AI-Powered Paste: PowerToys’ Latest Feature Boost

Microsoft‘s own PowerToys is an exceptionally useful suite of utility software. I often use PowerToys Run for file searches and simple calculations. According to a report from Windows Central, the recent v0.81.0 update to PowerToys has introduced AI-related features.

This feature, called Advanced Paste, allows clipboard content to be pasted as plain text, Markdown, or JSON format. Its advanced functionality, which leverages AI, requires users to provide an OpenAI API key and have sufficient balance in their accounts to operate the AI.

According to Microsoft, the AI can understand the content of the clipboard, enabling users to request summaries of lengthy text or translations into other languages. If the copied content is code, the AI can explain its purpose or even generate new code. Users can also request the AI to rephrase text in a more formal tone or mimic the style of a particular writer. In developer Craig Loewen‘s demonstration, the AI was even able to read C# code from a screenshot and convert it into Python.

Of course, since users need an OpenAI API key to access the AI paste feature, a good internet connection and OpenAI API access are essential. PowerToys simply provides a convenient gateway, making usage more accessible.