A lightweight, keyboard-driven Windows search bar that lives in the system tray. Invoke it from anywhere with a global hotkey, search local files, calculate driving distances, and open results instantly.
The Cloud Search integration in this app targets Google Workspace (enterprise) accounts only. If you sign in with a regular personal Google account, Cloud Search will not work.
Personal Google account users: Google has a dedicated search app for you — the Google App for Windows Labs experiment. Press Alt+Space to search your local files, Google Drive, installed apps, and the web. Enable it at labs.google.com.
- Global hotkey — invoke the bar from anywhere (
Ctrl+Spaceby default) - Local file search — queries the Windows Search index with fuzzy re-ranking; works across all indexed locations or scoped to specific paths
- Distance calculator — type
distance X to Y(city names, addresses, or zip codes) to get driving distance, estimated drive time, and one-click links to Google Maps and Google Flights. No API key required (uses OSM Nominatim + public OSRM) - Search history autocomplete — past queries surface instantly as you type
- Recently opened files — shown when the bar is empty
- Google Cloud Search — fallback to Cloud Search for Workspace users
- System tray — runs silently in the background; settings and quit accessible from the tray icon
- Launch at startup — optional Windows startup registry entry
- File preview — hover a result to see size, date modified, and image thumbnail
- Windows 10/11
- For local file search: Windows Search index must be enabled (on by default)
- For Cloud Search: Google Workspace account
Download CloudSearchBar_Setup.exe from Releases and run it. The installer requires no admin rights by default and places the app in your user profile.
After install, the app launches automatically and registers a startup entry so it runs on every login.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Open the bar | Ctrl+Space (configurable) |
| Dismiss | Escape |
| Navigate results | ↑ / ↓ |
| Open a result | Enter or click |
| Open containing folder | Shift+Enter on a file result |
| Calculate distance | Type distance chicago to new york |
| Cloud Search fallback | Press Enter with no result selected |
Open Settings from the tray icon menu, or edit cloudsearch_bar.ini directly:
[Search]
hotkey = ctrl+space
account_index = 0 ; 0 = first Google account, 1 = second, etc.
browser = ; blank = system default
[Window]
width = 620
height = 60
[LocalSearch]
enabled = true
max_results = 7
paths = ; blank = search everywhere; comma-separated to restrict
[Startup]
autostart = truepip install PyQt6 keyboard pywin32 rapidfuzz pyinstaller
python -m PyInstaller CloudSearchBar.specTo rebuild the installer, compile installer/CloudSearchBar.iss with Inno Setup 6.
MIT