(Credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft's Copilot key is intended to call up the company's AI assistant, but users can soon customize it to launch their app of choice.
With an upcoming Windows 11 update, "you can choose to have the Copilot key launch an app that is MSIX packaged and signed, thus indicating the app meets security and privacy requirements to keep customers safe," Microsoft says in a blog post.
(Credit: Microsoft)The key will launch Copilot by default, so people will need to proactively change it to something else. The option is currently rolling out gradually to everyone in the Beta Channel; Windows 11 beta testers with Build 22635.4225 can check it out by going to Settings > Personalization > Text input and clicking the drop-down box next to the Customize Copilot key.
Until then, you can also use the Keyboard Manager built into Microsoft PowerToys to modify your app preference for the Copilot key.
"The Copilot key on my new computer would only show Windows Search and, with the keyboard manager, I was able to make it launch the Copilot website, which is a bit fitting for that key," one Windows user wrote on Reddit. "However, you can reprogram it to what you want with that tool.
According to Microsoft, the Copilot key is the biggest change to the PC keyboard layout since the introduction of the Windows key in 1994, and it is intended to make users "seamlessly engage Copilot in their day-to-day." Only a handful of laptops launched in 2024 have made room for the Copilot key, but more machines are expected to feature it soon.