What is SearchTogether?

Microsoft SearchTogether is a free Internet Explorer plug-in that allows groups of people to collaborate on Web searches.

Where do I download SearchTogether?

SearchTogether is available for download here. To use SearchTogether, you will need to have a Windows Live ID. It's fast and easy to create one if you don't already have one: click here to create a Live ID now. SearchTogether runs in the Internet Explorer 7 browser; you can click here to download IE7. If you want to invite your friends to join you in a SearchTogether session, you will need to add them to your buddy list in Live Messenger.

Who can benefit from using SearchTogether?

SearchTogether can benefit any group of people who are interested in investigating a topic together, such as students working on a group report, colleagues working on a joint project, or friends planning a shared vacation or other social activities. SearchTogether supports both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration styles.

How does SearchTogether facilitate collaboration?

SearchTogether's collaboration features include group query histories, split searching, page-level rating and commenting, automatically-generated shared summaries, peek-and-follow browsing, and integrated chat. For a more complete discussion of SearchTogether's features, check out the tutorial.

How do I learn to use SearchTogether?

A preview of the SearchTogether tutorial, which describes SearchTogether's features in-depth, is available here.

Does SearchTogether require me to use a specific search engine?

SearchTogether allows each group member to customize their search preferences; choices include Windows Live Search, Yahoo!, and Google.

Where did SearchTogether come from?

SearchTogether is a project from Microsoft Research; it is part of Meredith Ringel Morris's research project on collaborative Web search. The original SearchTogether concept was presented in this UIST 2007 paper and video. Thanks to the efforts of developers Piali Choudhury, Matt Maddin, and ThuVan Pham, the original prototype was transformed into an IE plug-in.

I have a question about SearchTogether / I have a bug to report . . . who do I contact?

Feel free to send feedback, questions, or bug descriptions to Meredith Ringel Morris. If you're reporting a bug, please try to include as much relevant information as possible, such as the steps you took that led to the buggy behavior, and screenshots of any error messages. The SearchTogether Discussion Forum is a place where you can post comments or feedback, and where you can meet and connect with others with whom you might want to collaborate on Web searches.

Privacy Policy

SearchTogether allows you to share your web search results and activity with others. When you join a SearchTogether session, your profile, search queries, results, and web site navigation, along with how you use the SearchTogether tool will be sent to Microsoft for research purposes. In addition, this information will be shared with all the people in that session, regardless of when they join. For more information, read our privacy statement.