Google is releasing this week an experimental Windows desktop app that allows you to search the entire PC and then some from a single Spotlight-like universal search bar. Using the Alt + Space shortcut, the tool surfaces results from local files, installed apps, Google Drive and the open web, with a goal to ‘collapse the friction between “where” something lives and “how” you find it’.
A consolidated home for files, apps, Drive and the web
The new app functions as a productivity launcher: type a couple of characters and it fishes out matches on your computer, in your Google account and on the internet at large. That cross-silo approach replicates the sort of convenience macOS users have come to expect from Spotlight and third-party tools such as Alfred or Raycast, but it’s less common on Windows, where people still have to juggle Windows Search for their local files against cloud file portals (e.g., Dropbox, OneDrive, et al.) and browser queries.
Google explains that the app indexes local content alongside your Google Drive on your PC, and then merges those results with web answers. Examples of how you can use it:
- Open a PowerPoint by name
- Jump to a Chrome extension
- Pull up a PDF from Drive
- Run a web query without leaving context
A straightforward tabbed interface allows you to flip between All results, AI Mode, Shopping and Videos, as well as Images, while dark mode looks fine for low-light work.
The keyboard-first design is deliberate. Windows users that depend on PowerToys Run or third-party launchers such as Everything or Listary will appreciate the speed gain. One wrinkle: Alt + Space is also the default hotkey for PowerToys Run and Windows’ legacy window menu, so early adopters might need to tinker with hotkeys to avoid conflicts.
AI Mode and Google Lens are onboard for advanced search
In addition to search, two functions are emphasized in the app: Google Lens and an AI Mode for more complex queries. Lens allows you to choose anything on your screen — an image, a chart inside a PDF, even text from within a clipped article — and do a contextual search. That allows instantaneous translation, object identification or the extraction of structured data from screenshots — an approach with which Pixel phone owners and Chrome users accustomed to visual search are already familiar.
AI Mode is for complex, multistep tasks. Think “where’s the latest project timeline in my Drive and tell me what slipped?” or “open that spreadsheet I use to track budgets, called budget-2025, and calculate Q2 variance.” Rather than taking your question as a string of keywords, the assistant parses intent and then finds useful documents to prepare an answer. The company describes this “as an on-ramp to its generative search experiences,” the same direction hinted at by features it previously launched in Search Labs.
On a practical level, the win is all the time that you save. Despite all the time it takes them to find the content they need, the average knowledge worker still spends a shockingly low percentage of their workday actually producing things; studies from enterprise software companies regularly put content recovery at nearly an hour per day. By smashing together local, cloud, and web search into a single bar — and layering on AI for summary and follow-ups — Google is taking that productivity tax head-on.
Why Microsoft Windows is the key battleground for search
Worldwide, Windows still rules as the desktop operating system, with StatCounter estimating it has more than two-thirds of market share on PCs. Delivering a first-party Google search experience to that audience is a meaningful strategy: it wedges Google deeper into the everyday workflows on devices that still tend to default to Microsoft’s own search and productivity stack, despite the company’s attempts otherwise.
Microsoft has been weaving search and AI directly into Windows with such features as Windows Search, PowerToys Run and Copilot. In macOS, Apple’s Spotlight has for ages shaped what we expect from system-wide instant recall, and third-party launchers have developed some devout followings. Google’s Windows app shortens that parity gap even as it pulls in Google Drive and the company’s own AI models to differentiate on relevance and context.
The shift also accurately articulates a messy real world: professionals frequently bridge ecosystems. A Windows laptop may stay firmly connected at the hip to Google Workspace for Docs, Sheets, Drive and what have you. Any launcher that glides through those constraints is likely to catch on — particularly if it turns out to be faster or more precise than built-in solutions.
Early access through Search Labs, within guardrails
The app is launching under Search Labs, Google’s program to test early features among volunteer users. For now, it’s here in English in the U.S., and requires a PC with Windows 10 or later. You’ll log in with a Google account and pay to get Drive integration (and AI Mode).
Enterprises will scrutinize data handling. Google’s public documentation for Lens and generative features revolves in turn around a combination of on-device behavior and cloud processing, as well as enterprise controls within its Workspace offerings. Admins will need guidance on what is indexed locally and sent to Google for processing, and how access permissions are enforced as AI Mode collects information across shared drives.
As with any launcher, the details are what will matter: whether latency is low enough to be useful; the quality of ranking; keyboard ergonomics — these are how users will make their decision on why (or not) to shift from long-held habits. If the app is able to predict with reasonable accuracy that the “right” thing comes up after typing only a few letters, and let power users string commands together without having to take hands off the keyboard, it could aspire to be my daily driver in short order.
What to watch next as Google tests its Windows app
Three signals will indicate the app’s trajectory:
- How quickly Google extends availability beyond the U.S.
- Whether it integrates more deeply with Chrome, Gmail and Workspace
- How well it coexists with Windows’ own search and Copilot experiences
If Google can thread that needle, the company will not just be fighting for web searches — it will be fighting for the instant you decide what to do next on your PC.