Additional Features

Outlook Integration

Google Desktop makes searching your Outlook email more convenient by adding a toolbar into Outlook. Just open Outlook and type a query into the search box. Outlook will display the search results in its familiar list view, including columns for "From", "Subject", and "Date". Each result also shows a message snippet containing your search terms. You can sort the result list by clicking on its column headers and can jump to locations in the list by typing a letter.

Lock Search

If you want to temporarily prevent anyone from doing a Desktop search on your computer, you can easily do so by enabling Lock Search. Simply click on the Desktop icon in your taskbar and select Lock Search from the menu. Now you can no longer search from the Desktop home page, and typing search terms in the sidebar, deskbar, or floating deskbar query box will return a message that Desktop search is locked (you can, however, perform other types of searches, such as a web or image search). To unlock Desktop search, enter the Windows password of the current user on the Desktop home page.

Gadged Feature

Google Gadgets

Desktop gives you one-glance access to personalized and up-to-the-minute information with Google Gadgets -- interactive mini-applications that can be placed anywhere on your desktop or on your iGoogle page to show you new email, weather, photos and personalized news. Other gadgets include the clock, calendar, scratch pad, todo list and many more. You can choose to add the gadget to your desktop, your iGoogle page, or both

Sidebar

You can also keep your Google Gadgets organized in your sidebar, a vertical bar on your desktop which basically functions as a control panel for your gadget. You can drag and drop any of your gadgets into or out of your sidebar, or move them up or down to arrange them in any order. The sidebar can be set to always stay on top of other screens, and we've re-designed it to blend better into your desktop.

Add Gadgets Interface

With the Add Gadgets interface, finding new gadgets is fast and easy. Simply click on the "+" button at the top of your sidebar or select "Add gadgets" from the option menu to bring up this screen. From here, you can view gadgets by category by clicking on the titles on the left or search for specific gadgets by using the search box in the top right. Once you've found the gadget you want, just mouse over it and click the "Add" button.

Deskbar and Floating Deskbar

If you'd rather not have a sidebar, you can minimize it into either a deskbar -- which you can use to keep a small search box right in your Windows taskbar -- or a floating deskbar -- which includes a search box that floats above all other windows and can be dragged anywhere you want on your desktop. Both these options allow you to quickly launch applications or search your computer and the web.