Windows 11's Copilot AI may get convenient drag and drop functionality that'd be a handy extra

Microsoft might be experimenting with presenting Copilot straight away, as soon as Windows 11 boots - a controversial idea in testing, naturally - but another more useful change has been spotted in the latest preview build of the OS (23615).

This was flagged up on X (formerly Twitter) by well-known Microsoft leaker PhantomOfEarth, and it consists of the ability to drag and drop files onto the Copilot icon on the taskbar.

You can see how it works in the above tweet, but it's exactly as you'd expect - pick up a file, drag it over to the icon, and then the Copilot side panel opens, whereupon you can drop the file in and have the AI interact with it.

This is a useful extra, but just because it's present in testing - in the Dev channel in this case - doesn't mean it will end up in the release version of Windows 11. In this case, we can't see why Microsoft wouldn't include it, mind.

As mentioned at the outset, the other big change with Copilot in build 23615 is that it now appears on the desktop immediately upon boot-up - but not for all users, only those with a 'widescreen' display. The catch is that it's not clear what Microsoft means exactly and whether this might refer to ultra-widescreen monitors (rather than just 16:9 screens - which is pretty much everything).

Microsoft's continued work on Copilot includes bringing its powers to default apps including Paint and Notepad (with Cocreator and Cowriter capabilities respectively), and of course the small matter of drafting across the AI assistant for Windows 10.

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