The new Copilot desktop app for Windows and Mac is getting a new way to handle links. When Copilot shares or references a website in a chat, users can now open it inside the desktop app instead of switching to a separate browser. The website appears in a side pane to the right of the Copilot conversation, so users can read the page and keep chatting at the same time, without losing their place.
Users can open several links in a row, and each one appears as its own tab in the side pane. They can switch between tabs at will and close the side pane when they no longer need the websites. The pane can be made smaller or larger to suit the screen, and a button in the pane header lets users switch to a full-screen view of the website and back again.
Users who prefer their usual browser can still use it. They can choose the “External browser” option from the three-dot menu on a link in Copilot Chat, or select “Copy the URL” and paste it into the browser of their choice. An “External browser” option is also coming to the right-click menu on a tab in the side pane.
This capability is part of the new Copilot desktop app for Windows and Mac. The app is available to work or school accounts (Copilot Basic and Premium users) and to users with a personal Microsoft account.
In-app browsing is currently in early access as an opt-in experience for admins and is turned off by default. This is expected to change in a later phase.
To enable web browsing, an admin can deploy the Copilot policy setting BrowsingEnabled.
This policy isn't currently available in the Intune Settings catalog, but it’s included in the CopilotApp.admx package in the policy file for the new Copilot desktop app I described in August.
Download the policy file, unzip it, and import CopilotApp.admx into Intune.
The setting “Enable browsing capabilities” is now available in your configuration profile (if you used Imported Administrative Templates). In my case, I used the same configuration profile that I used to deploy the new Copilot desktop app.
Once the profile has been assigned, the policy is deployed to the device.
Restart the Copilot desktop app to make the web browsing preferences available.
Reminder: If you close the Copilot desktop app window, the app keeps running in the background by default. Close it completely via the taskbar and reopen it to get the updated policy.
Now, when you click a link in a Copilot response, the Copilot app opens it in the in-app browser experience, as described above.
Also worth noting: The Copilot desktop app uses its own user data directory to store data.
%localappdata%\Microsoft\Copilot\User Data
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