Holy smokes, something that might actually be useful is coming to Copilot on Windows

Closeup of the new Copilot key coming to Windows 11 PC keyboards — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Forgive me for being surprised by this after the last two years of REM sleep-inducing AI updates and betas, but Microsoft's latest Copilot update seems like it might (*drumroll*) actually be useful. That's because it should finally allow you to search system-wide for contents within files and also help you in any browser or app.

The latest Windows Insider (ie, beta) build is now rolling out these Vision and file search features via a Copilot app update in the Microsoft Store (for "version 1.25034.133.0 and higher"). These two features feel like the kinds of things we were promised from Copilot upon its launch but which we've seen little of until now. Better late than never, though, eh?

File search, Microsoft says, allows you to "find, open and ask questions about the contents of a file on your device from the Copilot on Windows app" and supports most file types. It also looks like it should be good at contextual commands and requests—one example Microsoft uses is, "Look at my budget file and tell me how much I spent on dining last month."

Vision is a feature that finally opens up the playing field for Copilot, giving it access to any app or browser you choose: "To get started click the glasses icon in your composer, select which browser window or app you want to share, and ask Copilot to help with whatever you’re working on."

Microsoft Copilot showing file search functionality in Windows 11 — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Apparently, "Copilot can then help analyze, offer insights, or answer your questions, coaching you through it aloud." We will, of course, have to see just how good it is at such tasks in practice.

Both of these features excite me more than previous Copilot ones. As someone with a penchant for creating the most disorganised digital file systems known to man, I can see genuine use in file search. And I suppose Vision could be useful for learning new apps and tools, provided it actually does what it says on the tin.

They're certainly more exciting Copilot features than the usual text summaries and email drafts *yawn*. And as exciting as 'gaming sidekick' Copilot for Gaming might be, game assistants are hardly a Microsoft exclusive.

Vision and file search, on the other hand, could be genuine benefits to the Copilot bundle that other companies can't easily match, given these will presumably be baked into—and make use of—the Windows operating system itself.

I just hope having a full-blown AI 'companion' (per head of Microsoft's AI section, Mustafa Suleyman), isn't required for it. Let's not ruin a good thing, for once, okay?

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Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob's led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to join the world's #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It's definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.

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