File Explorer search not working in Windows 10 1909

I am really confused because this did not work for me at all. I went to File Explorer and opened to My Documents and typed the a and then "a" and all it did was move my cursor down my files to the next file in my list of folders that started with an "a/A" but it did not show anything in the search bar at all.  I have tried many of the other temporary fixes and I will sometimes be able to type into the search bar and obtain a reply but not very often and when I shut off my Dell laptop I loose the temporary fix and am not able to perform any type of search.   

I believe the difference is how each of us have our Windows 10 setup and something is causing this and other thing to happen like me to loose data files also.

I simply signed up for prereleases and it's fixed in next build.

We spoke directly with Microsoft to find a work-around.  According to Microsoft, the function works perfectly well at their office.  Unfortunately, we all don't have that access.

Here is how you can force it to work:

• Go to the search bar as usual.  Type in a letter like "a" for example and hit enter.
• That will cause the old "date modified button in the top bar to appear.
• Remove the "a" from the search bar and then click on "today" "last week" or what ever period you want.
• If you want specific dates, the calendar no longer appears as it used to.  So instead, while in the "modified date" screen, remove the "today" or "last week" and manually type in your dates.

Microsoft is not inclined to change this, so everyone send your comments to them.  They consider what they did an improvement (for some strange reason).  They said they received very few complaints so far.

They will only modify it if many people complain that they lost a function they liked of the old system and refer back to exactly the function in which version they liked and want returned.

So everyone has their notice to contact Microsoft and ask for a "return" to an old function.

Mary Anne

Have found that if I RH click on the edge of the search box, then extend its length, the box responds to keyboard entry's and searches.

I too have experienced this exact same issue on two different computers, one of which is literally only a day old.

I cannot speak for the long-term reliability of this method, but here's a way I found to (at least temporarily) fix the broken search bar without having to kill explorer.exe in Task Manager or having to use PowerShell commands on my own computer:

1. Open a folder, any folder (doesn't matter which)
2. In the Ribbon, click on View and then Options
3. When the Folder Options window appears, click the View tab
4. Scroll the "Advanced settings" list about halfway down
5. Look for the setting "Launch folder windows in a separate process".

      a. If it is NOT checked, then click the box to check it

      b. If it IS checked, then uncheck it, click Apply, and finally re-check it

6. Click Apply, and then OK.

This seems to have worked for me, but like I said only time will tell if the problem comes back or not.

Thanks, unfortunately it worked for a while and then didn't work. Hope Microsoft fixes this soon