In Windows 11, Search Highlights is a feature that shows related content for a search when a user hovers or clicks on the Windows Search Box. The search highlights feature will show things like images associated with a search, as well as “daily content like word of the day, Microsoft Rewards offers trending searches, and more,” according to the Microsoft blog. If a user is signed in with a work or school Microsoft account, then the search highlights feature will show “the latest updates from your organization and suggested people, files, and more,”. By default, windows search highlights is enabled in Windows 11, and Windows allows you to enable or disable search highlights, this article will guide you to Disable Search Highlights in Windows 11 using different methods.
Disable Search Highlights in Windows 11:
Here I have shown three different methods to enable or disable Search Highlights in Windows 11.
Method 1: Disable Search Highlights Using Windows Settings:
Open Windows Settings by pressing Windows + I and from the left-hand side click on Privacy & Security and from the right-hand side click on Search Permissions.
Under Search Permissions, look for More settings, and turn off the Show search highlights toggle button.
This will disable the Search Highlights in Windows 11 search, no restart is required, click on the search button on the taskbar and verify it once. To enable the Search Highlights back, just follow the same steps and Turn on the Show search highlights toggle button to enable it back.
Method 2: Using Group Policy Editor:
Open the Run command by pressing Windows + R and type gpedit.msc and hit enter, this command will open the Group Policy Editor.
Now navigate to the following path.
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search
From the left-hand side click on Search and from the right-hand pane look for the “Allow search highlights” policy.
Double-click on the policy and open the policy setting. Choose Disabled and click on Apply and OK.
Disabling this policy will turn off the search highlights in the Start Menu search box. To enable the Search highlights back, just follow the same steps and choose Enabled or Not Configured.
Method 3: Using Registry Editor:
Open Run command by pressing Windows + R and type Regedit and hit enter, this command will open the Registry Editor console.
Now navigate to the following registry path.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SearchSettings
From the left-hand side click on the SearchSettings registry key and from the right-hand pane look for the DWORD named IsDynamicSearchBoxEnabled.
Double-click on “IsDynamicSearchBoxEnabled” DWORD and set the value data to 0 and click on OK.
Close the registry editor and restart the system once.
Read Also:
How to Hide Recent Search history from Start menu in Windows 11?
Turn on or Off SafeSearch Filter in Windows 11
How to Add Search bar to Windows 11 taskbar?
How to Disable Windows Search in Windows 11?
Fix Show Search Highlights option is greyed out issue in Windows 11/10
