In OneNote the Search bar has moved, How do I put it back to where it was?

Anonymous
2025-05-22T20:51:54+00:00

Version 2504 Build 16.0.18730.20122 on Windows 11.

I have been using OneNote for years, all of a sudden when I opened it up today, the Search bar has moved from its correct place on top of the pages list on the side, to now being in the upper right corner of the actual notes main page.

When I type in a search, the list of pages where the search term shows up now covers up half of the notes field, meaning you can't read half of the page to see if the search result is actually what you are looking for or not, making the entire search function pretty much useless.

How can I move the search box, and more importantly, the list of pages that contain the search result, so that it no longer covers up the actual notes page that I need to read?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | Other | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-07-11T19:00:42+00:00

    Thank you for taking your time to answer even if Microsoft does NOT. I literally hate using OneNote now because of the stupid Search Notebook placement. I wish I knew of another software app that I could use instead. Would be great if I could download all of my Notebooks and contents to a software that was more user friendly.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-07-10T17:08:17+00:00

    I agree! Lazy customer service!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-07-10T07:42:47+00:00

    Thank you but your missing the point, we want it back far right, your article say far right, it's no far left and works differently; everyone here s trying to move it back right to work as it was before the update.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-07-10T07:40:53+00:00

    Hi,

    This change makes no sense, and is so annoying; step 3: there is no search group, I cannot see where to moved search back to the right, so all page titles are highlighted instead of left view

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-07-09T14:43:54+00:00

    the search feature in the ribbon/toolbar is for searching the commands inside OneNote (and will look online for help as well); to add insult to injury, it can search quick notes but not pages! it's useful and it's where it belongs but we STILL need a search field that we can actually work with that doesn't sit right on top of the title and text any time your OneNote is in a smaller window for, you know, taking notes!

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