- Windows 11 could benefit from a new Copilot feature for File Explorer
- There is a hidden button that could summon AI in the latest preview builds
- Additionally, there are hints in these preview builds that Copilot might even appear in its own side panel for desktop folders.
Windows 11 could receive a Copilot button in File Explorer that could be used to invoke a sort of side panel for the AI assistant, which won’t go down well in some circles.
Windows Central noticed that a well-known leaker (PhantomOfEarth) discovered that in the latest preview builds of Windows 11, there was a hidden button in the navigation bar of File Explorer (the application that powers the folders on your desktop).
This button is invisible, actually, unless you hover over the bar, but it looks like Microsoft is planning some sort of addition here. But what does this have to do with Copilot? Well, other clues, namely strings of code in the same preview builds of Windows 11, mention a “Chat with Copilot” feature – and a feature that provides an option to detach Copilot from File Explorer.
So, the theory is that there will be some sort of Copilot sidebar in File Explorer that will be invoked by clicking the not-yet-visible (or functional) button. The idea would probably be to provide direct online feedback on your files, whether for example summarizing a document or possible edits to a photo.
Windows Central also reported that the latest preview build of Windows 11 – which arrived late last week – has additional changes for Copilot.
One of them is bringing a new feature to Narrator, the operating system’s screen reading tool, that allows it to provide AI-generated descriptions of images (or graphics, etc.) to visually impaired Windows 11 users. This is a clever idea that was previously only available to those with Copilot+ PCs, but is now coming to all Windows 11 users (when these features are being released). test will be carried out).
The ability to delete the Copilot app on managed devices is also implemented for IT administrators, but only if Microsoft 365 Copilot is present on the device. Daily Windows 11 users can already uninstall the Copilot app (but note that this doesn’t remove the Copilot AI from your PC per se – it has hooks in Windows 11 everywhere – but the app is of course a big part of it that you can abandon).
There are tools that can remove a lot of the AI from Windows 11, but I would be careful using something like this, as I’ve discussed in the past.
Analysis: Don’t be irritable yet – it’s still being tested
Of course, Copilot is already in File Explorer, in the context menu that appears when you right-click on a file, which offers various shortcuts to the AI powers. However, this is a fairly subtle implementation, and the new method of having a dedicated Copilot button – and possibly a side panel (which can be detached) – would put the AI much more in the face, so to speak, in the folders on your desktop.
This wouldn’t be a surprising move given Microsoft’s new push for AI that’s been underway for a few months now – ever since AI agents became the next big thing in Windows 11. However, it also wouldn’t be a popular move at all, unless it’s just a membership experience (and you could get rid of the button).
I suspect Microsoft wouldn’t make this an option (or at least have an easy way to disable it) given the sensitivity around Copilot and the company cramming too much AI into Windows 11, which is a sore point currently (witness the whole “Microslop” thing).
Of course, we don’t yet know if this will come to fruition, as the button isn’t even being tested – and there are only hints in the background of Windows 11 as to what this feature might be. That said, some sort of Edge-like Copilot sidebar for File Explorer hardly seems unfeasible, but we’ll just have to see how this one pans out.
All we can do is continue to monitor these prerelease builds for the foreseeable future and keep an eye out for leakers who make it their business to delve into the inner workings of said test builds.
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