Microsoft Tests Indexer Diagnostics App to Fix Windows Search Issues

Microsoft released an app called Indexer Diagnostics on January 3 to let people find issues with Windows 10's search tool.

Windows 10's search tool suffered from numerous issues in 2019. Things started with SearchUI.exe having abnormally high CPU usage. Microsoft tried to fix that issue, but in the process it caused Windows Desktop Search to stop working entirely, and the builds it released afterwards didn't appear to make things much better.

As discovered by Ghacks yesterday, Indexer Diagnostics might be able to help Microsoft avoid those same issues in 2020. The app's description on the Microsoft Store reads: "Beta release of the Indexer Diagnostics tool, which helps you identify problems and issues with the Windows Search Indexer." 

The app seems fairly simple. The "Service status" page lists the indexed files on local drives, Outlook and the Edge browser, as well as the Windows Search service status. "Search is not working" offers a "Restart" button, a "Reset" button to use if restarting search didn't help and a "File Bug" button meant to be used as a last resort.

The "Is my file indexed?" and "What is being indexed?" pages make it easy to see if a given file has been indexed and see a running list of indexed files, respectively. Meanwhile, "Performance" offers details about how the indexer's working, (along with options to enable various "Tracing" tools if search is using too many resources or not working).

We doubt many people will ever need to learn about Indexer Diagnostics, but for people who rely on Windows 10's search tools, it could be a handy way to help Microsoft find problems with its software. 

Hopefully the company will reveal more information about the app's purpose and scope as it starts to attract attention.