File Explorer in Windows 11 has just gained AI Actions in its context menu, a new step in Microsoft's push to build artificial intelligence into the operating system. The feature gives quick access to AI-based image editing tools and is currently being tested in Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5603 (KB5058488) on the Dev channel. But instead of winning support, the change has drawn plenty of criticism from the user community.
What's New in Windows 11 File Explorer
Since its launch, Windows 11 has brought a long list of interface changes that many people are not happy with. The state of File Explorer is particularly worrying, yet Microsoft shows no sign of letting up on reworking the interface. A simple file manager has become complicated and confusing, frustrating longtime users and fueling a wave of third-party tools that restore the old look.
Microsoft's redesign of the File Explorer context menu in Windows 11 hid or removed many useful features, which led to a surge of third-party tools aimed at bringing the old interface back. Once again, Microsoft is reinventing the wheel: along with the redesigned Start menu, the right-click menu now brings even more irritating changes.
Specifically, Microsoft explained that AI Actions in File Explorer allow deeper interaction with users' files through AI technology. The first four AI features focus on image editing:
- Bing Visual Search: Helps find similar images online
- Blur Background: Automatically detects and blurs the background in the Photos app
- Erase Objects: Automatically detects and removes objects in Photos
- Remove Background: Lets users extract the background of an image in Paint
These AI options in the context menu support JPG and PNG files, but they hardly count as an AI revolution. The new actions are simply direct links from the File Explorer menu to Bing search or to image editing features.
New AI Features for Microsoft 365 Users
Microsoft also plans to expand AI Actions in the coming weeks. Microsoft 365 subscribers will soon get a new "Summarize" option that creates summaries of larger documents - Word, PDF or TXT - stored on OneDrive and SharePoint. Microsoft is also developing a "Create an FAQ" feature that uses the Copilot chatbot to turn cloud documents into a nicely formatted, AI-generated list of questions and answers.
The new AI Actions built specifically for Microsoft 365 sound more promising than a few shortcuts to AI tools in some of Windows' built-in image editors. Still, they are unlikely to ease the disappointment of anyone who has disliked File Explorer in Windows 11 since day one.
Microsoft's new mission is to bring AI everywhere, so expect a fully AI-powered Windows sooner than you think. The question, though, is whether these AI features will really improve the user experience or simply add complexity to an interface that was already confusing.
Summary: Windows 11 is continuing its trend of building AI into every part of the operating system by adding AI Actions to the right-click menu of File Explorer. New features like Bing Visual Search, Blur Background, Erase Objects and Remove Background may be useful to some users, but they do not fix the core problems many people have with the current File Explorer interface. While Microsoft keeps pushing its AI strategy, users still have to turn to third-party solutions to get the File Explorer experience they want. Is AI really the answer to every problem, or should Microsoft first focus on improving the basics of the user experience?
