Microsoft Bing
This app integrates Microsoft Bing as a web results provider for Windows Search.
since 0.9.8.11
Purpose
Identifier: microsoft.bingsearch
Setup Foundry removes the package for existing user accounts and from provisioning for new accounts.
This app integrates Microsoft Bing as a web results provider for Windows Search. As you type in the Windows search box, the provider can retrieve relevant web suggestions, results, and HTML previews from Bing and display them within the search experience.
The package does this by registering a web search provider with Windows. Search queries are sent over HTTPS to the endpoint declared by the package, together with the locale and a country code. Selected web results normally open in Microsoft Edge.
Notes
Additional effects
The package does not provide the local Windows Search index or core local-search functionality. Searches for installed apps, settings, and locally indexed files are handled by other Windows components.
In the European Economic Area, Windows also supports other installable web search providers. Those providers are separate packages and are not removed with microsoft.bingsearch.
Privacy and security
When the Bing provider is active, Windows passes the web query entered in the search box to a Bing HTTPS endpoint. The provider protocol also supplies the query’s locale and associated country code. This means that an online request can be made while text is being entered so that suggestions and previews can be returned.
Microsoft states that Bing may use information such as search history, location, language, and device characteristics to improve relevance and personalization. The information actually used depends on Bing, account, location, and privacy settings.
After removal, this Bing provider can no longer process queries originating through its Windows Search integration. The change does not stop requests made by other search providers, other cloud-connected parts of Windows Search, or direct use of Bing in a browser.
Effects of the change
Bing web suggestions, web results, and their associated previews are no longer available through this package in Windows Search. Parts of the search interface that obtain online content from the Bing provider may disappear or appear without Bing results. Because the provider supplies no results, those results can no longer be opened in Microsoft Edge from Windows Search.
Local searches for apps, settings, and files continue to work. Microsoft Edge is not removed, and the Bing website remains accessible. Other web search providers are unaffected and can continue to return their own results on supported systems.
The package does not contain documents or user files required by local search, so its removal does not leave user-file associations without a handler. Because Setup Foundry also removes the provisioned package, the app is not automatically registered for newly created user accounts. It can be installed again from Microsoft Store while Microsoft continues to offer it there.
Notes
Support for choosing and managing web search providers within Windows Search is documented particularly for devices in the European Economic Area. The available settings and their presentation can therefore vary with the Windows version, region, and installed updates.
Microsoft documentation
Microsoft Learn: Windows Search web search providers
Microsoft Support: How Bing delivers search results
Microsoft Store: Microsoft Bing