Microsoft Approves ChatGPT Plugin for Venerable PowerToys App

Plans to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Microsoft PowerToys for Windows 10 and 11 have been approved. It’s an interesting case of his resurrected 1990s Windows accessories program being completely modern.Software Engineer Simone Franco I’m working on something called “ChatGPT Plugin for Microsoft PowerToys Run”.

The 2020’s Microsoft PowerToys reboot continues to evolve and expand with useful and modern features that were initially unimaginable. About ChatGPT Plugin for Microsoft PowerToys Run GitHub project page, Franco hints that a test version of the plugin was created in just two hours and was warmly received by Microsoft. After some discussion, Microsoft PowerToys PM Clint Rutkas asked Franco to improve the project and make it available as his plugin to the community. It’s a work in progress.

Not sure power toys run (opens in new tab), it is primarily a keyboard-driven quick launcher, with convenience and high performance at its core. To invoke it, PowerToys users simply press Alt+Space and start typing to narrow down to an application, folder, or file (or process). PowerToys Run can also execute system commands, perform simple calculations, convert units, and more.

Using PowerToys Run with ChatGPT via this plugin is simple and intuitive. Windows users invoke the PowerToys Run UI dialog box in the usual way and enter “??”. Enter the query (without quotes), ending with a single question mark before finally pressing Enter to wait for the response. Franco intends to change the “??” Shortcut for plugin activation as it conflicts with normal search. This is just one of several things you need to do to prepare your plugin for prime time.

Here are some other important things that the ChatGPT plugin for Microsoft PowerToys Run needs to do before general release: How a user can save his OpenAI API key, improve answer display UI (see above, should be extended), implement answer copy click action, localization, and a few other things.