Google quietly dropped an experimental app for Windows this week that aims to make searching your PC feel a little more like using Spotlight on a Mac — without leaving whatever you’re doing. The app lives in Google’s Search Labs and is summoned by a simple keyboard shortcut (Alt + Space). Once open, it searches the web, your Google Drive, installed apps and local files — and it folds Google Lens and Google’s “AI Mode” into the same interface.

A small bar with big ambitions

Install the app and Google plants a floating search bar on your desktop. It’s a minimal, draggable widget you can resize and tuck away; hit Alt + Space to call it up from any app and keep working without switching windows. The UI options mirror Google’s web search: you can flip between All results, AI Mode, Images, Shopping and Videos, and toggle dark or light themes. According to Google, this is intentionally experimental — Labs users can try it now, but the company warns it has “known limitations.”

What it actually searches (and how)

This isn’t only about the web. The app indexes and surfaces results from local files and installed apps, as well as items stored in Google Drive tied to your signed-in personal Google Account. That mix is what makes the experience feel Spotlight-like: a single place to find a PDF on your disk, a doc in Drive, or a quick web answer. Google’s support documentation and blog post make it clear that the experiment currently requires a personal (non-Workspace) account, is available only in English and is limited to U.S. users for now, and supports Windows 10 and newer.

Lens and AI Mode

Lens is built into the app, so you can select images or on-screen content to run visual searches or translations without grabbing screenshots or switching to a browser. Google also baked in AI Mode — the same experimental, conversational search layer it has been rolling out across Search — so you can follow up on results with a chat-like experience or ask for step-by-step help (for example: highlight a math problem and ask the app to walk you through it). That’s a notable extension of Google’s desktop ambitions: multimodal queries and conversational follow-ups, inside a lightweight, always-available client.

Why Google is doing this (and why it matters)

Windows has long offered built-in search, and Microsoft has been pushing its own AI features into the OS — most prominently through Copilot and Copilot Plus PCs. Google’s move reads as a defensive and opportunistic play: bring Google’s search smarts, Lens and Gemini-powered AI closer to where people work on laptops and desktops, and keep that interaction within the Google ecosystem rather than inside Edge or the native Windows UI.

Setup, privacy and limitations

The app installs with a Chrome-like process and requires signing in; Google says Search Labs experiments are opt-in and currently unavailable to Workspace and Education accounts. Google’s support page recommends enabling Web & App Activity for the “best experience,” which is baked into how Drive and personalized results appear — something privacy-conscious users should weigh before enabling. Google also flags that the app is experimental and that space in Labs is limited, so even interested users may find availability restricted during the trial.

Bottom line

If you live in the U.S., use a personal Google Account, and want faster access to Google’s search, Lens and AI tools without switching windows, you can try the experiment through Google Labs today. For everyone else, it’s worth watching: this small floating bar could be the beginning of a deeper Google push into desktop workflows — and a reminder that search is no longer just about the browser.