It's a new week, which means Microsoft is now rolling out a new Windows 11 preview build for testers in the Dev Channel. Interestingly, this build includes an undocumented new menu in the Settings app called "Actions," which appears to let users control which apps can show as suggested actions across the OS.
Right now, the only area where an app appears as a contextual suggestion is in Click To Do, which is exclusive to Copilot+ PCs. The new Actions area in Settings gives an overview of all the apps that are tapping into this experience, and let the user turn them on or off at will.
The new area also gives a handy overview of which apps can do what. Right now, the only apps that appear are Paint and Photos, and it lists what each app is capable of.
Paint:
- Removes background with Paint
Photos:
- Blur background with Photos
- Erase objects in Photos
- Visual Search with Bing
Indeed, in our testing of the feature, turning off Photos does remove suggested actions from the Photos app in Click To Do.
Microsoft is gearing up to ship the first wave of major Copilot+ features in May, which is likely to begin with Recall, before expanding to Click To Do and AI in Windows Search over the summer. All of these features are exclusive to Copilot+ PCs, meaning unless you have a computer that has an NPU capable of 40+ TOPS, you won't gain access to any of these.
I also understand that Microsoft is planning to introduce more "proactive" Copilot features across the Windows 11 interface this year. These features will let the AI assistant suggest more actions, tasks, and activities based on what you're currently working on across different OS surfaces, not just in Click To Do.
With that in mind, it makes sense that Microsoft is adding a settings menu in the Windows Settings app that will let you configure which apps appear as suggested actions. This is especially true if third-party apps can also tap into this proactive Copilot experience.
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