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Paint Cocreator turns a rough sketch and a text prompt into AI-generated artwork inside Microsoft Paint. It is not available on every Windows 11 computer: Microsoft’s current documentation requires a Copilot+ PC, the latest Paint app, a Microsoft account, and an internet connection. Once available, you can draw the composition you want, describe it, choose a creativity level and style, then apply the generated image to the Paint canvas for further editing.
What is Paint Cocreator?
Cocreator is Microsoft’s sketch-guided image-generation feature in Paint for Windows 11. Instead of relying on a text prompt alone, it combines two inputs:
- a natural-language description of the image, and
- a drawing made directly on the Paint canvas.
Your sketch supplies rough composition, shapes, placement and colors. Cocreator interprets those marks and produces artwork in a side pane. Select the result you prefer to apply it to the canvas, where you can continue using Paint’s ordinary drawing and editing tools.
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For example, you could draw a large yellow circle in the upper-right corner, a blue horizontal area across the bottom and a simple dark shape in the middle. A matching prompt might be “A blue sailboat on calm ocean water, large sun in the upper-right corner, simple oil-painting style.” The sketch does not need to be polished; it is a visual guide.
Microsoft recommends making the artwork directly on the Paint canvas, using broad strokes, including desired colors, filling a substantial portion of the canvas and writing a specific prompt. See Microsoft’s current Cocreator instructions for the feature’s supported workflow.
Does your PC support Cocreator?
The most important compatibility fact is this: Windows 11 and Paint alone are not enough. Microsoft currently says Cocreator requires a Copilot+ PC.
These terms describe different things:
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Windows 11 | The operating system. |
| Microsoft Paint | The drawing application. |
| Copilot+ PC | A hardware category with an NPU capable of supporting designated local AI features. |
Check the manufacturer’s specifications or Windows device information for Copilot+ branding and NPU support. Even an NPU-equipped Windows computer may not expose every Paint AI feature: availability can vary by device, software version, market and rollout status.
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Microsoft’s WindowsAI Policy CSP documentation lists Cocreator-related administrative controls for Windows 11 version 22H2 and later on supported Pro, Enterprise, Education and IoT Enterprise editions. That is a policy reference, not proof that every device running those editions supports the consumer feature. The current Paint support page’s separate Copilot+ requirement still applies.
Other prerequisites
- Windows 11.
- A compatible Copilot+ PC.
- The latest available Paint update from the Microsoft Store.
- A Microsoft account signed in to Paint or Windows as required by the feature.
- An active internet connection.
- A supported region and language configuration.
- No organizational policy disabling Cocreator.
Microsoft says Cocreator is optimized for English prompts. Other languages may work less reliably or produce weaker results.
How to create an image with Cocreator
- Open Paint. Use the Windows Start menu or search for Paint.
- Update the app. Open the Microsoft Store, go to your library or updates area, and install any available Microsoft Paint update. Restart Paint afterward.
- Open Cocreator. Select the Cocreator icon on Paint’s toolbar. The Cocreator pane opens beside the canvas.
- Write a prompt. Describe the subject, setting, composition, colors, lighting and visual treatment you want.
- Draw a guide. Use the mouse, touchscreen or stylus to place broad strokes and simple forms on the canvas. Put major objects where you want them to appear.
- Wait for generation. Cocreator displays generated artwork in the side pane while it interprets the prompt and sketch.
- Adjust creativity. Lower settings generally keep the result closer to your drawing. Higher settings allow more imaginative interpretation and variation.
- Choose a style. Select the available style that best suits the image, such as watercolor or oil painting.
- Apply a result. Click the generated image you prefer in the side pane to place it on the Paint canvas.
- Edit and save. Continue with Paint’s regular tools, then use Paint’s normal save controls to save the finished file.
The exact controls and labels can change as Microsoft updates Paint. If your pane looks different from older tutorials, follow the controls shown in your current version rather than instructions that refer to an older Image Creator interface.
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How to write better Cocreator prompts
A useful prompt pattern is:
Subject + setting + composition + colors + lighting + visual style
Examples:
- “A red fox sitting beside a snowy pine forest at sunrise, centered composition, warm orange and blue colors, watercolor illustration.”
- “A small futuristic house on a hill, broad green landscape, sunset behind the house, children’s storybook style.”
- “A blue sailboat on calm ocean water, large sun in the upper-right corner, simple oil-painting style.”
The sketch should reinforce the prompt rather than contradict it. If you ask for a red fox on the left but draw the main shape on the right, the result may favor one input over the other.
Use the sketch as a composition map
- Use broad strokes for major objects instead of tiny details.
- Place objects approximately where they should appear in the final image.
- Use colors that correspond to the colors in your prompt.
- Fill a meaningful portion of the canvas; a tiny mark in an otherwise empty canvas provides little spatial guidance.
- Draw simple color blocks and silhouettes when location matters more than detail.
- Keep the prompt and drawing consistent.
Lower creativity is useful when preserving your sketch’s layout matters. Raise it when the sketch is only a loose idea and you want Cocreator to invent more of the scene.
Understanding Creativity and Style
| Control | What a lower or restrained setting tends to do | What a higher or more interpretive choice tends to do |
|---|---|---|
| Creativity | Keeps the output closer to the sketch’s composition and forms. | Allows more AI interpretation, variation and imaginative detail. |
| Style | Uses the visual treatment selected in the interface. | Changes the character of the artwork according to the selected style rather than acting as a numerical creativity range. |
Microsoft explicitly describes creativity as a trade-off between following the sketch and allowing more variation. Do not treat the slider as a resolution, quality or generation-count control unless your current Paint version specifically labels it that way.
If Cocreator is missing or will not generate
Work through these checks in order. The first question is hardware, not whether Paint is installed.
- Verify Copilot+ status. A standard Windows 11 laptop or desktop can have Paint without having Cocreator.
- Update Paint. Open the Microsoft Store and install pending Paint updates.
- Restart Paint. Close every Paint window and reopen the app after updating.
- Sign in. Confirm that a Microsoft account is available and signed in.
- Connect to the internet. Cocreator requires online services even though Microsoft describes image generation as using the PC’s NPU.
- Check region and language. Availability can vary, and English is the recommended prompt language.
- Check organization policy. On a work or school PC, an administrator may have enabled the
DisableCocreatorpolicy. - Look on the toolbar. The control is labeled Cocreator; do not assume it will appear under a generic AI menu.
- Install pending Windows and Store updates. Reboot Windows after updates if required.
If the button appears but generation fails, simplify the prompt, try English, draw larger and clearer shapes, and remove requests involving sensitive, harmful or potentially restricted content. A temporary authentication or service problem can also prevent generation.
When the result ignores your sketch
- Lower the creativity setting.
- Draw major objects in their intended positions and approximate proportions.
- Fill more of the canvas.
- Use clear color blocks instead of fine details.
- State the composition explicitly in the prompt.
When the image contains strange text, faces or objects
Regenerate with a simpler prompt and avoid requesting signs, labels or exact text. After applying the result, use Paint’s editing tools to correct what you can. Always inspect the image before sharing it: AI artwork can contain unintended lettering, distorted anatomy, extra objects, recognizable logos or faces that do not belong in the scene. Use Paint’s feedback control to report inappropriate or unexpected output.
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Is Paint Cocreator free, and does it use credits?
Microsoft’s documentation is not completely uniform because it describes more than one generation of Paint’s AI features.
The newer Copilot+ Paint support page says there are no restrictions on how many images users can generate with these features. Separately, an older Microsoft page for Image Creator in Paint describes a cloud-based DALL·E workflow involving AI credits, including credits associated with some Microsoft 365 plans.
Those pages should not be merged into one universal rule. The exact behavior may depend on the Paint build, region, account and interface shown on your PC. For the current Copilot+ Cocreator experience, use the controls and terms displayed in the in-app pane and Microsoft’s current support documentation. Do not purchase Microsoft 365 solely to unlock Cocreator without first checking your actual Paint version.
Privacy, online processing and content credentials
“Runs locally” does not mean “works offline.” Microsoft describes image generation as using the computer’s NPU, while Azure cloud services provide authentication, content filtering and other safe-use systems. You still need to be signed in and online.
Microsoft says it collects device and user identifiers and prompts for abuse prevention and monitoring. It also says it does not store input images or generated images. These statements are not contradictory: image storage and prompt or identifier processing are separate issues.
For that reason, avoid putting confidential business information, personal data, private photographs or sensitive details into prompts. Read Microsoft’s current privacy and service terms if your work involves regulated or confidential material.
C2PA is not the same as a visible watermark
Microsoft says Cocreator-generated images contain a C2PA manifest, a provenance record intended to help identify how an image was created. This is metadata or content-credential information, not necessarily a visible “AI-generated” mark on the picture.
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As with metadata generally, provenance information may be removed or lost when an image is exported, edited, screenshotted or processed by another application. Its presence does not by itself establish copyright ownership, and it does not guarantee that every downstream copy will retain the record.
Responsible use and copyright
Microsoft places responsibility on the user not to create or share material that infringes rights or privacy, breaks the law or causes harm. Content filters are not perfect, and Microsoft says repeated abusive use can result in suspension.
Use particular care with:
- another person’s likeness, especially without permission;
- private or sensitive personal content;
- living artists’ names used to request imitations;
- branded characters, logos and commercial assets; and
- images intended for commercial publication.
Do not assume an AI-generated image is automatically free of copyright, trademark, publicity-rights or privacy concerns. For commercial work, retain your prompt history and records for any source material, inspect the output for copied-looking elements and obtain appropriate legal advice where the risk matters.
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Paint’s AI names can refer to different workflows:
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cocreator | Creates artwork from a text prompt combined with a sketch drawn on the Paint canvas. |
| Image Creator | An older or separate Paint workflow documented by Microsoft as a cloud-based DALL·E experience with AI credits and different controls. |
| Generative Fill | Adds AI-generated content inside a selected area. Microsoft says this requires a Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PC. |
| Object Select | Detects and isolates objects so you can move, copy, erase or use related editing features such as generative fill. |
These tools should not be treated as interchangeable. If a tutorial tells you to generate three variants, spend credits or use DALL·E, it may be describing the older Image Creator experience rather than the current Copilot+ Cocreator workflow.
When Cocreator is—and is not—a good fit
Cocreator makes sense if you already own a Copilot+ PC, want a simple desktop workflow and like guiding an illustration with your own rough drawing. It is especially approachable for casual creators, students, educators and hobbyists who want to continue editing in Paint.
It is a poor fit if you need offline generation, advanced layers and masking, seeds, negative prompts, inpainting, outpainting, batch generation, precise typography, professional color management or guaranteed commercial rights. Buying an expensive computer solely for Paint Cocreator is difficult to justify; browser-based tools may work on more hardware, while traditional Paint remains the better choice for fully manual work.
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Should you buy a Copilot+ PC for Cocreator?
If you already need a new Windows laptop, a Copilot+ model with a touchscreen and active-pen support can be a sensible choice when sketch-guided AI art is important. A stylus is a workflow improvement, not a universal Cocreator requirement, and it will not make the feature appear on incompatible hardware.
The restrained buying advice is to choose a Copilot+ PC for the broader feature set—such as local AI capabilities, battery life, pen input or general performance—not for Paint alone. Microsoft’s current Surface Laptop for Business Copilot+ listing, for example, was observed at $1,999.99 for a configuration with Windows 11 Pro, an Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD on August 16, 2026. That is a business model and not a universal or cheapest price; configurations and availability change.
Likewise, Microsoft 365 subscriptions may provide value for Office apps, OneDrive and broader Microsoft AI usage, but the existence of those plans is not evidence that a subscription is required for the current Cocreator experience. Verify the behavior in your Paint build before paying for a plan.
Alternatives
- Microsoft Designer: Better suited to text-prompt image creation, graphic layouts and social-media-style designs. See Microsoft’s Designer FAQ.
- Microsoft Photos Image Creator: A separate Copilot+ PC image-creation experience, documented in Microsoft’s Photos Image Creator FAQ.
- Traditional Paint: The practical choice when you lack compatible hardware or need a fully manual workflow.
- Other cloud image services: These may offer broader models and editing controls, but introduce separate accounts, privacy policies, limits and commercial-use terms that must be assessed individually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a stylus with Paint Cocreator?
Yes. Microsoft’s workflow accepts drawing on the Paint canvas, and a mouse, touch input or stylus can be used. A stylus is helpful for natural sketching but is not a substitute for the Copilot+ PC requirement.
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Microsoft says Cocreator is optimized for English prompts. Other languages may produce degraded results.
Can an administrator block Cocreator?
Yes. On supported managed Windows editions, an administrator can use the WindowsAI policy setting named DisableCocreator.
Are Cocreator images commercially safe?
No universal guarantee applies. Review images for copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity-rights and other issues, and keep records of prompts and source material for commercial projects.
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