Look, Microsoft Edge's F1 opens Copilot for Browser Help, Not the Help Page!

Microsoft is changing how users access “Help” in the Edge browser. The company is testing a new way that routes the “F1” shortcut to Copilot in the sidebar instead of the traditional “Microsoft Edge help & learning” web page.

Copilot is Microsoft’s built-in AI assistant that sits in the Edge sidebar. It can answer questions, summarize pages, generate content, and guide users through browser settings and issues.

Until now, pressing F1 in Edge opened a dedicated Microsoft support page that lists help articles and troubleshooting steps for the browser. Microsoft also highlights this shortcut under the Help and Feedback section in Edge’s main menu.

Microsoft Edge’s F1 Help Now Opens Copilot

That support page includes articles about browser features, troubleshooting advice, and links to official documentation that provide users with web-based answers to common problems.

In the latest Edge Dev version, we noticed Microsoft is replacing this with a “Help via Copilot” option in the Help and Feedback menu. Pressing F1 now opens Copilot in the sidebar with the following message:

“All queries in this session are related to Microsoft Edge. Provide specific guidance and wait for user input before responding.”

The addition of “Help via Copilot” in the menu confirms that Microsoft is experimenting with this direction.

Edge users who are used to pressing F1 for static help pages may soon find Copilot handling those queries directly inside the browser. It shows Microsoft wants Copilot to handle more of the help and support inside Edge.

It’s worth noting that this feature is still in testing. In the stable or release version of Edge, pressing F1 continues to open the Microsoft Edge Help and Learning page.

That’s not all. Microsoft is making the Edge PDF Viewer faster and rolling out Tab Search to everyone.