Windows 11 loses keyboard shortcut for Copilot, making us wonder if this is a cynical move by Microsoft to stoke Copilot+ PC sales

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Windows 11 loses keyboard shortcut for Copilot, making us wonder if this is a cynical move by

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to stoke Copilot+ PC sales

What’s going to drive Copilot+ PC sales, do you think? Superb AI acceleration chops? Windows on Arm getting emulation nailed for fast app and gaming performance (on Snapdragon X models)? No – it’s the Copilot key on the keyboard, ******.

Surprised? Well, we certainly are, but apparently one of

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’s selling points for Copilot+ PCs is the dedicated key to summon the AI on the keyboard.

We can draw that unexpected conclusion from a move

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just made which seems pretty mystifying otherwise: namely the removal of the keyboard shortcut for Copilot from Windows 11.

As flagged up by

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, the new Windows 11 preview (build 22635) in the Beta channel has dumped the keyboard shortcut (Windows key + C) that brings up the Copilot panel. This is an update that just happened (on June 19), after the preview build initially emerged on June 14.

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very vaguely that: “As part of the Copilot experience’s evolution on Windows to become an app that is pinned to the taskbar, we are retiring the WIN + C keyboard shortcut.”

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(Image credit: Future / James Holland)

Analysis: A cynical move by

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?

What now? How is removing a useful keyboard shortcut part of the ‘evolution’ of Copilot? Surely, it’s a step backwards to drop one of the ways to invoke the AI assistant to the desktop?

Now, if

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had big plans for the Windows + C shortcut elsewhere, say another piece of functionality that had come in which required this particular combo, the reasoning might at least be a little clearer. But by all accounts, there’s no replacement function here – Windows + C now does nothing.

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As for the reason somehow being tied to Copilot shifting to become an app window, rather than a locked side panel in Windows 11, we don’t see how that has any relevance at all to whether you can open the AI with a keyboard shortcut or not.

As Tom’s Guide points out, seemingly the driver for this change is to make the Copilot key on the keyboard a more pivotal function, replacing the shortcut, but guess what – you only get that key on new Copilot+ PCs (right now anyway). So, the logical conclusion for the skeptical is that this is simply a fresh angle on helping to stoke sales for Copilot+ PCs.

It’s not like you can’t just click on the Copilot icon, of course, so you’re not lost at sea with no AI assistance all of a sudden – but that’s not the point. It is a lost convenience, clearly though, and it feels like a cynical move by

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.

Tom’s Guide points out that you could use third-party key mapping software to restore the functionality of this particular shortcut, but the point is, you really shouldn’t have to bother jumping through such hoops. Come on,

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– don’t pull stunts like this, or, if there is a good reason behind the change, share it, not some waffling soundbites about evolving Copilot.

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#Windows #loses #keyboard #shortcut #Copilot #making #cynical #move #

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#stoke #Copilot #sales

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