Key Assistant: questions and answers

Short answers to what people ask first about Key Assistant, the free AI desktop assistant for Windows and Mac. Each one says only what Key does today.

What is Key Assistant?

Key is a free personal assistant that lives on your computer. You speak to it or type to it, and it does the job in your real apps: it opens your apps, finds your files and changes your settings, then tells you what it did. It is a desktop assistant, not a chat window: it uses the computer the way you do.

Is Key free?

Yes. Key is free to download, with no card and no trial. Every feature is in the free version; nothing is held back for a paid one.

Which computers does Key run on?

Windows 10 and Windows 11, and any Mac with macOS 11 Big Sur or newer, on Intel or Apple Silicon. On a Mac it is one download for both kinds of chip. It is the same assistant on both, with the same rules.

Do I have to talk to it, or can I type?

Either, and you can switch whenever you like. The microphone and the chat run the same assistant and give the same result. Key answers out loud too, in a normal sentence. Speak when your hands are busy or you are across the room; type when you are somewhere quiet or the request is long.

What can I ask Key to do?

Everyday jobs on the computer, in your own words. Half a sentence is enough. People ask things like "Find my March bill", "Turn the brightness down", "Make the text bigger", "Mute everything", "Empty my Downloads into folders", "Where did that download go?", "What's eating my battery?" and "Join my 4 o'clock meeting".

This is what one request looks like:

How is Key different from a chatbot?

A chatbot answers in words: it can tell you where a setting is, and then you change it yourself. Key goes and changes it. It works in the real windows you already use, such as mail, the browser, documents and the settings, and presses the real buttons. There is nothing to connect first.

Can Key find a file if I forgot its name?

Yes. Key finds files by what is inside them, not just the name, and reads the document to be sure it found the right one. If two files match what you said, it asks which one you meant instead of guessing.

Can Key spend my money?

Only when you say yes. Key fills a checkout in completely and then stops and waits. Your yes covers that one payment, on that one site, once, and it is never remembered for next time.

Will Key type my passwords?

No. A login screen is yours. Key tells you what is being asked for and goes no further, on any site, every time. It does not store a password either.

Can Key delete my files?

Not for good. Anything Key removes goes to the Recycle Bin or the Trash, where you can put it straight back. There is no permanent delete in the program at all.

How do I know Key did it right?

Key reads the result back before it reports it, for example by reading a moved file back off the disk. When it could not check, it tells you that instead of pretending it worked, and a failure comes back as a failure.

Can Key remind me of things?

Yes. Tell it what and when, the way you would tell a friend, and Key speaks up when the time comes. When a meeting turns up in your messages, it can put it in your calendar and remind you before it starts.

Will it get in my way while I work?

It stays out of the way at the top of your screen until you speak to it or open the chat. While it works it shows a small panel so you can see each step, and you can stop it at any point.

How do I start?

Download Key for Windows or Mac from the button below and run it. Sign in when it asks. Then speak to it or open the chat and type something small, like "turn the brightness down", and watch what it does.

More: what a desktop assistant can do, is it safe to let an assistant use your computer, and all the guides.

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