Microsoft is giving its Copilot chatbot a new look in Windows 11. This at least the third design iteration since Windows Copilot was first shown off in mid-2023.

Microsoft is rolling out an update for the Copilot app in Windows, available first to Windows Insiders testers, which includes a new ‘quick view’ with a smaller popup panel, accessible from the Alt + Space keyboard shortcut and the new Copilot icon in the system tray. You can click the icon at the top-left corner of the window to move Copilot back into a regular resizable window, and if your PC has a Copilot key on the board, pressing that will open the regular window view.

When Microsoft first showed off the Copilot chat in Windows in May 2023, it was a button in the taskbar that opened Copilot in a sidebar, similar to the old quick settings panels in Windows 8 and 10. Then, Microsoft experimented with moving the button to the right side of the taskbar, replacing the “show desktop” button. That was reverted a few months later. Earlier this year, the sidebar was replaced by the Copilot web app running in an Edge window, and now the web app is being replaced. Also, at some point it became ‘Copilot on Windows,’ not ‘Windows Copilot.’

Microsoft says this new Copilot experience is a “native version,” but it’s not clear what that means. The screenshot looks exactly like the current Copilot website, so it still seems to be the web interface in a window. There is a system tray icon and keyboard shortcut that didn’t exist before, but that’s the only visible difference, at least for now.

Either way, Copilot in Windows is still far behind the ChatGPT app on Mac, which is a fully native app with more system-level integrations and the ability to answer questions based on the screen content. The ChatGPT app on Windows is a simpler web-based app, but it’s still decent. Stardock’s DesktopGPT is another alternative.

The new design is currently in testing, and it should eventually roll out to Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Source: Windows Insider Blog