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saras
Level 1

New Top Search Bar

How do I remove the New top search bar (attached)? There is already a search bar on the left panel, and the new bar scrunches the screen down, so there is less room to view what is important.

Solved
Best answer August 16, 2018

Best Answers
ClayJ
QuickBooks Team

New Top Search Bar

Hey there, @K-milk

 

Thank you for visiting the Community. Allow me to step in for a moment and help you get rid of that search bar. Since you're using the left-side icon bar, this is a visual issue with the program. When it comes to errors like this, I recommend attempting a repair or a clean install of QuickBooks. I've included steps for how to perform both down below:

 

Repair QuickBooks Desktop:

  • Restart your computer.
  • Back up your QuickBooks company file.
  • Click Start and then select Control Panel. 
  • Choose Programs and Features
  • Select QuickBooks in the list of programs and choose Uninstall/Change.
  • Click Continue, then Next.
  • Choose Repair then Next. Wait for the Repair to complete.
  • Click Finish,  then restart your computer if prompted.

 

Reinstall QuickBooks using clean install

 

>Uninstall QuickBooks Desktop

  • On your keyboard, press Windows+R to open the Run command.
  • Type in Control Panel, then click OK.
  • Select Programs and Features
  • In the list of programs, select QuickBooks, then select Uninstall/Change.
  • Follow the prompts to complete the process.

 

>Rename the Installation folders

  • Download the QuickBooks_Clean_Install_Tool.exe file and save it to your desktop.
  • Open QuickBooks_Clean_Install_Utility.exe.
  • Select I Accept on the license agreement.
  • Select your version of QuickBooks Desktop, then click Continue.
  • Click OK when you see the message "QuickBooks is now ready for a clean install, please install to the default directory."

 

>Reinstall QuickBooks Desktop

 

Give these steps a try when you have a chance. Be sure to let me know your end results are. If you have any questions about this information or anything else QuickBooks, don't hesitate to reach out to me here in the Community.

View solution in original post

50 Comments 50
Rustler
Level 15

New Top Search Bar

Since you do not use the top icon bar, you can not, it is there by default - at least in premier accountant you can not.

 

I use the menu view>top icon bar, right click customize and put the seach box in the icon bar, then the left side menu is gone and there is more horizontal screen space.

Rustler
Level 15

New Top Search Bar

How do you hide it?  I was not aware you could.

Rustler
Level 15

New Top Search Bar

No, look at his attachment, he is not using the top icon bar.

mypt
Level 1

New Top Search Bar

I have the same problem, i need to remove top icon bar, it makes my working space too short!  PLEASE HELP!!!!

Kallee
Level 1

New Top Search Bar

I found a way to fix this for those who use the Left Icon Bar!

 

After the last QuickBooks update, a redundant and annoying top search bar appeared for me and I could not get rid of it. I tried removing it under Edit > Preferences and under View, but the options to remove it were grayed out (not clickable).

 

However, I discovered that if you go to View and switch to Top Icon Bar, the options to remove that search bar become available! You can then open the View menu again and uncheck "Search Box". This will get rid of the annoying top search bar. Finally, go back to View and switch back to Left Icon Bar, and the search box will still be gone. Hope this helps!

K-milk
Level 2

New Top Search Bar

Kallee,

 

Thanks for this, it worked.

 

BUT, the search bar keeps reappearing every time I open Quickbooks!

 

This has to be some sort of bug.  Intuit needs to fix this.  

 

See the screenshot below:

ClayJ
QuickBooks Team

New Top Search Bar

Hey there, @K-milk

 

Thank you for visiting the Community. Allow me to step in for a moment and help you get rid of that search bar. Since you're using the left-side icon bar, this is a visual issue with the program. When it comes to errors like this, I recommend attempting a repair or a clean install of QuickBooks. I've included steps for how to perform both down below:

 

Repair QuickBooks Desktop:

  • Restart your computer.
  • Back up your QuickBooks company file.
  • Click Start and then select Control Panel. 
  • Choose Programs and Features
  • Select QuickBooks in the list of programs and choose Uninstall/Change.
  • Click Continue, then Next.
  • Choose Repair then Next. Wait for the Repair to complete.
  • Click Finish,  then restart your computer if prompted.

 

Reinstall QuickBooks using clean install

 

>Uninstall QuickBooks Desktop

  • On your keyboard, press Windows+R to open the Run command.
  • Type in Control Panel, then click OK.
  • Select Programs and Features
  • In the list of programs, select QuickBooks, then select Uninstall/Change.
  • Follow the prompts to complete the process.

 

>Rename the Installation folders

  • Download the QuickBooks_Clean_Install_Tool.exe file and save it to your desktop.
  • Open QuickBooks_Clean_Install_Utility.exe.
  • Select I Accept on the license agreement.
  • Select your version of QuickBooks Desktop, then click Continue.
  • Click OK when you see the message "QuickBooks is now ready for a clean install, please install to the default directory."

 

>Reinstall QuickBooks Desktop

 

Give these steps a try when you have a chance. Be sure to let me know your end results are. If you have any questions about this information or anything else QuickBooks, don't hesitate to reach out to me here in the Community.

BHS
Level 1

New Top Search Bar

That is a sledgehammer approach to fixing a visual glitch that was introduced in one of the last couple updates.  This really needs to be fixed in your program and have an update released.

We are experiencing this on several computers.  Switching to top bar, and then back to side bar, temporarily fixes the glitch.  As soon as QuickBooks is closed and reloaded it comes back.  Asking us to backup and reinstall is an unacceptable solution.  This isn't a corrupted file issue, it's a programming error on Intuit's part.

 

ClayJ
QuickBooks Team

New Top Search Bar

Hey there, @BHS.

 

Thanks for taking the time to join the conversation. I just want you to know that I hear you, and I've taken what you've said here and sent it in as feedback. The Product Development team will use this information in creating new updates in the future. However, these are the troubleshooting steps necessary for fixing this issue.

 

Sometimes when an update is applied to QuickBooks, issues can arise if the installation was already damaged. When this happens, it is recommended to uninstall and reinstall the program, as this cleans up any damage to the installation, as well as applying any new updates. You can use the steps from my last post if you decide to give this a try.

 

I hope this helps to bring some clarity to the issue, and should I hear anything about an update that changes this portion of the software, I'll be quick to let you know.

DebbieA
Level 3

New Top Search Bar

Yay!  Thank you, Thank You, Thank you!

 

That extra search was REALLY annoying!

TBO
Level 1

New Top Search Bar

I completely agree.  I had this same problem 2 months ago.  Did a two hour uninstall, repair tools, reinstall.  It cured the problem until another QB release re-introduced the same error last week.  A desktop layout problem like this must be some registry key related error.  I cannot understand why it cannot be fixed by the development team.

FritzF
Moderator

New Top Search Bar

Thanks for reaching out to us here in the Community, @TBO.

 

I appreciate you taking your time performing those troubleshooting steps to get this working. I'm here to share some update about this issue.

 

This has already been reported as an ongoing issue with QuickBooks Desktop and our product developers are diligently working to fix this as soon as possible. I'd suggest performing the troubleshooting steps provided by @ClayJ as a workaround because there currently isn't an exact time-frame as to when the issue will be resolved.

 

Also, I'd also suggest contacting our Support Team so they can add you to our notification list. You'll get an email notification from us once a fix is available. I'll also update this post as soon as I get a message from them that this has been fixed.

 

Here's how to reach them:

 

1. Go to https: //help.quickbooks.intuit.com/en_US/contact#.

2. Choose your QuickBooks product at the upper right.

3. Select a topic.

4. Click on the green button that says Get Phone Number.​

 

Thanks for the patience you put into this. Feel free to reach out to me if you have additional questions. I'm always here to answer them.

Freddyeh
Level 1

New Top Search Bar

SiMPLE FIX in our QB 2018 desktop version:

1. Go to "View"

2. "Customize Icon bar"

3.  At the bottom of the new windows, under the "SEARCH BOX DISPLAY OPTIONs" uncheck "Show search box in icon bar".

 

That's it to fix the problem!

cbryantcoAR
Level 1

New Top Search Bar

Dear Quickbooks Represenative,

 

I do book keeping for several companies and this is happening on all of them.  They are different companies in different towns and possible could not have had a problem that needs to reinstall the program.  Additionally, my Clients should not be subject to the fees that it would cost me to take the time to try to attempt your resolution.  Please find a fix that can be downloaded in the nest update.

 

Thank you,

 

Terri Granger

Kristine Mae
Moderator

New Top Search Bar

Hey there, Terri Granger.

 

For now, you can try @Freddyeh's suggestion to hide the search bar.

 

We'd appreciate it if you could send a bug report directly to our engineers. Reports entered there will be considered for inclusion in future updates. Go to Help menu, click Send Feedback Online, then choose Bug Report.  

 

I will also send a report to our management regarding this matter.

 

Feel free to come back here in the Community. We'd be happy to answer your questions about QuickBooks.

ghsdghgshd
Level 2

New Top Search Bar

This worked for me:

 

1-Close Quickbooks

2- Goto C:\Programdata/intuit/Quickbooks/20xx. Programdata folder is hidden so you have to unhide it or simpay do a search for qbw.ini file in your C: drive.

3- Double click on qbw.ini

4- goto the bottom of the page and add the following:

[Selfhelpplugin]

Enabled=0

5- Save the file and open quickbooks.

JanyRoseB
QuickBooks Team

New Top Search Bar

Thanks for joining this thread, ghsdghgshd.

 

We appreciate the information you've shared on how you resolved this issue. Please know that you're always welcome to post in QuickBooks Community if you have any other concerns. We're always here to help you out. 

 

Wishing you and your business continued success. 

101Treasurer
Level 1

New Top Search Bar

The repair did not work, so I tried the uninstall/reinstall, and now all of the 2018 tax forms are not included in the 2018 version I downloaded.  Our tax form history is also gone.  Fortunately, I had all of the 2018 taxes completed before I tried this, and I saved all of the PDFs to my hard drive.  I Suggestions for what I do next?

AldrinS
QuickBooks Team

New Top Search Bar

Hi there, 101Treasurer.

 

I'm here with some insight to provide that'll help recover the tax forms and tax form history.

 

I appreciate your effort in trying to resolve this and sharing the steps that you attempted. To clarify, did you get payroll updates after the repair? Running the repair through the maintenance wizard can reset the tax table, which could get rid of tax forms.

 

That said, let's download the latest tax table to bring back those forms:

  1. From the Employees menu, select Get Payroll Updates.
  2. Choose Download entire payroll update.
  3. Press and hold the Ctrl key before clicking the Update button. Don't release it until a window appears when the download is complete.

For future reference, you can check out our detailed guide on how to download the latest tax table.

 

That should do it. With these resources, I'm confident you'll be able to see those forms again.

 

Keep me posted with the result. I want to make sure you're taken care of. Thanks again for coming to the Community, I'll keep an eye out for your response.

STR
Level 2

New Top Search Bar

None of the solutions here worked for me. After hours of changes and testing, this is what DID work for me:

1) obviously backup your company FIRST

2) Go to View and turn on the top icon bar

3) go to View and uncheck the search bar ( in my case it was already unchecked, so I turned it on with a check then unchecked it again)

4) go to view and choose left icon bar ( or no icon bar if you prefer)

5) Close Quickbooks

6) create a backup copy of the QBW.INI file in C:\ProgramData\INTUIT\QuickBooksXXXX

 

7) open the original QBW.INI with a text editor ( I used NOTEPAD)

         -> the top of my QBW.INI had the following:

[WINDOWSTATE]
LEFT=9
TOP=0
WIDTH=132
HEIGHT=385
STATE=1
[QUICKSTART]
QBSILENT=N

Etc .......

 

      ->  I deleted the [WINDOWSTATE] section (everything below it up to the next heading). In my case, I deleted:

[WINDOWSTATE]
LEFT=9
TOP=0
WIDTH=132
HEIGHT=385
STATE=1

 

->Now my QBW.INI file starts with :

[QUICKSTART]
QBSILENT=N
TIMESQBGOESTOBACKGROUND=10
DAYSSINCELAUNCH=7
[MISC]
IPNDEFAULT=1

Etc ..........

 

8) save and close

 

9) Start Quickbooks. I closed and restarted several times and the search bar was gone each time. It has not returned yet.....

 

Good Luck!

 

 

 

BettyJaneB
QuickBooks Team

New Top Search Bar

Hi there, @STR.

 

I appreciate you sharing the steps that you've tried to get this issue sorted out. This information would be a big help for those users that are having the same issue. 

 

I'd encourage you to post again here in the Community if you have any concerns with QuickBooks or any inputs that you might want to share. Thanks for coming and wishing you, and your business continued success. 

 

 

 

AndersonTire
Level 1

New Top Search Bar

Do NOT reinstall. All I had to do to remove this bar was the following; Click VIEW - click TOP ICON BAR - then click LEFT ICON BAR! When the ICON bar was moved to the top, a search window came up. Close the search window, then click VIEW - Click LEFT ICON BAR. Problem solved.

mmplus
Level 2

New Top Search Bar

I see you posted this Miraculous Insight in Aug. 2018.  I just started seeing the "new" top search bar a week ago and have been so annoyed by it.  A Thousand Thanks for posting the cure to yet another poorly researched QB update feature that NO ONE asked for!  Cheers!

mmplus
Level 2

New Top Search Bar

Uninstall, reinstall??  I'm using QB Online and this Not helpful.

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