Microsoft's new AI tool lets you edit images and summarize docs right in File Explorer
Microsoft is rolling out a new tool that lets you use AI to work with files right in File Explorer. Known as AI actions, the new feature will provide several AI-powered commands for images, PDFs, documents, and other file types.
Currently accessible through the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build, AI actions works similarly to the Click to Do feature that Microsoft recently launched for Copilot+ PCs. Right-clicking certain files in File Explorer will display an entry for AI actions in the context menu. Moving to that entry reveals the commands you can run depending on the file you selected.
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For now, the AI action feature is limited to images, specifically JPG and PNG files. Here, you can run any of the four following commands on a supported image:
- Bing Visual Search – This one launches a web search on the image to get details about the file, find similar images, and identify landmarks and other items.
- Blur Background – This one opens the Photos app, which automatically detects the background of a photo. You can then opt to blur the background to better highlight the subject. You can also tweak the results by adjusting the intensity of the blur or using the Brush tool to fine-tune the blurred area.
- Erase Objects – This one also launches the Photos app. But here, you're able to select an element in a photo that you want to eliminate, and the Generative Erase feature will remove it.
- Remove Background – This command opens Paint through which you can remove the background in an image, leaving a clear cutout of the subject. Here, the tool tries to automatically separate the subject from the rest of the image. If that doesn't quite work, you can use the selection tool to manually control the process.
In the coming weeks, Microsoft will enhance AI actions by adding two commands for Microsoft 365 files, one for summarizing a document and another for creating an FAQ.
- Summarize – Here, Copilot will step in to create AI-based summaries of files stored in OneDrive and on SharePoint without you having to open them. This one will support several apps and file types, including Word (docx, doc), PowerPoint (pptx, ppt), Excel (xlsx, xls), Adobe PDF (PDF), plain text files (txt), rich text files (rtf), and Microsoft Loop (loop).
- Create an FAQ – This one will transform your OneDrive files into Q&A lists that you can then share with other people. Beyond Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, text files, and rich text files, this command can work with ASP files and web pages (htm, html).
The image commands are available to any Windows insider. However, the ones for Microsoft 365 impose certain conditions. To use the Summarize option, you'll need to be a Microsoft 365 subscriber with a Copilot subscription.
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To create an FAQ, you'll have to be a commercial Microsoft 365 subscriber with a Copilot subscription. Support for consumer Microsoft 365 accounts will come later, promises Microsoft.
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