Productivity
The latest Productivity coverage — news, analysis, and updates from the WindowsNews.AI desk.
Windows 11 Insider Builds 26220.6690 and 26120.6690: Copilot Invades the Taskbar and a New Account Hub Arrives
Microsoft dropped a new Insider preview on September 19, pushing KB5065786 to the Dev Channel as Build 26220.6690 and to the Beta Channel as Build 26120.6690. The update concentrates on three fronts:...
Microsoft’s 3-Day Office Mandate: Who Must Return and When
Microsoft’s chief people officer Amy Coleman has set a new hybrid-work baseline: starting in late February 2026, Puget Sound employees living within a 50-mile radius of a company office will be...
Microsoft Is Installing Copilot on Windows PCs By Default This October. Here’s What That Means for You.
Microsoft will begin automatically installing its Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs starting in October 2025, a move that has already sparked pushback from users and IT...
Your Windows Notepad Is Getting a Brain: On-Device AI Arrives for Copilot+ PCs
Microsoft is embedding generative AI directly into Windows Notepad, the bare-bones text editor that has shipped with the operating system for decades. The update, now in testing with Windows...
Your Teams Meetings Now Have an AI Facilitator—and It Can Assign Tasks for You
Microsoft is shipping an AI agent that automatically takes meeting notes, captures decisions, and hands out follow‑up tasks—and it’s hitting general availability in Teams today. Alongside it, a...
Windows 11 Users Want Folder Sizes, Smoother Virtual Desktops, and Custom Menus in Microsoft Feedback Push
Rudy Huyn, a Microsoft partner architect for Windows and the Store, took to X this week with a straightforward question: “What do you miss most in Windows?” The responses, pouring in during the...
Unlock Windows 11's Side Panel: A Widget Setup Guide for Real Productivity
Microsoft’s Widgets board in Windows 11 has been quietly gaining powers that many users overlook. It’s no longer just a news feed tacked onto the desktop—with the right setup, it can surface...
Stop Wasting Time: 5 Automations That Make Windows 11 Work Faster for You
The daily grind of computer work isn't just about processing power; it's the small, recurring actions—copying the same text, hunting for stray files, switching between light and dark mode—that...
Free Local AI Comes to Notepad on Copilot+ PCs in Latest Windows Insider Build
Microsoft has given Windows 11 Insiders in the Dev and Canary channels a triple treat this week: new generative AI features inside Notepad that can run entirely on-device, a native project file...
Your iPhone Copilot App Will Stop Editing Office Docs on September 15 – Here’s What You Must Do
Microsoft will disable all editing capabilities for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files inside its Microsoft 365 Copilot app for iPhone on September 15, 2025, forcing users to switch to the standalone...
Microsoft Paint Adds Photoshop-Like Project Files So You Never Lose Your Layers
Microsoft is testing a new project file format in Paint that saves your layers, letting you reopen compositions exactly as you left them—a shift that makes the free Windows 11 app behave more like...
Ditch Slow Windows 11 Search: 6 Lightning-Fast Alternatives You Need to Try
Windows 11’s built-in search often feels like a throwback to the spinning-disk era—slow, cluttered, and inconsistent. Now, a crop of third-party tools backed by years of development and rabid...