Copilot+ PCs continue to gain capabilities that simply aren’t possible with standard Windows 11 machines, and the updated Windows Search with semantic indexing is one of the latest examples. It aims to make Windows Search—that box that pops up when you click on the magnifying glass in the taskbar—much smarter. But semantic search isn’t just there: The feature extends to the File Explorer and the Settings app.
Like the other Copilot+ exclusives, the new semantic search feature doesn’t require an internet connection. Instead, it relies on a small language AI model that runs locally on your device’s Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Microsoft’s documentation states, “All data gathered from semantic indexing is stored locally on your PC. None of it is ever sent to Microsoft or used to train AI models.”
Below, I show you how to try semantic search for yourself. I will also walk you through examples demonstrating where it excels and falters. The good news is that it should only get better from here.
How to Get Semantic Search on Your Copilot+ PC
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
Getting the semantic search feature is a simple matter of updating your Copilot+ PC. Go to Settings > Windows Update and tap Check for Updates. Then, click Download and Install, and wait for the download to complete. (Enabling the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” toggle might help if you don’t see the new features after checking for updates.) Once you install any updates, you need to restart your PC. After restarting, I saw the Recall welcome page (stay tuned for my thoughts on that) along with the updated Windows Search icon.
Microsoft designates Copilot+ exclusive features as Wave 1 and Wave 2 for reference. Wave 1 features include Cocreator in Paint, Live Captions, Recall, Windows Studio Effects (automatic framing, background blur, eye contact, and voice focus). Wave 2 features include Click to Do, the improved Windows Search experience I discuss here, and super resolution in Microsoft Photos. Most Copilot+ features are now available on both types of Copilot+ PCs—those that use Snapdragon X Series Arm processors and those with AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series and Intel Core Ultra 200V Series CPUs. Some new features have a Preview label, but the updated Windows Search is not among those.
Getting Started With Semantic Search on Your Copilot+ PC
It’s important to note that your computer needs to index all your searchable files for this tool to work. According to Microsoft documentation, that process can be compute-intensive and take a while. A Microsoft help page suggests, “For improved Windows Search on Copilot+ PCs, it is recommended that you plug in your Copilot+ PC for the initial search indexing to get completed.”
My initial results with semantic search were indeed mixed, sometimes impressive, and other times disappointing. I often saw a note above the search box saying, “Results from this PC may be incomplete,” with a spinning circle icon indicating that it was indexing my computer contents. Indexing happens automatically. You can’t control it via the Settings app, but you can start or stop it via the Microsoft Management Console. To do so, type “Run” and then “Services,” and find Windows Start. I plugged in my PC and left it to index for a full day to see if results improved.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
Another thing to be aware of with Windows Search is that you can choose which folders to include. You can configure these preferences in Settings > Privacy and Security > Searching Windows. By default, Windows includes all the typical folders you likely want to search—Documents, Pictures, and Music. You can add whatever other folder you want. The Enhanced option makes everything on your PC fair game for search indexing; it takes longer than the Classic option. Note that this Settings page is also where you can check the indexing progress. As you can see from the above, my PC indexed only half of my files even after I left it on and charging overnight.
Using Semantic Search to Find Files on Your Copilot+ PC
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
Once you get the semantic search update, you should see a change in the Windows Search bar at the bottom of the taskbar: The magnifying glass icon gains a pair of small star badges, aka sparks, which have become a telltale symbol of generative AI. And when you click into the search box, you see a gradient on the magnifying glass and in the outline of the box.
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
The new search feature applies to your own files rather than to internet searches, since those are already semantic via search engines. This tool works with document formats, such as DOCX, PDF, PPTX, TXT, and XLSX, and image file formats, such as BMP, GIF, ICO, JPEG, JPG, and PNG.
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I tried searching for a spreadsheet I made for testing browser speeds and was happy to see that a query for “web benchmarks” turned up my sheet called “browser benchmarks.” Even the term “internet testing,” which didn’t use any words in the filename, coughed up the correct Excel file.
I then tried, less successfully, to find my Ableton Live folder by typing “music software” and selecting Folder as the type at the top of the search panel. No go. Even after leaving my PC plugged in and indexing, Windows Search didn’t realize that Ableton Live was music software.
Using Semantic Search to Find Images on Your Copilot+ PC
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
Windows Search calls all images Photos, which you can select from a button at the top of the search panel. You also often see Photos as a section in the result list of files. I usually import images from my camera using just the nondescriptive file names the camera assigns, such as IMG_1255.jpg. And I take a lot of bird photos. I didn’t just want to try searching for images of any birds, but of warblers, a charming, tiny, and often yellow-toned avian.
A related search query impressively found a photo of a bird that was close—the Lesser Goldfinch, another small yellow bird. When I tried something easier, a flamingo, the search tool popped up the long-necked pink bird without breaking a sweat. That file, like the previous one, didn’t have any associated textual data indicating that it was of a flamingo.
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Using Semantic Search in File Explorer on Your Copilot+ PC
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
The updated search in File Explorer is similar to that in Windows Search. Unfortunately, this newfangled search behavior doesn’t work in the file-picker dialogs that resemble File Explorer, such as that you see when you insert an image into a Word document.
When I tried searching in the Pictures folder, I was disappointed that typing “raw camera” didn’t turn up any of my .ARW or .CR3 files, popular raw camera files from Sony and Canon. I got somewhat better results when I searched for the contents of images. Searching for “bird” turned up images with no mention of bird in the filename, but searching “mountain” in a folder with photos of mountains yielded no results.
Using Semantic Search in Settings on Your Copilot+ PC
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
As in the other places where AI-powered search is available, you now see tiny star badges in the search box in Windows 11’s Settings. If you click in the box, these animate and change colors. Unfortunately, semantic search in Settings failed my first test. I typed “update OS” in the search box, and it didn’t find Windows Update. Instead, it told me “No results for update OS.” To be fair, when I typed “update” alone, I saw a list of relevant settings, with the top suggestion being Windows Update settings. Still, I hoped that Windows knows that it’s an OS.
When I searched for “reboot” on a non-Copilot+ PC, I didn’t get any results. On the Copilot+ PC, the same search turned up Recovery settings. Since the exact word “reboot” doesn’t appear in the Settings text, the older PC couldn’t find any relevant results, but the similarity was enough for the semantic search to find it.
Not Finding What You Want? Let Microsoft Know
(Credit: Microsoft/PCMag)
Semantic search is a new feature, so it’s understandable that it doesn’t always work perfectly. That’s why I appreciate the above pop-up message that appeared discreetly in the lower right corner of my laptop screen. From there, you can tell Microsoft what you think about the tool and how it failed—or how impressive it is!
Semantic Search Isn’t Perfect, But It’s Clearly the Future
I found the new search capability superior to the traditional, exact name matching system. Sure, it didn’t work for every test case, but it did well enough to show its potential. I anticipate that letting Windows fully index my Copilot+ PC will also help, so I plan to revisit this feature soon.
About Michael Muchmore
Lead Software Analyst
