Microsoft to replace Taskbar search with Copilot on Windows 11

• Windows 11 to include a new search box in the Taskbar powered by Copilot.
• The feature will be opt-in through the Copilot app, and it should become avaialble for everyone in 2026.
• You can always uninstall the Copilot app to remove all the new AI features.

Microsoft is planning to replace the Windows Search box available in the Taskbar for a Copilot search box instead. The company has revealed the change during its announcement to try to make every PC and AI PC, regardless the hardware configuration.

According to the company, the idea is to give users quicker and easier access to interact with chatbot to find and do pretty much anything. However, it appears that the company won’t be replacing the existing search box by default. Instead, it’ll be a feature that you’ll have to enable manually.

The search element will be identical to the current search box, but it’ll read “Ask Copilot anything,” and it will have two additional options to access Copilot Vision and Voice.

When you click on the new search box, you’ll now get a floating Copilot prompt box where you can perform regular searches for files, apps, and settings, and pretty much anything.

As you type a query, you’ll start to see the results, similar to the existing experience, but with a slightly different design.

Microsoft notes that this integration leverages existing Windows APIs to generate resutls, and it does not grant Copilot access to your content. In the case that Copilot requires access to the file, the chatbot will prompt you to grant that permission.

Since Copilot is a feature powered the Microsoft cloud, it doesn’t require to have a Copilot+ PCs with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), meaning that this feature will be available for computers, regardless of the hardware configuration.

This is not only AI feature coming to non-Copilot+ PCs, the company has already announced that is going to add the ability to natural language with voice to interact with your PC with the integration of the “Hey Copilot” voice command.

In addition, Copilot Actions will add agentic AI to Windows 11, allowing you to assign the AI tasks that it can perform on your behave.

The changes to the Taskbar and the other AI innovations will be rolling out shortly, starting with users with devices enrolled in the Windows Insider Program, but these changes won’t appar until sometime in 2026.

Also, remember that these changes will be integrated into the operating system through the Copilot app, meaning that you can always uninstall the Copilot app to avoid all these AI features on your computer.

What are your thoughts about these features? Let me know in the comments.