Outlook search bar moved to the title!?

Thank you! This sort of works, but the buttons just type stuff for you. So unfortunately doesn't fix the basic awfullness of the new search.

My solution: Use Advanced Find.

CTRL-SHIFT-F to activate

Or add a custom group to the ribbon , and then in the Choose Command dropdown pick "All Commands" and then add "Advanced Find" to the custom group. You can move the custom group anywhere you want on the ribbon.

Or you can add the Advanced Find as a quick access shortcut if you prefer that.

My main gripe with this move was the fact that the dropdown menu with "Suggested Searches" covered the search tool buttons (from, subject, has attachments and so on). I know you can click somewhere to remove it, but sometimes it comes back, or you accidentally move the window, and even when it works that one click is one too much. 

Now I've found the most awkward workaround, but I think it helps. Here goes:

1. Right-click on the tiny arrow down button to the left of the search field. A menu should pop up saying "Customize quick access tool bar". Click on "more commands" from this menu.
2. Now you get to the Outlook options, with the option to add more stuff to the quick access tool bar.
3. Add ALL of the available commands by hitting the "Add>>" button repeatedly. It doesn't matter what they do; you can also add about 100 separators if you rather prefer that. Click OK. 
4. Now all of the new commands available in the quick access toolbar will have pushed the search field to the right, hopefully to the point where, when you search for something, the drop-down menu doesn't cover the buttons anymore.

There. I SAID it was awkward. 

You can of course go back and fine-tune this, or revert back to the original if you didn't like it (there's even a reset button for this).

The location of this search bar renders it absolutely useless. One of our techs has been trying to remedy this for about an hour to no avail. 

Microsoft needs to fix this!!!!

Note that this is not broken, nor a bug. It is a design change. You could request a change at UserVoice, or on the Help menu of Outlook, hit the Feedback icon.

Having a tech work on it though won't do anything. It is a design change and operating as intended.

I am not sure how you say it renders it useless. I use it every day and it works like the old search, but doesn't take up additional screen space since it is in the title bar vs taking up a row in the email list.