- The Windows 11 Copilot app now has a “Direct Access to Settings” feature
- Along with Settings Queries in Windows 11, this provides direct links to relevant options in the Settings app
- It also gives additional useful tips, in a succinct manner.
Microsoft is giving the Copilot app in Windows 11 new powers to allow AI to be more helpful in terms of adjusting operating system settings.
Thurrott.com pointed out that Microsoft revealed a new “Direct Access to Settings” feature for the Copilot app, which integrates quite deeply with Windows 11 settings.
In a blog post about the latest version of the Copilot app, Microsoft explains that if someone asks the app a question about their PC’s settings, the AI will now include a direct link to the relevant option(s) in the Settings app.
Microsoft’s example shows a Windows 11 user complaining that their screen is too dark, then asking how to fix this problem.
In its answer, the Copilot app provides a link to the part of the Settings app where the screen brightness can be adjusted, so the user can go directly to that section, which is very convenient.
The AI further gives advice on how to change the brightness – by moving the slider – and yes, that’s a pretty basic clarification, but Copilot also provides a few nuggets of additional information that are cleverly streamlined (I’ll come back to expand on that in a moment).
If you’re a Windows Insider (tester), this new trick for the Copilot app is present in software version 1.25095.161 or later – grab the update from the Microsoft Store – but not everyone will get it yet. Microsoft says this is a phased rollout, so the feature may still take some time to arrive for testers running the most recent Copilot app.
Analysis: a clear step towards a more useful Copilot application
I’m happy to see a genuinely useful addition to the Copilot app here. It’s helpful to get a direct link to any relevant settings provided in the app in a way similar (sort of) to the AI agent in the Settings app with Windows 11, except this is only for Copilot+ PCs, and this capability works for everyone. Or it will when the feature comes out of testing, anyway (unless Microsoft abandons the idea – but that doesn’t seem likely).
It’s also worth noting that in addition to the direct link, the Copilot app discusses a few additional tips that seem both relevant and well-honed. In the case of this brightness query, as you can see in the screenshot above, the AI advises checking that Windows 11’s battery saver isn’t limiting screen brightness if you’re on a laptop, and also checking the night light settings (which Copilot will also tell you).
The current version of the Copilot app on my Windows 11 laptop gives a more disjointed set of advice when asked the same question about brightness, and this new approach is more succinct in terms of the nuances of developing the given query. Overall, this seems like a clear step forward for the app.
I’ll have to see this in action though – and how it responds to various questions, including some more obscure settings queries – to really judge it, but on the surface it seems like a winning move on Microsoft’s part.
Perhaps eventually we’ll look at a Copilot app that can not only advise checking additional items like power saver or night light settings, but it will actually be able to check them itself and report back – and ask if the user wants to change those options as well.
There will also be big changes to the Copilot app interface, in case you missed this recent development.
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