Screenshots from a test build of Windows 11 displayed Copilot occupying the section of the taskbar designated for the Search field.
Credit:
Microsoft
At last, Microsoft is making another effort to enable Copilot to modify settings on your computer, a capability that previous versions could handle but was omitted in a later update. Copilot will aim to address straightforward inquiries about your PC settings by providing a link to the relevant area within Windows’ extensive and complex Settings application.
These newly introduced features align with others Microsoft has been trialing for several weeks or months. Copilot Connectors, introduced to Windows Insiders earlier this month, allow Copilot to tap into email and file-sharing platforms such as Gmail and Dropbox. Enhanced document creation capabilities enable Copilot to transfer the content of a Copilot chat into a Word or PDF file, Excel file, or PowerPoint presentation for further editing and refinement. Additionally, AI actions in File Explorer appear within the right-click menu on Windows, allowing for direct file manipulation, which includes batch editing of images and document summarization. Together with Copilot Vision features that permit Copilot to view the entire contents of Office documents instead of just what is displayed on the screen, these additions integrate AI into more fundamental daily tasks rather than isolating them within separate applications.
As usual, the timeline for when these new features will be made available to the general public remains uncertain, and some may never be accessible outside the Windows Insider program. None of them are presently included within the Windows 11 25H2 update, at least not in the version that the company is currently distributing via its Release Preview channel.
Learning from the Recall experience
Microsoft at least appears to have derived insights from the flawed deployment of Windows Recall last year.
If you weren’t following the events: Microsoft’s original strategy was to launch Recall alongside the first batch of Copilot+ machines, but without undergoing the Windows Insider Preview program beforehand. This program typically allows power users, developers, security researchers, and others to evaluate upcoming Windows features prior to their release, providing Microsoft with feedback on bugs, security vulnerabilities, or other issues before they are implemented on all Windows PCs.
