New Windows 1909 and 1903 updates fix File Explorer search, but it still has bugs
Microsoft has released new optional, non-security cumulative updates for Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909, which address multiple bugs in the new File Explorer.
Windows 10
Update KB4532695 delivers new builds for Windows 10 1903 and 1909 – 18362.628 and 18363.628, respectively – which contain largely the same set of fixes.
The new update attempts to address complaints from late last year about the new Search box in File Explorer, with some reporting that it was "completely unusable". The box showed a text cursor but users couldn't click inside the box or type into it, for example.
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During preview testing for this release of Windows 10, Microsoft made changes to improve File Explorer search by running it on Windows Search, giving users local and web search results that appear on the fly in a drop-down menu.
The new updates for 1909 and 1903 include two key fixes for the File Explorer search bugs that users have recently been complaining about.
Microsoft says in release notes that it "updates an issue that prevents File Explorer's Search Bar from pasting clipboard content using the right mouse button (right-click)".
It also "updates an issue that prevents File Explorer's Search Bar from receiving user input".
Rafael Rivera, an engineer and Windows watchdog, praised Microsoft for the update.
"For starters, you can now use the thing. And – hope you're sitting down – you can left- AND right-click inside the box too," he wrote after installing the update.
That should put most complaints to rest, but he still reckons File Explorer is a "crummy experience" due to several little annoyances that don't help user productivity.
For example, after highlighting text in the search box it still takes two clicks to unhighlight the selected text. Deleting results in the drop-down search results also doesn't work.
And as for Microsoft's right-click fix for File Explorer's Search Box, Rivera's tests showed the box can't be right-clicked until it's activated via a left-click.
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Microsoft lists several other changes to improve Windows 10 1903 and 1909, including improvements to the accuracy of Windows Hello, and an issue that still allowed the custom order of tiles in the Start menu to be changed when the layout is locked.
It also fixed a glitch that closed the touch keyboard when any key was selected, a bug in multiplayer PC games that cause invitations to fail, an intermittent error when unplugging a USB type C flash drive, and incorrect indicators for offline and online files.
The updates are available through Windows Update or Microsoft Update, the Windows Update Catalog, and WSUS.