Cherry-pick "Fix File Explorer search box losing focus after Ctrl+F (#20022)" to rc#20138
Merged
Conversation
Fixes #20021 Summary of the issue: In File Explorer on Windows 10, pressing Ctrl+F should move focus directly to the search edit field. Since NVDA 2026.1 beta, NVDA first reports the search edit field, but then reports a pane, so users need to press Ctrl+F a second time before they can reliably type in the search box. This is a regression from #19117. That PR removed several old Windows 8.x Start screen workarounds from the Explorer app module, including SearchBoxClient. Although that class was described as a Windows 8 workaround, it was still filtering a redundant File Explorer search band focus event. On Windows 10, the redundant object has: role == controlTypes.Role.PANE windowClassName == "Search Box" Description of user facing changes: Same behavior as before 2026.1Beta. Description of developer facing changes: Restores a small Explorer app module overlay for File Explorer search band pane objects. The overlay suppresses redundant IAccessible focus events from Search Box and UniversalSearchBand pane objects. Search Box has been confirmed on Windows 10. UniversalSearchBand is retained from the pre-#19117 filter because it appears to be another Explorer search band class, and the match is still limited to IAccessible pane objects. Description of development approach: This keeps the #19117 cleanup intact, except for the part that affected File Explorer search focus. The Windows 8 Start screen tile, group, launcher, and suggestion overlays are not restored.
SaschaCowley
changed the title
seanbudd
reviewed
May 15, 2026
seanbudd
approved these changes
May 15, 2026
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
3 participants
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
Cherry-picks #20022 to rc, for inclusion in 2026.1.1.