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

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-05-30T14:26:45+00:00

    I have also sent feedback in the OneNote app.

    Apparently this was an intentional "Feature" for languages that write right to left (like Japanese) because in the place the search box was at originally, it would cover up the right side where the text started for those languages.

    Someone at Microsoft then decided it would be a great idea to move the search box to where it will cover up the text for EVERYONE instead of actually fixing the issues by letting you move or turn on/off the search box, which would have been the logical and correct solution.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-05-30T08:44:13+00:00

    I've just also sent feedback via the OneNote Help > Feedback option. Hopefully enough users will do this to at least have the option to move it back - I can't see why anyone would choose to have it over page content when there's now a nice empty space for it to sit next to the page tabs!
    OneNote user for many years and generally a big fan!

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-05-27T15:19:07+00:00

    "Microsoft makes excellent software..." we can agree to disagree on this

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-06-03T19:04:18+00:00

    Essentially, Microsoft OneNote has TWO search boxes - the one at the top and the Search Notebooks box. Why can't we have ONE search box? Give the top search box the ability to search notebooks using a drop down arrow. That would solve the problem of having the Search Notebooks box floating over the top of the notes page - which was the stupidest idea ever.

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-05-31T11:59:34+00:00

    In that case all languages that are written right to left would have the same issue.

    Arabic – Over 400 million speakers

    Urdu – Around 230 million speakers

    Persian (Farsi, Dari, Tajik) – About 100 million combined

    Hebrew – Around 9 million speakers

    Pashto – Around 40–50 million speakers

    Kurdish (Sorani dialect) – Used by a portion of the 30–40 million Kurdish speakers

    Syriac and other Aramaic dialects – Small communities

    In total, nearly 1 billion people, which is not insignificant for Microsoft.

    I strongly suggest that Microsoft provides for optionality in the location of the search box.

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