Windows search menu issue

I use windows 11 and whenever I press the windows key and try to start typing, instead of typing it highlights a program with a first letter that matches the letter I typed. (ex. I type W it highlights Microsoft Word, I type E it highlights Microsoft Excel) Ive done some looking around in settings and online and haven't found another. I'm guessing its some obscure setting I have activated but I have no idea how to fix it.

That's the way it's designed to work. From the search box just keep typing and search results will change according to what you type. For example, I want to search for power options. As soon as I type P it shows Powershell app. After I've typed Power op search results show edit power plan.

EDIT- you can disable Bing searches from being in your search results using option 3 here. Enable or Disable Search the Web with Bing in Windows Search in Windows 11 Tutorial

glasskuter said:

That's the way it's designed to work. From the search box just keep typing and search results will change according to what you type. For example, I want to search for power options. As soon as I type P it shows Powershell app. After I've typed Power op search results show edit power plan.

EDIT- you can disable Bing searches from being in your search results using option 3 here. Enable or Disable Search the Web with Bing in Windows Search in Windows 11 Tutorial

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Unfortunately it doesn't let me type anything, when I try to type a word it selects a different app the first letter matching each letter I type in the word.

If I try to type premiere pro, it will highlight "powerpoint" when I type P, then it won't highlight anything for R, then it will highlight "microsoft edge" when I type E, "mail" when I type M etc.

The problem is that it wont let me type a full word at all, it will just highlight apps based on each individual letter I type
If I try to click on the search box in the menu to search something with a full word, it just closes the menu.

Try the following suggestions, checking search function after each one.

If you are using any 3rd party app that affects the GUI eg:explorerpatcher, startallback, openshell, etc, uninstall it to see if search will work.

Check for file system corruption. Open a command prompt as administrator and type sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair. If it found corruption it could not fix followup with this command (note the spaces)
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart computer

Cleanup the component store - Open a command prompt as administrator and type
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase
If none of that fixes search perform a repair install. Repair Install Windows 11 Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial