Microsoft might add Copilot to File Explorer's context menus in Windows 11

The Windows developer team is back from holidays, and it has already released two new builds to test: one in the Dev Channel and one in the Canary Channel. Both builds contain an interesting code change suggesting that Copilot might show up in more areas across the operating system.

As of right now, Windows 11 users can access Copilot by pressing its icon on the taskbar, which may soon move to the bottom-right corner, replacing the "Show desktop" button. However, future Windows 11 builds could add new Copilot entries for specific tasks or file-related activities.

Of course, at this point, that is nothing but speculation based on the code line and feature ID found by X user @PhantomOfEarth deep inside build 26016:

CopilotFEContextMenu: 45647150

You can try enabling that ID using the ViVeTool app, but you will not get any substantial results. Therefore, all we have to do is sit tight and wait for Microsoft to release new preview builds and share more details about how it plans to improve Copilot integration in Windows 11. The latter, sadly, still leaves a lot to be desired. The current Copilot implementation can do very little to help you use your computer, a far cry from what you may want a true AI-powered assistant to do.

Code lines like the one discovered today align with the recent report about Microsoft adding more AI features to its next-generation Windows release, scheduled to arrive somewhere in the second half of 2024. One of the rumored features is a return of Timeline with the ability to get back into any app or screen containing a certain request. Also, Microsoft plans to implement natural language search, among other things.

It is reasonable to expect Microsoft to add Copilot-related entries to more areas across the shell to make interaction with the assistant and its features easier and more accessible. Let's hope those entries will be much more polished than the current Copilot state in Windows 11 (and yes, in Windows 10, too, even though its end of support is getting nigh).