Remove Search Bar from Word, Excel, PowerPoint

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The location of the search bar in Microsoft 365 Word, Excel and PowerPoint often makes simply clicking and dragging the application windows difficult, at least for me. Many times I end up click within the search field instead of the tiny space between for the drag and drop operation.

This article will show you what setting to adjust to hide the Search Bar from the Word, Excel and PowerPoint title bar. Note, this will not actually remove the Search bar. Rather, it will simply shrink or collapse it down to just a magnifying glass icon. You can also press Alt+Q to bring up the full search bar or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F to navigate and search through your document.

Regarding Outlook 365; As of this post (2023 October), it is not possible to collapse or shrink the search box (which is used to search email) in Outlook 365, Outlook and Word are two different applications and some features are not the same.

 

Remove Search from Title Bar

Begin by starting the desired Office 365 application Word, Excel or PowerPoint. When the application opens, you can find the search bar located at the top center of the title bar.

Go to “File” then select “Options” located towards the bottom left. For Word, visit the “General” tab then under the “User Interface Options” section in the right-pane.

To hide the search bar from the title bar, locate “Collapse the Microsoft Search box by default” option and check it then click the “OK” button at the bottom.

Once done, only a Search icon (visible as a magnifying glass) will appear in the application header.

 

 

Conclusion

I welcome your thoughts, questions or suggestions on my article on how to remove the Search bar from Word, Excel, PowerPoint in Microsoft 365.

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Let me know if you found any errors within my article or if I may further assist you by answering any additional questions you may have.

 

2 replies
  1. Robert Kovacich
    Robert Kovacich says:

    Thank you for this article. I was having the exact same issue with clicking and dragging.
    Cheers,
    -Rob

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