EverythingToolbar: a taskbar front end for Everything that splits into a Launcher and a Deskband

Two packages for two kinds of taskbar

EverythingToolbar ships as two separate things, and the choice between them is the first decision you make. The Launcher is a standalone app that either embeds a search box in the Windows 11 taskbar or pins itself as a regular taskbar icon that opens a search window. The Deskband is a native taskbar toolbar of the kind Windows 10 still supports. The repository mirrors this split: alongside EverythingToolbar.Core and EverythingToolbar.App there are separate EverythingToolbar.Launcher and EverythingToolbar.Deskband projects, plus an Installer directory and two copies of the Everything SDK (EverythingSDK and EverythingSDK3).

You can download an installer from the GitHub Releases page, or pick a package through winget:

winget install srwi.everythingtoolbar.launcher
winget install srwi.everythingtoolbar.deskband

The winget IDs make the split explicit, so pick one rather than running both by reflex. The project recommends the Launcher for unmodified Windows 11 installations and the Deskband for Windows 10, or for Windows 11 machines whose taskbar has been reworked by ExplorerPatcher or StartAllBack. Getting this wrong is the root of most confused first runs: a Windows 11 user who installs the Deskband on a stock taskbar has nothing to attach it to, and a Windows 10 user who goes looking for the embedded search box will not find one.

Nothing happens unless Everything 1.4.1 is already running

EverythingToolbar is a front end. Search results come from Everything by voidtools, and the toolbar needs that program at version 1.4.1 or newer, installed and running in the background. The Lite version of Everything is explicitly not supported, which matters because Lite is the edition some people pick to keep things minimal. If you run Lite, EverythingToolbar is not an option for you at all; you would have to switch to the full Everything first.

The second hard requirement is the .NET Desktop Runtime 8.0 or later. That is a separate download from Microsoft, and machines that have never run a .NET 8 desktop app will not have it.

The practical consequence is that "EverythingToolbar not working" usually means one of three things is missing: Everything is not running, it is the Lite build, or the .NET runtime is absent. Check those before anything else. EverythingToolbar also supports Everything named instances, so if you run Everything under a custom instance name you need to point the toolbar at that name; a mismatch there looks exactly like a broken toolbar. For anything beyond these checks, the project keeps a separate FAQ.md for troubleshooting and setup help.

The embedded search box exists only on Windows 11

The headline feature, a real search box you type into directly on the taskbar, is a Windows 11 feature only. On Windows 11 the setup assistant runs after installation and offers two modes: the taskbar search box, which embeds a text field into the taskbar itself, or a taskbar icon that opens the search window when clicked. Either can be changed later under Settings > Taskbar integration. If the assistant does not start by itself, searching for EverythingToolbar in the Start menu brings it up.

Windows 10 users do not get the embedded box. Their recommended path is the Deskband. The Launcher can still be used on Windows 10 in icon mode by starting EverythingToolbar.Launcher.exe manually and following the setup process, but the project itself labels that route not recommended.

For a Windows 10 user the consequence is concrete: the screenshots and descriptions of typing straight into the taskbar do not apply to your machine. You either live with the deskband, which needs manual placement, or accept a click-to-open icon that the maintainer advises against. Neither gives you the Windows 11 experience, and there is no setting that unlocks it.

Deskband setup is manual and the Toolbars menu can hide it

On Windows 10 the Deskband does not appear by itself after installation. You right-click the taskbar and choose EverythingToolbar from the Toolbars submenu. The project warns that you may need to open that context menu twice before EverythingToolbar shows up in it, which is the answer to a lot of "how do I get my toolbar to show up again" questions: the entry is there, the menu just did not list it the first time. After enabling it, you unlock the taskbar to drag the deskband to the size and position you want. The project links a demonstration video of that resizing step.

On Windows 11 the Deskband only makes sense together with ExplorerPatcher or StartAllBack, which restore the older taskbar that deskbands attach to. Without one of those tools a stock Windows 11 taskbar has no place for it. Even with them, the installer still launches the Windows 11 setup assistant. To use the deskband instead, you close the assistant and end EverythingToolbar's background process from the system tray.

The cost here is dependency on third-party shell modifications. If you remove ExplorerPatcher or StartAllBack later, the deskband loses the taskbar it was attached to, and you are back to choosing the Launcher.

Filters come from the toolbar or from Everything itself

Out of the box EverythingToolbar has its own set of common search filters. Advanced users can switch the toolbar to use Everything's own custom filters instead, by checking Use Everything filters in the toolbar's Filters settings. That keeps one set of filter definitions in Everything and has the toolbar follow it, rather than maintaining two parallel lists.

Filters are driven from the keyboard. Tab cycles forward through them, Shift+Tab cycles backward, and Ctrl plus a number from 0 to 9 jumps straight to a filter by its position. That numbering means the order of your filters matters if you rely on the number shortcuts; reordering filters in Everything changes which number selects which filter once synchronization is on.

On top of filters there are four search flags you can toggle: match case, whole word, match path, and regex. These map to the matching modes Everything users already know, exposed as quick toggles in the toolbar window instead of query syntax.

Custom actions run commands chosen by regular expression

The least obvious feature is custom Open with actions, configured under Settings > Custom actions. Each action defines a command to run against a result. With Automatically apply rules based on condition enabled, EverythingToolbar picks an action by itself based on the file type and a regular expression you supply, so for example matching results can open in a specific editor instead of the Windows default handler.

Leaving the regex field empty changes the behavior: the action then appears only in the context menu and never fires automatically. That gives two tiers, rules that redirect the default open action and manual entries you reach by right-clicking.

The risk is the obvious one with automatic rules. A loose expression will catch files you did not intend, and since Enter opens the selected result immediately, a bad rule changes what happens on every match until you notice. Start with context menu only actions, confirm the command line does what you expect, and only then turn on automatic application.

A keyboard-first window with preview hooks

EverythingToolbar is designed to be driven without the mouse. A customizable global shortcut, Win+Alt+S by default, focuses the search box from anywhere. Arrow keys move through results, and Ctrl with the up or down arrow walks through search history if history is enabled. Enter opens the file or folder; Ctrl+Enter opens the containing folder; Shift+Enter hands the result over to the full Everything window; Alt+Enter shows file properties; Ctrl+Shift+Enter runs the item as administrator. Ctrl+Shift+C copies the full path to the clipboard, and Shift with a right click opens the regular system context menu. Most of these Enter combinations also work with a mouse click.

Space previews the selected file in QuickLook, and the toolbar also integrates with Seer as an alternative previewer. Both are separate projects, linked from the EverythingToolbar page, so preview depends on having one of them installed. Results can also be dragged out of the list into other applications.

The interface follows the system light or dark theme on Windows 10 and 11, and translations are managed through Crowdin, with a Chinese README maintained next to the English one.

Frequent releases from the develop branch

The project is under active development. The default branch is develop, not main, which matters if you build from source or link to files in the repository. The last push landed on November 1, 2026, and the recent release history is tight: 3.3.0 on September 9, 2026, 3.4.0 on September 17, and 3.5.0 on September 27. With three minor releases in under three weeks, check the release notes on GitHub before following a guide written for an older version.

GitHub reports the license as NOASSERTION, meaning its detector could not classify the LICENSE file automatically. If licensing matters for redistribution in your organization, read that file directly rather than relying on the badge. Build instructions live in CONTRIBUTING.md, and the solution file EverythingToolbar.sln at the repository root ties the projects together.

Editorial conclusion

EverythingToolbar is the right pick for Windows 10 and 11 users who already run the full edition of Everything and want its results one click or one shortcut away on the taskbar. Users of Everything Lite, or anyone without Everything installed, should not bother, because nothing works without it. Before installing, confirm Everything 1.4.1 or newer is running, that .NET Desktop Runtime 8.0 or later is present, and decide between the Launcher and the Deskband package based on your Windows version and whether you use ExplorerPatcher or StartAllBack.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. README
3. Releases
4. srwi/EverythingToolbar on GitHub