the kind of search result is shown visually, for example by the program's icon or a setting icon. For users of screen readers, roughly the same information is provided by appending the kind of search result after the item's name. So you'll find that words such as app, setting, file, and search (for search suggestion) are appended to the names of the results. Note that if the word app is appended to the name of a search result, this indicates that it's a search result from the Apps screen, and so it could be an Windows store app, a desktop program, or an item pinned to the Start screen such as a folder of a library.

To search for desktop programs, Windows store apps, and items pinned to the Start screen:

  1. There are two ways of opening the search pane with the scope of the search set to everywhere. The first is to start typing in search terms when you're on the Start screen. The search pane is automatically displayed, and your search terms are entered in the Search box. The second way is to press Windows Key + S.
  2. You can use either complete words or the beginnings of words as search terms. As you type characters in the Search box, the list of search results is continuously updated. Results from the Apps screen are always listed first, and if the first result is from the apps screen, then it's automatically selected. Whenever you pause after typing one or more characters, Jaws reads the name of any selected result. So, as soon as you hear the name of the program or item you want, you can press Enter to open it – you don't have to type in the full name.
  3. Normally, by either typing in some distinctive search terms or by typing the full name, you can get the program or item you want to open to be the first item in the results list. However, to open some items, there's a need to select another item in the list so that you can then open it. You can select other items in the list by using Down Arrow and Up Arrow.

Note that as well as opening a search result by pressing Enter, then for results from the Apps screen and files, there are also alternative commands available on its context menu. You can open this menu in the usual way by pressing the Application Key.

Other search results

When the scope of the search is set to everywhere, you can search for the following, but you have to type in the full name of the item before it appears in the list of results:

Searching settings

To search only for settings in the Control panel, or PC Settings, or the Settings pane:

  1. Press Windows key + W. The search pane is displayed on the right hand side of the screen, the Search box is the initial focus, and the search scope is set to Settings.
  2. As you type characters in the Search box, the list of search results is continuously updated, and the first result is automatically selected. Whenever you pause after typing one or more characters, Jaws reads the name of the selected first result. As soon as you hear the name of the setting, you can press Enter to open it – you don't have to type in the full name.
  3. Sometimes, by either typing in some distinctive search terms or by typing the full name, you can get the setting you want to open to be the first item in the results list. However, to open some items, there's a need to select another item in the list so that you can then open it. You can select other items in the list by using Down Arrow and Up Arrow.

For sighted users, the icon which is shown as part of each result indicates whether the setting is in the control panel, or in PC settings or the Setting pane. Unfortunately, this information is not available for users of screen readers.

If you're interested in a setting which is in the Control panel, then either browsing or searching the Control panel is an alternative to this search.

Also, the quick link menu, which you can open by pressing Windows Key + X, provides a quick way of opening frequently used administrative tools, including the Control panel, and Programs and features.

Searching files

By default, you can search for files which are in your personal folder, or in your libraries. In addition, if you signed in using a Microsoft account, you can also search for files in your SkyDrive folder.

  1. Press Windows Key + F. The search pane is displayed on the right hand side of the screen, the search box is the initial focus, and the Search scope is set to Files.
  2. As you type characters in the Search box, the list of search results is continuously updated, but the first item is not automatically selected. To select any result, you have to press Down Arrow to select it. You can then open the selected file by pressing Enter.

An alternative to using the Search pane for searching for files is to use File Explorer, which is described in the Searching section of the File Explorer guide.

Additional notes

Customizing the Search pane

You can remove web results and search suggestions when you search everywhere by changing a setting in PC Settings:

  1. Open PC Settings. For example, press Windows Key to move to the Start screen, type PC Settings, and press Enter.
  2. In the list of the main categories in PC settings, press Down Arrow until you get to Search and Apps, and then press Enter. You're taken to a list of the sub-categories of Search and Apps, and the first sub-category Search is selected
  3. Tab to the Get Search suggestions and web results from Bing button. By default this is checked, and you can uncheck it by pressing Spacebar.
  4. Press Alt + F4 to close PC Settings.

Keystrokes

Command Keystroke
Search everywhere Windows Key, then start typing, or Windows Key + S
Search for settings Windows Key + W
Search for files Windows Key + F
In the search box, clear text Esc
Close Search pane (if the search box is empty) Esc
Run program as administrator Ctrl + Shift + Enter