Windows 11 Copilot and PowerToys FancyZones don’t play nicely together

If you use FancyZones or a lot of windowed apps, then Copilot isn’t going to be your best friend yet.

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•Everything new in this update•How to get the September update•Review: Windows 11 Sept Update•What’s new with the Start menu•What’s new with the Settings app•What’s new with Taskbar

Copilot is one of the flagship new features in theWindows 11 September 2023 updatethat has begun rolling out. But if you’re a user ofPowerToysFancyZones, or indeed you like to use windowed apps, then it’s worth highlighting that Copilot doesn’t play nicely.

Copilot operates by sliding in from the right-hand side of the screen, whatever else you have open. As it does this, apps will be resized or relocated. Full-screen apps will shrink, but return to their normal size when Copilot is closed.

But, if you use FancyZones, while the apps will be resized when Copilot opens, when it closes the apps will stay shrunk. Likewise, it seems if a windowed app is open that needs to be moved when Copilot opens, it won’t return to its original location.

I’ve tried this with a bunch of different FancyZones layouts, and they all respond the same way. Copilot pushes them across if they’re on that part of the screen and when they’re moved, that’s where they stay. The shared behavior with windowed apps not part of a FancyZones layout would suggest that it’s not something that the FancyZones developers would need to fix, either.

Copilot is of course in itsveryearly stages and there will be many updates to come. But if you live inside FancyZones, as I do, then it’s not necessarily something you’ll want to use a lot unless you like pulling your hair out.

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Richard Devine is a Managing Editor at Windows Central with over a decade of experience. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently, you’ll find him steering the site’s coverage of all manner of PC hardware and reviews. Find him on Mastodon atmstdn.social/@richdevine