- Windows 11 might be getting a new Copilot feature for File Explorer
- There’s a hidden button that could invoke the AI in the latest preview builds
- Furthermore, clues in those preview releases indicate that Copilot might even appear in its own side panel for folders on the desktop
Windows 11 could be getting a Copilot button in File Explorer that may be used to invoke some kind of side panel for the AI assistant, in a move that won’t go down well in some quarters.
Windows Central noticed that a well-known leaker (PhantomOfEarth) discovered that in the latest Windows 11 preview builds, there’s a hidden button in the navigation bar of File Explorer (the app which powers the folders on your desktop).
This button is invisible, in fact, unless you hover over the bar, but it seems that Microsoft is planning some sort of an addition here. What’s that got to do with Copilot, though? Well, other clues, namely strings of code in the same preview builds of Windows 11, mention a ‘Chat with Copilot’ feature – and functionality that offers an option to detach Copilot from File Explorer.
So, the theory is that there will be some kind of Copilot sidebar inside File Explorer that’s summoned by clicking on the as yet not visible (or functional) button. The idea would presumably be to provide direct in-line feedback on your files, whether that’s summarizing a document, say, or possible edits to a photo.
Windows Central also flagged that the latest preview build of Windows 11 – which arrived late last week – has some additional changes for Copilot.
One of these is bringing a new feature to Narrator, the operating system‘s screen-reading tool, which enables it to deliver AI-generated descriptions of images (or graphs and the like) for visually impaired Windows 11 users. This is a smart idea that was previously only available to those with Copilot+ PCs, but is now coming to all Windows 11 users (when these features in testing are realized).
The ability to remove the Copilot app on managed devices is also being implemented for IT admins, but only if Microsoft 365 Copilot is present on the device. Everyday Windows 11 users can already uninstall the Copilot app (though note that this doesn’t remove the Copilot AI from your PC as such – it has hooks in Windows 11 all over the place – but the app does of course represent a big chunk of it which you can ditch).
There are tools out there which can strip out a lot of the AI from Windows 11, mind, but I’d be careful using anything like this as I’ve discussed in the past.
Analysis: don’t get testy yet – it’s still in testing
Of course, Copilot is already in File Explorer, in the context menu which pops up when you right-click on a file, which offers various shortcuts to AI powers. However, that’s a fairly subtle implementation, and the new method of having a dedicated Copilot button – and possibly a side panel (that can be detached) – would be putting the AI much more in-your-face, as it were, in your desktop folders.
That wouldn’t be a surprising move given Microsoft’s renewed push for AI which has 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 was purely an opt-in experience (and you could get rid of the button).
I’m guessing that Microsoft would only put this in as opt-in (or at least have an easy way to turn it off) 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’ affair).
Of course, we don’t know if this will come to anything yet, as the button isn’t even live in testing – and there are just clues in the background of Windows 11 as to what this functionality 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 keep watching those preview builds in the near future, and keep tabs on the leakers who make it their job to dig into the inner workings of said test releases.
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