"Copy and Paste" as the Ultimate AI Feature? PowerToys Advanced Paste Now Supports On-Device AI: AI Copy & Paste Powered by NPU is Changing the Way We Work

1. What Happened: Copy-Paste Takes Center Stage in the AI Era

Many users never imagined that "copy-paste" would become such a newsworthy topic.
However, Microsoft has significantly advanced the Advanced Paste tool included in the free Windows 11 utility suite "PowerToys," positioning it as an entry point into the AI era.

In the latest PowerToys v0.96, Advanced Paste now integrates with local AI runtimes like Foundry Local and Ollama, enabling AI processing using the PC's built-in NPU (Neural Processing Unit).The Verge

A future is beginning where translation, summarization, and code conversion of copied text can be done "on the spot" without relying on large cloud models.

2. What is Advanced Paste?

Advanced Paste was originally introduced in PowerToys 0.81 as a tool to "re-paste clipboard contents nicely."誤字は文化

Its representative features include the following:

• Converting clipboard contents to plain text, Markdown, JSON, etc., and pasting them

• Activating specific format pasting like "Paste as Markdown" directly with shortcut keys

• Demonstrated use cases of mutual conversion between Office apps like Word/Excel/Loop and MarkdownQiita

Articles on Qiita have been published evaluating it as allowing coexistence with Markdown without being locked into Office formats, gradually gaining support among developers and documentation professionals.Qiita

Initially, in addition to local conversion, it was possible to register an OpenAI API key and send processing to ChatGPT models, but this had constraints such as "requiring API charges and sending text to an external cloud."Windows Central

3. What's Changed in v0.96: On-Device AI and Multi-Model Support

Based on reports from The Verge and Windows Central, the key points of the v0.96 update are as follows.The Verge

1. On-Device AI Support via Foundry Local / Ollama

   • Foundry Local is a runtime for running open-source models provided by Azure AI Foundry on a local PC.Microsoft for Developers

   • Ollama is a popular tool for running LLMs locally and is available for Windows/macOS/Linux.株式会社コムセント

   • Advanced Paste collaborates with these to enable fast and highly private inference using the PC's NPU.The Verge

2. Significant Expansion of Supported AI Models

   • Previously, only OpenAI models were supported, but now multiple providers including Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini, and Mistral are supported.The Verge

   • Cloud models and local models can be switched and used from the same UI.

3. UI Overhaul

   • The text in the clipboard is displayed in a dialog, and you can select which model to process it with from a dropdown.The Verge

   • It provides a visible way to see which AI is being used for what, making it easier to explain in corporate use.

4. Enhancement of Existing Features

   • Advanced Paste not only handles text but also features transcription from images and transcoding of audio/video to MP3/MP4.Windows Central

   • In v0.96, other utilities like Command Palette and PowerRename have also been improved, bringing PowerToys closer to a "productivity OS kit."Windows Central

4. How Can It Be Used in Practice? Specific Scenarios

How can Advanced Paste, now supporting on-device AI, be useful in daily work? Let's explore some easily imaginable scenarios.

4-1. "30-Second Summaries" of Long Emails and Specifications

• Copy long text in email clients or Word

• Win + Shift + V to open Advanced Paste and select the "Summarize (Japanese)" prompt

• The local model generates a summary in seconds, ready to paste into chat tools or memo apps

Since it doesn't go through a cloud API, the psychological barrier is lowered even for documents containing confidential information.The Verge

4-2. Multilingual Chat Support

• Copy an English email received from overseas and obtain a Japanese translation

• Conversely, translate content written in Japanese into English to draft a reply

For companies hesitant to use SaaS for AI translation services, translation via local models is attractive.The Verge

4-3. Code Conversion and Format Adjustment

On social media, developers have posted about "pasting while converting XML to JSON with Advanced Paste."X (formerly Twitter)

• Roughly rewriting existing scripts into another language

• Performing format conversions like JSON/YAML/CSV in one go

• Formatting according to coding standards

In such uses, it becomes a kind of "AI copilot."

4-4. Text Transcription from PDFs and Screenshots

In addition to combining with other PowerToys features like "Text Extractor," Advanced Paste itself also has a function to extract text from images.Windows Central

• Copy a screenshot

• Execute "Text Extraction + Markdown Formatting" with Advanced Paste

• Paste directly into a document

This makes report creation and organizing interview notes significantly easier.

5. Reactions on Social Media: Welcoming Mood and Realistic Perspectives

How has the "on-device AI support" been received on social media? Looking at reactions on X (formerly Twitter) and tech blogs, three main tones emerge.

5-1. Enthusiasm from Developers and Power Users

The PowerToys development leader has also posted in past releases that "the evolution of Advanced Paste is exciting," and the community has been looking forward to it from the beginning.X (formerly Twitter)

In this v0.96 update,

• "Windows has finally become an 'AI copy-paste OS'"

• "It's the small features like this that change work the most"

are some of the positive comments that stand out.

In a survey by the official Windows developer account asking "Which PowerToys feature do you use the most?" Advanced Paste is gathering popularity second only to FancyZones.X (formerly Twitter)

5-2. Realistic Evaluation from the Japanese Community

In Japan, detailed verification articles have been published on Qiita, stating that it is "practical enough as a bridge connecting MS 365 and Markdown."Qiita

• Experiments converting Markdown tables and headings to Office formats and back to Markdown##HTML_TAG