Microsoft's Copilot returns to ruin your Windows 11 experience, this time as a sidebar

It seems like Microsoft still hasn't figured out how it wants Copilot to fit into Windows 11, as it is reportedly going back to the original idea of docking the AI assistant directly alongside your desktop. As first spotted by Windows Latest, a new Copilot update is currently rolling out to Windows 11 users, introducing a proper sidebar docking mode that physically pushes your open apps aside to make room for itself.

This comes at a rather ironic time, given that Microsoft has been actively working to make Windows 11 a better experience for users under Project K2, an internal initiative built around three pillars: performance, craft, and reliability. As part of that effort, Microsoft had previously been scaling back Copilot's footprint in Windows 11, removing it from apps like Notepad, and allowing users to remap the Copilot key.

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According to Windows Latest, the new behavior is triggered through a dropdown menu in Copilot's title bar, which now reveals a set of dedicated snapping layouts. These include the existing standalone app view and picture-in-picture mode, plus two new options to dock Copilot to either the left or right edge of the screen. Once docked, Windows 11 automatically resizes and repositions everything else around it, including any open apps such as File Explorer, which get compressed to fill the remaining space.

The idea itself is not new. This is essentially how Copilot originally shipped on Windows 11 back in 2023, where it lived as a sidebar alongside other apps. That implementation was eventually scrapped in favor of a standalone app, which was later converted into an Edge-based wrapper. Now, Microsoft appears to be circling back to that original concept, though with more control over positioning and layout than before.

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The upside is the added flexibility, since users can now choose to dock Copilot on either side or float it in a small picture-in-picture window. The downside, however, is the same one users had with the original sidebar: it permanently eats into your usable screen real estate, which is a meaningful trade-off on smaller displays. Moreover, it raises questions about why Microsoft is nudging Copilot back into a persistent UI role after spending time limiting Copilot integration.

If you would rather not deal with the new sidebar at all, Copilot can still be disabled. Enterprise admins can block it through Group Policy, while home users can remove it via the Windows Registry. The docking feature is currently in a limited rollout through a Copilot app update, with no confirmed date for a broader release.