Where did 'Search' in right click menu in Office 365 go?

Question

Where did 'Search' in right click menu in Office 365 go?

John Ciccone 20

When reading or creating new email in Outlook 365 we used to be able to select text > Right Click > Search for definitions, etc. Can't do that anymore?

This may have coincided with changing our privacy options to prevent Office apps AI from 'learning' from my documents... e.g.

Outlook Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings > uncheck "Turn on optional connected experiences"

Whew, talk about buried.

In any event, I went back and 'checked' that box, closed and restarted Outlook and Word, but no change.

TIA for any help.

Cheers.

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Answer 1

Emi Zhang-MSFT 30,051 Microsoft External Staff

Hi,

I think your problem is related to the smart lookup feature in Office.

I suggest you refer to this support article, as the article said "Important: Smart Lookup will be retired starting on January 1, 2025."

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/get-insights-into-what-you-re-working-on-with-smart-lookup-debf2083-5ac0-4739-8667-ae2467bec044

Hope the information is helpful.

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John Ciccone 20 Reputation points

2025-02-28T21:39:52.0266667+00:00

That's exactly what I was referring to. Thank you.

Disappointing to see it removed. Maybe in some way a push to use AI more. Are you aware of any plug-ins that can substitute?
John Ciccone 20 Reputation points

2025-03-01T22:24:21.1166667+00:00

That's what I was referring to, Emi. Thanks.

We use Smart Lookup heavily so this is disappointing. Anyone aware of a substitute for Smart Lookup (Office plug-in)?

Regards

Answer 2

Emi Zhang-MSFT 30,051 Microsoft External Staff

Hi,

I didn't find the Search option when right click list in Outlook or Word when select the text.

As far as I know you can search text by shortcut key: Ctrl+F

Please be a bit more precise to explain your requirement or you can upload a screenshot so that I can get more accurate solutions to this problem. I’m glad to help and follow up your reply.

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John Ciccone 20 Reputation points

2025-02-26T20:14:45.66+00:00
Thank you Emi but general text search is not what I was referring to. Specific example:

You're reading or writing an email and come across a word in the body of the email that you want to know the definition of.

Select/highlight that word and right mouse click.

In the context menu that pops up, you used to see something like "Search" similar to doing all of this in MS Edge and being able to select "Search the web for ___" and "Search Bing in sidebar for ___"

Chrome browser is similar, lets you "Search Google for_____"

That's a quick way to get to definitions, history (Wikipedia), spelling, etc.

Regards.
John Ciccone 20 Reputation points

2025-02-26T20:16:09.02+00:00

PS: This is apparently now the case in all Office products.
John Ciccone 20 Reputation points

2025-02-26T21:22:44.6333333+00:00
Thanks Emi but I wasn't referring to general text searches. Specific example:

In Outlook while reading or creating a new email, select/highlight a word in the message body.

Right Click on the highlighted word.

The context menu that pops up used to have options to search on that word. That would take you to various online dictionaries, Wikipedia, etc.

This process can be seen in MS Edge where the pop-up options include "Search the web for ___" and "Search Bing in sidebar for ____"

Chrome browser is similar where you can select "Search Google for ____"

Used to be able to do this in all MS Office apps (Word, Excel, PPT,) but don't see in any app anymore.

Even Windows Notepad app has this function.

Best regards

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Where did 'Search' in right click menu in Office 365 go?

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