Microsoft is working on some seriously exciting Windows 11 improvements but not everyone will get them

Date:
Tue, 22 Apr 2025 10:10:13 +0000

Description:
Windows 11 is getting better search, accessibility powers and integration for its reading coach but with AI doing the heavy lifting in some cases, youll need a Copilot+ PC.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Windows 11 has a new preview build in the Beta channel It offers new Click to Do features for Copilot+ PCs, including Reading Coach integration Search has
also been pepped up with AI, and Voice Access has got a handy new addition
too

Windows 11s latest preview version just arrived packing improved search functionality and some impressive new capabilities for accessibility, including the integration of Microsofts Reading Coach app on certain PCs.

This is preview build 26120.3872 in the Beta channel, and some of the fresh additions are just for Copilot+ PCs, and specifically only for devices with Snapdragon (Arm-based) chips .

So, first up in this category is the integration of Reading Coach with Click to Do. To recap on those pieces of functionality, Click to Do provides context-sensitive actions which are AI-powered this was brought in as the partner feature to Recall on Copilot+ PCs and Reading Coach became available for free at the start of 2024.

The latter is an app you can download from the Microsoft Store in order to practice your reading skills and pronunciation, and Reading Coach can now be chosen direct from the Click to Do context menu, so you can work on any selected piece of text. (Youll need the coaching app installed to do this, of course).

Also new for Click to Do (and Copilot+ PCs) is a Read with Immersive Reader ability which is a focused reading mode designed for those with dyslexia and dysgraphia.

This allows users to adjust the text size and spacing, font, and background theme to best suit their needs, as well as having a picture dictionary option that Microsoft notes provides visual representations of unfamiliar words for instant understanding. You can also elect to have text read aloud and split into syllables if required.

Another neat feature for Copilot+ PCs albeit only in the European Economic Area to begin with is the ability to find photos saved in the cloud (OneDrive) via the search box in the Windows 11 taskbar. Again, this is AI-powered, so you can use natural language search to find images in OneDrive (such as photos of Halloween costumes for example). Both local (on the
device) and cloud-based photos will be displayed in the taskbar search results.

All of the above are now rolling out in testing to Snapdragon-powered
Copilot+ PCs, but devices with AMD and Intel CPUs will also be covered eventually.

A further noteworthy introduction here for all PCs this time is that Voice Access now grants you the power to add your own words to its dictionary. So, if theres a word that the system is having difficulty picking up when you say it, you can add a custom dictionary entry and hopefully the next time you use it during dictation, Voice Access will correctly recognize the word.

There are a bunch of other tweaks and refinements in this new preview
version, all of which are covered in Microsofts blog post on the new Beta build. (Image credit: Microsoft) Analysis: Sterling progress

Its good to see Microsofts continued efforts to improve Windows 11 in terms
of accessibility and learning, even if some of the core introductions here wont be piped through to most folks as they wont have a Copilot+ PC. Whats also clear is that Microsoft is clearly giving devices with Snapdragon processors priority on an ongoing basis, and thats fine, as long as the same powers come to all Copilot+ PCs eventually (which they are doing thus far,
and theres no reason why they shouldnt).

The Voice Access addition is a very handy one, although Im surprised it took Microsoft this long to implement it. I was previously a heavy user of Nuance (Dragon) speech recognition tool (my RSI has long since been cured, thanks in part to taking a break from typing by using this software) and it offered
this functionality. As Windows 11s Voice Access is essentially built on the same tech Microsoft bought Nuance back in 2021 its taken a while to incorporate what I felt was an important feature.

As ever, though, better late than never, and I certainly cant complain about Voice Access being free, or at least free in terms of being bundled in with Windows 11. You may also like... Here's why you should reinstall Windows 11 every two months - no, I'm not kidding Windows 11 is getting a very handy change to the taskbar, as Microsoft takes a leaf from Apples Mac playbook Windows 11 fully streamlined in just two clicks? Talon utility promises to
rip all the bloatware out of Microsofts OS in a hassle-free way



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/microsoft-is-working-on-some-serio usly-exciting-windows-11-improvements-but-not-everyone-will-get-them


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