Windows Copilot and New Outlook for Windows Come to All Dev Channel Insiders

Microsoft has just released the Windows 11 preview build 23506 for Insiders on the Dev Channel. This build makes the Windows Copilot Preview, which started rolling out with the build 23493 three weeks ago available to all Dev Channel testers. The new web-based Outlook for Windows, which is set to replace the Windows 11 Mail and Calendar apps in 2024 is also available as an inbox app in this build.

There are a couple of other new features in this build as well as a notable removal: Microsoft has temporarily disabled the new Settings homepage that made its debut last month alongside the Windows Copilot preview due to stability issues. “We plan to re-enable and roll this back out once that bug is fixed in a future flight,” the Windows Insider team said today.

In addition to Windows Copilot and the new Outlook for Windows shipping to all Dev Channel testers, here are the main new features in today’s build 23506:

Passwordless experience with Windows Hello for Business: A new policy lets IT pros hide passwords from certain Windows authentication scenarios on Azure AD joined devices.

Unsafe password copy and paste warnings: Users who have enabled warning options for Enhanced Phishing Protection in Microsoft Defender SmartScreen will now see warning pop-ups when copying/pasting unsafe passwords.

Redesigned Windows share window: The Windows share window now matches the design of Windows 11 and has a new search box, more suggestion contacts, and Outlook share support.

New Post-OOBE experiences: Select Insiders may see different experiences to help them complete their device setup during the Windows 11 out-of-box experience.

New Energy recommendations: The Settings > System > Power & battery > Energy recommendations page now offers two new suggestions for turning on dark mode and adjusting the refresh rate.

New 3D emoji: The 3D emoji that Microsoft previously brought to Microsoft Teams are now available on Windows 11.

If you want to do a clean install of today’s build 23506, Microsoft has made ISOs available on its website. This can help if you want to test the new post-OOBE experiences and the Windows Backup app, which lets you back up all your apps, settings, credentials, as well as up to 5 GB of your folders in the cloud for free.