Microsoft is introducing artificial intelligence capabilities directly into Windows 11’s File Explorer, allowing users to manipulate files without opening dedicated applications.
Announced in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5603 (KB5058488) released to the Dev Channel on May 19, 2025, this integration represents a significant advancement in Microsoft’s AI strategy for its flagship operating system.
AI Actions Transform File Management
The new feature, officially named “AI actions in File Explorer,” enables users to interact more deeply with their files through an enhanced context menu.
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By simply right-clicking on a file, users can access a dedicated “AI actions” menu that offers various AI-powered options specific to the file type.
“With AI actions in File Explorer, you can stay in your flow while leveraging the power of AI to take advantage of editing tools in apps or Copilot functionality without having to open your file,” Microsoft explained in the announcement.
The initial rollout focuses on image manipulation capabilities, offering four distinct actions:
- Bing Visual Search: Allows searching the web using an image instead of text, finding similar images, products, landmarks, plants, and even famous faces.
- Blur Background: Automatically detects and blurs backgrounds in photos with adjustable intensity options.
- Erase Objects: Employs generative AI to remove unwanted elements from images.
- Remove Background: Provides one-click background removal, creating clean cutouts of subjects.
These image-focused features currently support .jpg, .jpeg, and .png file formats.
Expanding to Microsoft 365 Integration
Over the coming weeks, Microsoft will extend AI actions to Microsoft 365 documents with features including:
Summarize: Generates concise summaries of documents stored on OneDrive and SharePoint without opening them individually. This supports numerous file types including .docx, .pptx, .xlsx, .pdf, and .txt files.
Create an FAQ: Transforms complex documents into well-formatted question-and-answer lists, supporting file types such as .xlsx, .ppt, .docx, .pdf, and .html.
To access the Microsoft 365 AI actions, users must meet specific requirements:
- For Summarize: Microsoft 365 subscription with Copilot (supporting both Microsoft account and Microsoft Entra ID).
- For Create an FAQ: Commercial Microsoft 365 subscription with Copilot (Microsoft Entra ID supported, with Microsoft account support coming later).
- Enrollment in the Microsoft 365 Insider Program with a PC configured for Beta Channel updates.
The AI actions in File Explorer complement other AI features introduced in this build, including “Click to Do” and an enhanced widgets board with “Copilot-curated stories.”
These developments align with Microsoft’s broader AI File Explorer vision, which aims to revolutionize file management through machine learning models that analyze and categorize files based on content rather than just filenames.
This integration represents a significant step toward Microsoft’s goal of embedding AI capabilities throughout the Windows operating system, transforming how users interact with their files and potentially setting a new standard for intelligent file management systems.
Users interested in testing these features can join the Windows Insider Program and update to the latest Dev Channel build, though Microsoft notes that features in development may change before public release.
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