Windows 11 Will Soon Let You Use New AI Features in File Explorer

Microsoft’s latest Build conference was all about expanding consumer-facing AI tools to reach every nook and corner of the Windows operating system. One of them is a tool called AI actions — an integration of AI shortcuts right into the File Explorer for quick actions, such as summarising a file or editing an image.

The AI actions tool is currently available as part of the latest Dev Channel builds of Windows 11. In other words, users enrolled in the Dev Channel can currently access this feature. Microsoft is presently testing four actions, but may add more options later, meaning the final and stable version may have more AI actions, expanding the tool’s utility for a wide range of file formats.

Available through the right-click on a file, the current actions allow you to blur the background of a photo, remove the background using Paint, erase objects in it using the Photos app, and look up the image on Bing using Visual Search. However, options such as summarisation of content in a document stored in OneDrive or SharePoint and AI generation of bullet points will be added later. The AI actions related to Office files will likely require a Microsoft 365 subscription with a Copilot license, initially meant for enterprise users. Its consumer version, the company said, will be “coming later.”

With the in-development AI actions, Microsoft has expanded AI tools for native Windows apps. The integration of Copilot into different apps, such as Edge, and services has shown favourable results, prompting the company to add an “Ask Copilot” option into the right-click menu of the File Explorer.

At the Build 2025 conference, Microsoft underscored the need for AI agents for a truly AI-powered experience on modern Windows PCs. Agentic AI tools can talk to other apps, search the internet, or even perform basic tasks on the user’s behalf, and their growing appeal is why Microsoft has announced several ways to make Windows more automated.

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