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title, description, ms.topic, ms.subservice, ms.date, ms.author, author, ms.collection, appliesto
| title | description | ms.topic | ms.subservice | ms.date | ms.author | author | ms.collection | appliesto | |||
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| Manage Recall for Windows clients | Learn how to manage Recall for commercial environments and about Recall features. | how-to | windows-copilot | 11/14/2024 | mstewart | mestew |
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Manage Recall
Looking for consumer information? See Retrace your steps with Recall.
Recall (preview) allows users to search locally saved and locally analyzed snapshots of their screen using natural language. By default, Recall is removed on commercially managed devices except for devices running Windows Home edition. IT admins, on their own, can't enable Recall for users. Recall is an opt-in experience that requires user consent to save snapshots. Users can choose to enable or disable Recall at any time. IT admins can only set policies that give users the option to enable snapshots and configure certain policies for Recall.
This article provides information about Recall and how to manage it in a commercial environment.
Note
- Recall is coming soon through a post-launch Windows update. See aka.ms/copilotpluspcs.
- For Copilot+ PCs that are running Windows Insiders, Recall (preview) is now available. For more information, see Placeholder WIP Blog link>.
- Recall is optimized for select languages English, Chinese (simplified), French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. Content-based and storage limitations apply. For more information, see https://aka.ms/nextgenaipcs.
What is Recall?
Recall (preview) allows you to search across time to find the content you need. Just describe how you remember it, and Recall retrieves the moment you saw it. Snapshots are taken periodically while content on the screen is different from the previous snapshot. The snapshots of your screen are organized into a timeline. Snapshots are locally stored and locally analyzed on your PC. Recall's analysis allows you to search for content, including both images and text, using natural language.
When Recall opens a snapshot you selected, it enables Click to Do, which runs on top of the saved snapshot. Click to Do analyzes what's in the snapshot and allows you to interact with individual elements in the snapshot. For instance, you can copy text from the snapshot or send pictures from the snapshot to an app that supports jpeg files.
:::image type="content" source="images/8908044-recall.png" alt-text="Screenshot of Recall with search results displayed for a query about a restaurant that the user's friend sent them." lightbox="images/8908044-recall.png":::
Recall security and privacy architecture
Privacy and security are built into Recall's design. With Copilot+ PCs, you get powerful AI that runs locally on the device. No internet or cloud connections are required or used to save and analyze snapshots. Snapshots aren't sent to Microsoft. Recall AI processing occurs locally, and snapshots are securely stored on the local device only.
Recall doesn't share snapshots with other users that are signed into Windows on the same device. Microsoft can't access or view the snapshots. Recall requires users to confirm their identity with Windows Hello before it launches and before accessing snapshots. At least one biometric sign-in option must be enabled for Windows Hello, either facial recognition or a fingerprint, to launch and use Recall. Before snapshots start getting saved the device, users need to open Recall and authenticate. Recall takes advantage of just in time decryption protected by Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security (ESS). Snapshots and any associated information in the vector database are always encrypted. Encryption keys are protected via Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which is tied to the user's Windows Hello ESS identity, and can be used by operations within a secure environment called a Virtualization-based Security Enclave (VBS Enclave). This means that other users can't access these keys and thus can't decrypt this information. Device Encryption or BitLocker are enabled by default on Windows 11. For more information, see Recall security and privacy architecture in the Windows Experience Blog.
When using Recall, the Sensitive Information Filtering setting is enabled by default to help ensure your data's confidentiality. This feature operates directly on the device, utilizing the NPU and the Microsoft Classification Engine (MCE), which is the same technology leveraged by Microsoft Purview for detecting and labeling sensitive information. When this setting is enabled, snapshots won't be saved when potentially sensitive information is detected. Most importantly, the sensitive information remains on the device at all times, regardless of whether the Sensitive Information Filtering setting is enabled or disabled. For more information about the types of potentially sensitive information, see Reference for sensitive information filtering in Recall.
In keeping with Microsoft's commitment to data privacy and security, all captured images and processed data are kept on the device and processed locally. However, Click to Do allows users to choose if they want to perform additional actions on their content.
Click to Do allows users to choose to get more information about their selected content online. When users choose one of the following Click to Do actions, the selected content is sent to the online provider from the local device to complete the request:
- Search the web: Sends the selected content to the default search engine of the default browser
- Open website: Opens the selected website in the default browser
- Visual search with Bing: Sends the selected content to Bing visual search using the default browser.
When users choose to send content from Click to Do to an app, like Paint, Click to Do will temporarily save the selected content in order to complete the transfer. Click to Do creates a temporary file in one of the following locations:
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\TempC:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Packages\MicrosoftWindows.Client.AIX_cw5n1h2txyewy\TempState
The temporary file is deleted once the app is finished with the content.
System requirements
Recall has the following minimum requirements:
- A Copilot+ PC
- 16 GB RAM
- 8 logical processors
- 256 GB storage capacity
- To enable Recall, you need at least 50 GB of space free
- Snapshot capture automatically pauses once the device has less than 25 GB of disk space
- Users need to enroll into Windows Hello with at least one biometric sign-in option enabled in order to authenticate.
Supported browsers
Users need a supported browser for Recall to filter websites and to automatically filter private browsing activity. Supported browsers, and their capabilities include:
- Microsoft Edge: blocks websites and filters private browsing activity
- Firefox: blocks websites and filters private browsing activity
- Opera: blocks websites and filters private browsing activity
- Google Chrome: blocks websites and filters private browsing activity
- Chromium based browsers (124 or later): For Chromium-based browsers not listed, filters private browsing activity only, doesn't block specific websites
Configure policies for Recall
By default, Recall is removed on commercially managed devices except for devices running Windows Home edition. If you want to allow Recall to be available for your users and allow them to choose to save snapshots, you need to configure both the Allow Recall to be enabled and Turn off saving snapshots for Windows policies. Policies for Recall fall into the following general areas:
Allow Recall and snapshots policies
The Allow Recall to be enabled policy setting allows you to determine whether the Recall optional component is available for end users to enable on their device. By default, Recall is disabled for managed commercial devices. Recall isn't available on managed devices by default, and individual users can't enable Recall on their own.
| Setting | |
|---|---|
| CSP | ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/AllowRecallEnablement |
| Group policy | Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Allow Recall to be enabled |
The Turn off saving snapshots for Windows policy allows you to give the users the choice to save snapshots of their screen for use with Recall. If snapshots were previously saved on a device, they'll be deleted when this policy is enabled. Administrators can't enable saving snapshots on behalf of their users. The choice to enable saving snapshots requires individual user opt-in consent.
| Setting | |
|---|---|
| CSP | ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/DisableAIDataAnalysis ./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/DisableAIDataAnalysis |
| Group policy | Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Turn off saving snapshots for Windows User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Turn off saving snapshots for Windows |
Storage policies
You can define how much disk space Recall can use by using the Set maximum storage for snapshots used by Recall policy. You can set the maximum amount of disk space for snapshots to be 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, or 150 GB. When the storage limit is reached, the oldest snapshots are deleted first. When this setting isn't configured, the OS configures the storage allocation for snapshots based on the device storage capacity. 25 GB is allocated when the device storage capacity is 256 GB. 75 GB is allocated when the device storage capacity is 512 GB. 150 GB is allocated when the device storage capacity is 1 TB or higher.
| Setting | |
|---|---|
| CSP | ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/SetMaximumStorageSpaceForRecallSnapshots ./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/SetMaximumStorageSpaceForRecallSnapshots |
| Group policy | Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Set maximum storage for snapshots used by Recall User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Set maximum storage for snapshots used by Recall |
You can define how long snapshots can be retained on the device by using the Set maximum duration for storing snapshots used by Recall policy. You can configure the maximum storage duration to be 30, 60, 90, or 180 days. If the policy isn't configured, snapshots aren't deleted until the maximum storage allocation is reached, and then the oldest snapshots are deleted first.
| Setting | |
|---|---|
| CSP | ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/SetMaximumStorageDurationForRecallSnapshots ./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/SetMaximumStorageDurationForRecallSnapshots |
| Group policy | Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Set maximum storage for snapshots used by Recall User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Set maximum duration for storing snapshots used by Recall |
App and website filtering policies
You can filter both apps and websites from being saved in snapshots. Users are able to add to these filter lists from the Recall & Snapshots settings page. Some applications are automatically excluded from snapshots. For more information, see the Applications that are automatically excluded from snapshots section.
To filter apps from being saved in snapshots, use the Set a list of URIs to be filtered from snapshots for Recall policy. Define the list using a semicolon to separate URIs. Make sure you include the URL scheme such as http://, ftp://, file://, https://www.. Sites local to a supported browser like edge://, or chrome://, are filtered by default.
| Setting | |
|---|---|
| CSP | ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/SetDenyUriListForRecall ./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/SetDenyUriListForRecall |
| Group policy | Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > >Set a list of URIs to be filtered from snapshots for Recall User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > >Set a list of URIs to be filtered from snapshots for Recall |
Set a list of apps to be filtered from snapshots for Recall policy allows you to filter apps from being saved in snapshots. Define the list using a semicolon to separate apps. The list can include Application User Model IDs (AUMID) or the name of the executable file.
| Setting | |
|---|---|
| CSP | ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/SetDenyAppListForRecall ./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/SetDenyAppListForRecall |
| Group policy | Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Set a list of apps to be filtered from snapshots for Recall User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Set a list of apps to be filtered from snapshots for Recall |
Applications that are automatically excluded from snapshots
Snapshots won't be saved when certain applications are being used. The following apps are automatically excluded from snapshots:
- Supported web browsers when using private browsing
- Like other Windows apps, such as the Snipping Tool, Recall won't store digital rights management (DRM) content
- Some remote desktop connection apps:
- mstsc.exe
- VMConnect.exe
- Microsoft Remote Desktop from the Microsoft Store is saved in snapshots. To prevent the app from being saved in snapshots, add it to the app filtering list.
- Azure Virtual Desktop (MSI)
- Azure Virtual Desktop apps from the Microsoft Store are saved in snapshots. To prevent these apps from being saved in snapshots, add then to the app filtering list.
- remote applications integrated locally (RAIL) windows
Information for developers
If you're a developer and want to launch Recall, you can call the ms-recall protocol URI. When you call this URI, Recall opens and takes a snapshot of the screen, which is the default behavior for when Recall is launched. For more information about using Recall in your Windows app, see Recall overview in the Windows AI API documentation.
Microsoft's commitment to responsible AI
Microsoft has been on a responsible AI journey since 2017, when we defined our principles and approach to ensuring this technology is used in a way that is driven by ethical principles that put people first. For more about our responsible AI journey, the ethical principles that guide us, and the tooling and capabilities we've created to assure that we develop AI technology responsibly, see Responsible AI.
Recall uses optical character recognition (OCR), local to the PC, to analyze snapshots and facilitate search. For more information about OCR, see Transparency note and use cases for OCR. For more information about privacy and security, see Privacy and control over your Recall experience.