Windows 8 – Sharing and Searching

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At the Windows 8 Developer Camp last week in Ft. Lauderdale, a couple of people asked me if there’s a way to control which apps are searchable (which ones show up in the app search list), and which apps are allowed to be share targets.

The answer to both is, “Yep.”

In Windows 8, Searching and Sharing can be controlled through the Settings charm > More PC Settings. Once you’re on the PC Settings screen, in the list on the left-hand side you’ll see both Search and Share.

Search

Search has the following options:
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Click image to enlarge.

From here you can . . .

  • Delete history
  • Let Windows save my searches as future search suggestions
  • Show the apps I search most often at the top
  • And Use these apps to search  (Lets you control which apps show up in the search list)

Share

Share has the following self-explanatory options:
image
Click image to enlarge.

From here you can . . .

  • Show a list of how I share most often
  • Set the number of items in the list
  • Show apps I use most often at the top of the list
  • And Use these apps to share (allows you to control the apps that are allowed to be share targets)

Nice, eh? Enjoy Windows 8! For you developers, here’s an excellent first-stop page for you: the Windows Dev Center. And here’s the link to the official Building Windows 8 blog.

– bliz (@snowstormlife)