Tweet
[ul]
[li]A new search ability is rolling out for the Copilot app[/li][li]It gives Windows 11 and 10 users an AI-powered search, offering natural language queries[/li][li]Copilot can also peek inside files and find relevant info you need, saving you the legwork[/li][/ul]
Windows 11 is getting a new ability for Copilot to help you find files on your PC, and quickly glean info from those files, should you want to.
Windows Latest reports that the extended search powers facilitated by AI, which were previously in testing (a few months ago) with Windows 11, are now rolling out to all users (including those on Windows 10 too).
The folk at Windows Latest have already got the new functionality for the Copilot app and tested it out, being generally impressed by the feature.
It allows the user to fire up a local search of the PC ā although there are limitations on the locations covered (Iāll come back to that) ā within the Copilot app simply by typing a natural language query. For example: āFind my resume for that job application I made last year.ā
Clearly, itās nice to have the ability to search just by asking a question like this, rather than trying to use Windows search itself and (attempting to) figure out the best query ā after all, who can remember exact file names, especially with older files?
[HEADING=1]Analysis: A commendably useful featureā¦ with some caveats[/HEADING]
[IMG alt=āCopilot Settings for Search in Windows 11ā]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FN...TE9b4E79aB.jpg
(Image credit: Windows Latest / Microsoft)
Windows Latest observes that this Copilot search is fast, as itās a local search ā which also includes any synced files in OneDrive ā and leverages Windows search itself. In other words, thereās no waiting for the Copilot app to send data to the cloud, or wait for a reply from Microsoftās servers ā everything is happening on the device, and so itās pretty nippy.
The search provided is also better than a basic Windows 11 search - even though this is still how the query is ultimately being resolved - as you can use natural language as noted. Indeed, this is a kind of makeshift alternative to the nifty AI-supercharged search in Windows 11 which is offered with Copilot+ PCs - and Iām glad to see it, because most of us donāt have one of those devices (I certainly donāt).
On top of this, the Copilot app search also lets you surface info from files youāre hunting out without even opening them. So, if youāre searching for a document file full of recipes, and you want a particular recipe for a curry, say, you can ask for exactly that - and the AI will extract it from the document there and then.
This Copilot-powered search also lets you sidestep some of the bugs with the standard Windows 11 search functionality (even though it still leverages the latter to get results).
Okay, so it all sounds good overall - but not everything is sweet smelling roses. Thereās a notable thorn in that the scope of the search is limited to commonly used files (meaning obscure file formats may not show up). Furthermore, by default the locations covered by this AI search are limited to your essential personal folders (such as Documents and Downloads). You can, however, expand that reach and grant Copilot access to further folders if you wish.
The thornier issue still for many, though, will be privacy. Itās important to note that this search capability is turned off by default, which is good, and frankly necessary, given that there are plenty of people out there who are very much against Copilot ānosing around in their filesā.
Itās also worth noting that thereās not just a toggle to turn on the local file search ability for Copilot, but also a separate slider to allow the AI to read your files. The latter is obviously needed for Copilot to surface material from within a file (like the aforementioned curry recipe), so if you want to perform that trick, youāll obviously need to let Copilot ānose aroundā in your stuff.
If you donāt want the AI to have that kind of access, you can still use the feature, but leave this second slider alone and it wonāt look in your files (but youāll only get the basic search in the Copilot app).
There will still be plenty of doubters around this kind of feature, mind, but as long as itās off by default, it isnāt going to be a problem - you can take it or leave it. If this functionality sounds useful to you, then you can go ahead and enable it - with the rollout now apparently underway, it should hopefully be turning up on all Windows 11 and 10 PCs before too long.
[HEADING=2]You might also likeā¦[/HEADING]
[ul]
[li]No, Windows 11 PCs arenāt āup to 2.3x fasterā than Windows 10 devices, as Microsoft suggests ā hereās why thatās an outlandish claim[/li][li]macOS Tahoe 26: hereās everything you need to know about all the new features[/li][li]Canāt upgrade to Windows 11? This Linux project wants to save your old PC from the scrapheap when Windows 10 support ends[/li][/ul]
Continue readingā¦
[li]A new search ability is rolling out for the Copilot app[/li][li]It gives Windows 11 and 10 users an AI-powered search, offering natural language queries[/li][li]Copilot can also peek inside files and find relevant info you need, saving you the legwork[/li][/ul]
Windows 11 is getting a new ability for Copilot to help you find files on your PC, and quickly glean info from those files, should you want to.
Windows Latest reports that the extended search powers facilitated by AI, which were previously in testing (a few months ago) with Windows 11, are now rolling out to all users (including those on Windows 10 too).
The folk at Windows Latest have already got the new functionality for the Copilot app and tested it out, being generally impressed by the feature.
It allows the user to fire up a local search of the PC ā although there are limitations on the locations covered (Iāll come back to that) ā within the Copilot app simply by typing a natural language query. For example: āFind my resume for that job application I made last year.ā
Clearly, itās nice to have the ability to search just by asking a question like this, rather than trying to use Windows search itself and (attempting to) figure out the best query ā after all, who can remember exact file names, especially with older files?
[HEADING=1]Analysis: A commendably useful featureā¦ with some caveats[/HEADING]
[IMG alt=āCopilot Settings for Search in Windows 11ā]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FN...TE9b4E79aB.jpg
(Image credit: Windows Latest / Microsoft)
Windows Latest observes that this Copilot search is fast, as itās a local search ā which also includes any synced files in OneDrive ā and leverages Windows search itself. In other words, thereās no waiting for the Copilot app to send data to the cloud, or wait for a reply from Microsoftās servers ā everything is happening on the device, and so itās pretty nippy.
The search provided is also better than a basic Windows 11 search - even though this is still how the query is ultimately being resolved - as you can use natural language as noted. Indeed, this is a kind of makeshift alternative to the nifty AI-supercharged search in Windows 11 which is offered with Copilot+ PCs - and Iām glad to see it, because most of us donāt have one of those devices (I certainly donāt).
On top of this, the Copilot app search also lets you surface info from files youāre hunting out without even opening them. So, if youāre searching for a document file full of recipes, and you want a particular recipe for a curry, say, you can ask for exactly that - and the AI will extract it from the document there and then.
This Copilot-powered search also lets you sidestep some of the bugs with the standard Windows 11 search functionality (even though it still leverages the latter to get results).
Okay, so it all sounds good overall - but not everything is sweet smelling roses. Thereās a notable thorn in that the scope of the search is limited to commonly used files (meaning obscure file formats may not show up). Furthermore, by default the locations covered by this AI search are limited to your essential personal folders (such as Documents and Downloads). You can, however, expand that reach and grant Copilot access to further folders if you wish.
The thornier issue still for many, though, will be privacy. Itās important to note that this search capability is turned off by default, which is good, and frankly necessary, given that there are plenty of people out there who are very much against Copilot ānosing around in their filesā.
Itās also worth noting that thereās not just a toggle to turn on the local file search ability for Copilot, but also a separate slider to allow the AI to read your files. The latter is obviously needed for Copilot to surface material from within a file (like the aforementioned curry recipe), so if you want to perform that trick, youāll obviously need to let Copilot ānose aroundā in your stuff.
If you donāt want the AI to have that kind of access, you can still use the feature, but leave this second slider alone and it wonāt look in your files (but youāll only get the basic search in the Copilot app).
There will still be plenty of doubters around this kind of feature, mind, but as long as itās off by default, it isnāt going to be a problem - you can take it or leave it. If this functionality sounds useful to you, then you can go ahead and enable it - with the rollout now apparently underway, it should hopefully be turning up on all Windows 11 and 10 PCs before too long.
[HEADING=2]You might also likeā¦[/HEADING]
[ul]
[li]No, Windows 11 PCs arenāt āup to 2.3x fasterā than Windows 10 devices, as Microsoft suggests ā hereās why thatās an outlandish claim[/li][li]macOS Tahoe 26: hereās everything you need to know about all the new features[/li][li]Canāt upgrade to Windows 11? This Linux project wants to save your old PC from the scrapheap when Windows 10 support ends[/li][/ul]
Continue readingā¦