Release notes

Fixed

• After the 0.22.0 encryption update, small leftovers of previously opened emails could stay on disk for a while. They are now removed completely when the app starts and when it closes. Nothing to do on your side.

New

• Your data on this PC is now encrypted. Mail, drafts, Knowledge, Counsel's conversations and cases, and saved pictures and attachments are encrypted on your device. It happens once, on the first start, in a few seconds, with nothing to set up or type.
• Settings → Security shows "Your data on this PC: Encrypted".

Good to know

• A copied data folder no longer opens on another PC or after Windows is reinstalled. Keep automatic backup files turned on: they are the way to move or recover your data.
• Older versions cannot read encrypted data. If you go back to an older version, it offers the copy "Before your data was encrypted", kept for 7 days. Changes made after the update are not in that copy.

Improved

• The storyline and open items of a case now show the newest first.
• In a case's storyline, a paperclip marks events whose emails have readable attachments. Tick the emails to read; your selection stays while you scroll, with Read attachments at the bottom of the page.
• Only attachments that can be read are offered. Files the app cannot read, such as 3D models and archives, are shown greyed out.

Fixed

• Longer cases no longer stop with "the storyline could not be read". The app now retries automatically before asking you to press Resume.

New

• Counsel can tidy your mail. Ask it to archive emails, or to star or unstar them ("archive last week's newsletters"). It shows the emails on a card: untick any you want to keep, then confirm. Nothing changes until you confirm, and Undo puts everything back.
• Many more attachments open in the preview, and Counsel can read them: older Excel, Word and PowerPoint files (.xls, .doc, .ppt), LibreOffice files (.odt, .ods, .odp), RTF, emails attached to emails (.eml, .msg), and faxes and scans saved as TIFF.
• In a case, tick the emails whose attachments you want read, or name them to Counsel. The case notes and storyline are updated with what the attachments say. Only the emails you choose are read.

Improved

• Every attachment preview is centred in the window; Excel sheets no longer stick to the left.
• The privacy notice now describes what Counsel can do. You will be asked to accept it once.
• Security updates to the components that send and receive mail.

New

• Attachments are easier to spot in the mail list. An email with one attachment shows it as a small card with its icon and name. An email with several shows, for example, "3 files": click it to see them all with their type and size, and open or download any of them.

Improved

• Each file type (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, pictures and more) has its own icon, the same in the list and in the open email.

Fixed

• A damaged Word, Excel or PowerPoint file is now reported as damaged, in the preview and when you ask Counsel, instead of showing an unclear error.

New

• Counsel finds things in long attachments. Ask for a name, a phone number or a word in a long file, such as a contact list in Excel. Counsel searches the whole file on your PC and reads only the matching rows, with their column headings. Before, it read only the start of a long file.
• Capitals and accents don't matter, words can be in any order, and phone numbers match with or without spaces.

Improved

• Security update to an underlying component of the app. Counsel OS only accepts connections from your own PC, so the risk was low, but we recommend installing this update.

Fixed

• A case that was being built when the app closed no longer appears as still building. It now shows as stopped, and Resume continues where it left off.

Improved

• Talk to Counsel by pressing the microphone once, speaking, and pressing it again to send. You no longer have to hold it. Ctrl+Space works the same way. After 20 seconds of silence, what you said is sent automatically.
• New case in the sidebar now starts a new conversation, so the case is not mixed into what you were discussing. Your earlier conversation stays in the history.

New

• Conversation history. The history button at the top of Counsel lists your conversations. Open one to carry on where you left off, or rename or delete it.
• Settings → Assistant can delete conversations you haven't used for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months.

Improved

• Long conversations no longer lose their beginning: Counsel keeps the recent part as is and remembers the rest as a summary, shown at the top.
• A small meter shows how much of the AI model's memory the last answer used. When it gets high, Counsel offers to start fresh, either empty or with a short summary of where you were.
• Settings → AI drafting shows each model's memory size, and you can change it.

New

• Cases: everything your mail says about one matter, as a story. Ask, for example, "Find everything about my stay in Brussels: tax, VAT, the accountant." Counsel searches all your mailboxes and shows what it found. Press Build and it reads the emails and writes the story.
• A case shows a summary, a timeline of what happened, what is still open (with Draft a reply), who was involved and the key facts. It can keep working in the background.
• Your cases are under Assistant in the sidebar, with New case. On a case's page, Look for new mail brings it up to date, and Save to Knowledge offers its summary and facts as a note you can accept.
• With a case open, Counsel answers from that case.

Improved

• The privacy notice and terms are updated. You will be asked to accept them once.

New

• Counsel uses your Knowledge. Ask naturally, for example "Introduce the company and list our services" or "What is my rate?". Counsel picks the notes that fit and lists them under its answer as Knowledge used; each opens the note.
• When a reply needs your prices or terms, Counsel writes it from those notes. The draft card shows which notes were used, and you can ask it to use different ones.
• Tell Counsel who an email is for by name or address. If several people match, or no one does, it asks you.
• To keep Knowledge out of Counsel, turn off Counsel reads Knowledge in Settings → Assistant.

Good to know

• What you say in the conversation always takes priority, and Counsel never changes your notes.
• The privacy notice and terms are updated. You will be asked to accept them once.

New

• Talk to Counsel. Hold the microphone beside Send, or hold Ctrl+Space, ask your question and let go. It uses the dictation you chose in Settings.
• Counsel can look at photos, screenshots and scanned PDFs attached to your emails, when your AI model supports pictures. If it doesn't, Counsel tells you.

Improved

• The privacy notice and terms are updated. You will be asked to accept them once.

New

• Counsel writes your emails. Ask it to reply ("Reply to the last one: we accept") or to write a new email. It drafts in your style, with your signature, and offers Shorter, Change, or Review and send, which opens the draft in your inbox. You always press Send yourself.
• Counsel reads attachments when your question needs them: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and text files.
• Excel and Word attachments open in the preview: a workbook as a sheet with a tab for each sheet, and a Word document as a page.

Improved

• With Counsel open, the inbox list stays usable beside an open email.
• The privacy notice and terms are updated. You will be asked to accept them once.

New

• Meet Counsel, an assistant for your mail. Turn it on in Settings → Assistant, then press J or choose Ask Counsel in the sidebar and ask in your own words. Counsel searches your mail, reads what it needs and answers with the emails it used: click one to read it.
• Counsel reads only when you ask, and what it reads is sent to the AI provider you chose. In this version it cannot send, archive or delete mail.

Improved

• The privacy notice and terms are updated. You will be asked to accept them once.

Improved

• Search covers all your mail on this PC: Inbox, archived mail, Sent and your folders (never Trash or Spam). Results outside the Inbox show where they are.
• A moment after you stop typing, search also checks Gmail, Outlook or your mail server, so older emails that were never downloaded show up too. They download when you open them. If the server can't be reached, you can try again.
• Results are listed newest first.

Improved

• The remaining English text now follows your chosen app language: Teach Counsel, the tray menu, the start-up screen and its dialogs. Changing the language in Settings updates the tray immediately.

New

• Choose how much the AI thinks before it answers. Settings → AI drafting has a Thinking setting for each provider. It starts on the provider's default; a lower level answers sooner.
• Available levels are detected when you add or edit a provider. For existing providers, press Check thinking levels once. Models without the setting say so.

Improved

• Knowledge is fully in your control. Drafts use only the notes you pinned and the ones you add with + Add. Notes are no longer added automatically.
• A note is now a simple list of lines: click a line to change it, remove it, or add new ones below. What you see is exactly what drafts use.
• • Add suggests notes at the top, with the reason, but never adds them for you. Suggestions can be turned off in Settings → Knowledge.
• "Try on an email" is now "Try suggestions": write what the reply should say and see what + Add would suggest.

Improved

• Each note on the Knowledge page has a pin. Click it to include the note in every draft, or click again to take it out, without opening the note.
• New notes are no longer included in every draft by default; you decide with the pin.
• Notes stay in their own section; a pinned note shows a filled pin and "In every draft".

Improved

• In the composer, + Add now has tick boxes, so you can add several Knowledge notes to a draft at once.
• A draft can use much more of your Knowledge, and notes you add yourself always come first. If a note doesn't fit, it shows as "no room" instead of disappearing.

Fixed

• A note containing only key facts could reach the draft as just its title.

New

• Import a whole website into Knowledge. Knowledge → Import → Website finds the site's pages and lists them with tick boxes. Choose up to 30 pages and they are read together, sub-pages included. You can also add a page by its address.

Improved

• Drafts, translations, summaries, compose, dictation and Knowledge now wait longer for the AI provider (up to 90 seconds), so models that think before answering no longer stop with "timed out". Teach Counsel waits longer for each question too.

Fixed

• Translating an email could occasionally fail with an error and work on the next try. It now works the first time. The same fix applies to drafts, sorting, dictation and Knowledge.

New

• More than one AI provider. Settings → AI drafting is now a list. Add other providers or models (a new one can reuse a key you already saved) and switch with one click when one stops answering.
• A new provider is tested when you save it, and you are told what's wrong: the key, the model, or a provider that is busy or not answering.

Improved

• When the AI doesn't answer in time, the app stops waiting, says so and offers to choose another provider. Before, Teach Counsel could wait indefinitely.

New

• Counsel OS in Slovenian. The whole app, including menus, buttons, messages, dates and times, can now be in Slovenian. Choose English, Slovenščina or Same as Windows (the default) in Settings → Language → App language.
• The privacy notice and terms of use are available in Slovenian. Their content is otherwise unchanged; you will be asked to accept them once.

Fixed

• With an email open, the back button on your mouse now closes the email and returns to the inbox, instead of jumping to the previous page.

Improved

• Maintenance release with internal clean-up. Nothing changes in how the app looks or works.

Improved

• Maintenance release with internal clean-up. Nothing changes in how the app looks or works.

Fixed

• An Outlook email found by search but not yet downloaded to this PC now opens.

New

• Older mail. The app now fetches older mail from Gmail, Outlook and IMAP, a little at a time: by default the last year of your Inbox and Sent. Settings → Older mail sets how far back (Off, 3 months, a year, everything) and shows how far each mailbox goes.

Improved

• At the end of the Inbox, the next-page arrow loads older mail immediately.
• Older mail is never sorted by AI, so it costs nothing at your AI provider and stays out of Triage.
• When a search finds nothing on this PC, it also searches Gmail or your IMAP mail server.
• "Sync the last 60 days" is removed from Settings; mail was already kept in sync every few seconds.

Improved

• Easier IMAP setup. Type your email address and the app finds your mail servers itself. You see what was found and can change it. When nothing is found, the server fields open with a suggestion to check with your mail host.
• If your host's security certificate uses a different server name, the app tells you and offers that name with one click.

Fixed

• Extra IMAP folders no longer stay in the sidebar after you switch to Gmail or Outlook.

New

• More IMAP folders. Folders beyond Inbox and Sent can appear in the sidebar with their unread counts, and open like the Inbox.
• Settings → IMAP → Folders chooses which folders to show and which folder is used for Sent, Archive and Trash.

Fixed

• A mail server that doesn't identify its Sent folder can now connect; the app asks you to choose it.

Improved

• When you send from an IMAP mailbox, the app checks that the email is in your Sent folder and saves it there if your mail server didn't. Gmail and Outlook are unchanged.

Fixed

• After going back to a previous version, Settings → Updates still offers the newer version, so you can update again whenever you want.

Improved

• Maintenance release that confirms updating with the Update button works from start to finish. No visible changes.

Fixed

• Restart now installs the update and reopens Counsel OS. Before, the app could close without installing it.

Fixed

• Settings → Updates says "up to date" when there is nothing new, instead of reporting that the check failed.

Improved

• Updates are up to you. When a new version is available, a card tells you. Choose Update to download it, then Restart now when it suits you, or choose Not now.
• Nothing downloads or installs on its own, and your current version keeps working.
• Settings → Updates can check for a new version at any time.

Fixed

• Gmail: opening an email marks it as read again, and deleting works again.
• When you open Counsel OS, the inbox already shows mail that arrived while it was closed.

New

• Automatic updates. When an update is ready, a card offers Restart now or Later. It waits until no email is about to be sent.
• If an update doesn't start, Counsel OS returns to the previous version on its own, with your data as it was.
• Settings → Updates shows your version and lets you go back to the previous one.

New

• Automatic backups. Back up on a schedule into a folder you choose, such as OneDrive. The newest five backups are kept, and Back up now makes one at any time. Problems are shown in Settings and by the reminder.
• Export my data. Settings → Account saves a copy of your data that you can open without Counsel OS. It is also offered when you delete your account.

New

• Backup files. Save an encrypted copy of your data to keep off this PC, and restore it on any PC with its password, from Settings → Backups.
• A backup file can also be restored from the page shown when your data can't be opened, or when it was last used by a newer version.
• A reminder appears after 30 days without a backup.

Improved

• Security updates to underlying components.

Fixed

• Undo restore no longer ends with "Counsel OS could not start again".

New

• Restore a safety copy from Settings → Backups. The app restarts by itself and tells you what was restored.
• If your data can't be opened, a page offers your safety copies to restore.
• If your data was last used by a newer version, the app offers the safety copies this version can go back to.

Improved

• After a restore, emails that were waiting to be sent are held, so nothing goes out on its own.

Improved

• Your data is protected from older versions: a version older than the one that last updated your data will not open it.

New

• First release of Counsel OS Local as an installable Windows desktop app.
• Connect Gmail, Outlook and IMAP mailboxes, kept in sync every few seconds, with scheduled send and undo send.
• Drafts written with AI using your own AI key, and Knowledge notes for your business details.
• Optional dictation that runs on your PC.
• Search in your inbox, attachment previews, and keyboard shortcuts in the inbox.
• A safety copy of your data is made before every update that changes it.