Search Box on New Tab Page in Internet Explorer Web Browser

Internet Explorer is the default and built-in web browser of Windows operating system and many Windows users use it as their primary web browser. If you also use other web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, you might be very well aware of the Search box on New Tab page.

Almost all 3rd party web browsers come with a Search box or Search bar on New Tab page to help users in quickly searching on the web. You can check out following tutorials in which we told you how to remove the Search box from New Tab page in these web browsers:

[Firefox Tip] Restore Classic New Tab Page in Mozilla Firefox

Advertisement

How to Restore Old Behavior of New Tab Page in Google Chrome

Following Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, Microsoft has also added Bing Search box on New Tab page in Internet Explorer 11. Microsoft has released a new update for IE11 which automatically adds the new Search box on New Tab page which looks as following:

Internet_Explorer_Searchbox_New_Tab_Page.png

The Search box is just a placeholder, if you click inside the Search box, it automatically activates the address bar (also known as Omnibar, One bar, URL bar, etc). In other words, as soon as you click in the new Search box, it transfers the focus to the address bar and whatever you type, is automatically typed inside the address bar.

One more thing to note! The Search box is only shown if Bing is set as default search engine in Internet Explorer web browser. If you set Google or other search engines as default, you’ll not see the new Search box on New Tab page. People who don’t like this Search box on New Tab page, can use this trick as a workaround to hide/remove the Search box from New Tab page.

It seems the Search box has been added in IE11 in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 only. You’ll not see the Search box in Windows 10. Its obvious because Windows 10 will come with a new version of Internet Explorer web browser in future.

Along with adding the Search box to New Tab page, this update also brings many other new features, fixes and enhancements to IE11 such as following:

Advertisement

  • Increases prominence of web suggestions in Internet Explorer 11 address bar
  • History and Favorite items are not displayed in the suggestions list of address bar
  • Website suggestions that you never visited before are no longer displayed in address bar
  • FIX: Animated GIF file is not displayed completely in Internet Explorer 11
  • FIX: A new window opens when you click a link on a website in Internet Explorer 11
  • FIX: Family Safety website settings do not work in IE10 and IE11 on a 64-bit computer
  • FIX: You receive error pages repeatedly in Internet Explorer

Just look for KB2987107 update in Windows Update or manually download and install it using following links:

Download KB2987107 Update for IE11 in Windows 7 (32-bit)

Download KB2987107 Update for IE11 in Windows 7 (64-bit)

Download KB2987107 Update for IE11 in Windows 8.1 (32-bit)

Download KB2987107 Update for IE11 in Windows 8.1 (64-bit)

Download KB2987107 Update for IE11 in Windows Server 2008 R2

Download KB2987107 Update for IE11 in Windows Server 2012 R2

NOTE: If you want to remove the Search box from New Tab page in Internet Explorer, check out following tutorials:

How to Remove Search Box from New Tab Page in Internet Explorer?

[Windows Tip] Disable Search Box on New Tab Page in Internet Explorer

Published in: Internet Explorer

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. @Hadrian Embalsado

    Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> TABS
    When a new tab is opened… select ‘new tab page’ there 🙂

    btw, i got BING search bar in the new tab page which is default i guess (IE v11.0.13)

  2. Wow. I guess Microsoft doesn’t want me to keep using Bing, if the only way for me to turn this idiotic change off is to switch to a different search provider.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

NOTE: Your comment may not appear immediately. It'll become visible once we approve it.