Do you use the Search bar in your taskbar? It can already do a lot — compare it to the search function just a few versions of Windows ago, and it’s pretty impressive. It’s already evolved past simple word/character searching and can find files, settings, apps, and websites contextually connected to what you’re searching for, even if there isn’t an exact match.
But it certainly has its limits. It’s still a basic-ish search tool that mostly just finds stuff for you. It can’t really do anything for you. And it can’t understand you in the way most new generative AI tools seem to.
Well, that looks to be changing in an upcoming Windows 11 update. Current preview builds include a new, optional feature: adding “Ask Copilot” to your taskbar.
“Ask Copilot” in Taskbar Search: How It Works
In preview builds, once you enable this new features in settings, your regular taskbar search box gets a massive AI-powered upgrade. The biggest two changes are 1) AI-driven contextual understanding and 2) the ability to take action.
AI-Driven Understanding
First, Ask Copilot uses the same generative AI capabilities that Copilot relies on throughout the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem. With these, it can understand you contextually, reason through uncertainty, and try to get at what you mean — not just exactly what you type.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you need to pull up a report from two months ago. You have no idea what the file name is. With the current search bar, you can search for the name of the client. But you get too many results and can’t find the report.
With Ask Copilot, you can type (or even speak) something like “I need a report from Client X. I think I got it from them 2 months ago, and it had to do with Product Y.”
Copilot will interpret your request and then get to work looking for the most likely file you’re after.
That’s just one example, but you get the idea.
Ability to Act and Answer
Just as significant: Ask Copilot can now go beyond information and file retrieval. It can even take certain actions for you. It can change certain settings on its own at your request (things like “Connect to the projector” or “put my PC in power save mode”).
We’re still testing what all Ask Copilot can actively do, and there are certainly some safeguards in place (“hey Copilot, reformat my hard drive” isn’t a great idea). But just the fact that your taskbar search can do stuff for you is a remarkable change.
Ask Copilot can also produce quick generative answers to the questions you ask it, similar to Google’s AI overviews or responses from ChatGPT or Claude. Ask it how to split a PDF or how to convert a file to a different format, and it may not be able to do it for you — but it can tell you how. Once you get used to it, Ask Copilot might just replace “just Google it” at work!
Microsoft Addresses Privacy Concerns
There’s a lot of concern about AI and data security. But for this new feature, Microsoft assures users that Ask Copilot isn’t changing anything about your computer’s privacy. Windows isn’t getting access to anything it couldn’t access before; it’s just applying smarter tools to what it already sees and “knows.”
Still, if you have reservations, you won’t be forced to enable it or use it just yet. The search bar will still default to old, boring search. If you want to use Ask Copilot in the search bar, you’ll need to opt in and turn it on (Settings -> Personalization -> Taskbar).
Our take: this change won’t change the world, but it could be a genuinely useful time saver for many business professionals. Watch for it in an upcoming Windows update.
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