Dave, I’m running windows 11 and keep up with the latest releases, but I don’t see Copilot showing up on either Microsoft Edge or in my Windows system at all. Do I need to do something special to enable Copilot so I can use it?
First off, comps to you for keeping up on Windows updates. That’s a critical step in this era of quickly spread exploits and security problems, no question! Generally, though, Microsoft joins many of the other high-tech titans with its aggressive and enthusiastic adoption of AI. For Microsoft, it all goes by the name Copilot (except where it’s still called Bing Chat, but I expect that’ll update soon enough too) and is actually powered by OpenAI’s excellent ChatGPT-4o model.
You can always get to it by going to copilot.microsoft.com, but you don’t want to do that, you want it neatly integrated into both your Windows system and your Edge browser. Makes sense, given that it’s a smooth and darn helpful addition to the PC user experience in both instances. Fortunately, if you’re up-to-date, it’s just a matter of enabling these features…
ENABLE MICROSOFT COPILOT IN EDGE
Let’s start with the Microsoft Edge web browser. Did you know it’s built atop Chromium, the open source heart that also powers Google Chrome? They’re a lot alike, though I like the Microsoft veneer more than the Google veneer.
I’ll open up Edge with a new tab so you can see the full toolbar:
Usually, the Copilot button would appear on the far right but, as you can see it’s missing!
To have it show up, click on the “•••” button and find Settings on this menu:
See it near the bottom? Choose it, then type “copilot” into the search box:
There it is, neatly highlighted. Tap or click on that line and you’ll get to the Copilot settings in Edge:
You can actually also get here with the shortcut edge://settings/sidebar/appSettings if you want to try a shortcut (remember, you can bookmark pages in the Edge settings area as easily as you can other Web pages from around the Worldwide web).
In the above you can see that I have “Show Copilot” disabled, but, by default, “Show shopping notifications” enabled. I want exactly the opposite! In fact, here’s how I recommend you set things up in Edge:
The colorful Copilot icon will now appear on the Edge navigational bar on the top right:
Now you can click on it at any time to chat with Copilot, even asking it to “summarize the current page” (a super helpful feature!)
HOW TO ENABLE COPILOT ON THE WIN11 TASKBAR
Now that we have Microsoft Edge all fixed up, let’s get the button to show up on the Windows 11 Taskbar too. Why not, right? It’s particularly helpful if you aren’t running your browser or have questions about Windows itself because it has (some) access to your PC settings and configuration too.
Start by right-clicking in a blank spot on your Taskbar. A small two-option menu appears:
Choose “Taskbar settings” and you’ll jump right into Windows > Settings in the Taskbar area:
If your “Copilot in Windows (preview)” is set to Off click on the control to turn it “On”, as shown above.
That’s it. Now it’ll show up on the far right edge of your Taskbar:
Now you’re ready to rock ‘n roll with the AI masters. Try a few prompts like “tell me a joke” or “history of the color green” or “why is the sky blue” to get started. Then try “create a picture of a kitten eating some broccoli” to see what else Copilot can do!
Pro tip: I’ve been writing about Microsoft Windows for many years. Please check out my extensive Windows help area for more useful tutorials while you’re visiting the site!