Do you wonder where Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat gets information from when generating responses? There are many sources Copilot Chat can draw upon to create responses. Moreover, Copilot gives you control over its knowledge sources.
Copilot can retrieve information from:
- Web searches
- Your IT admin must have a Web search turned on for you.
- Learn more about web search in Copilot Chat at Understanding web search in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.
- Work data and connections
- Work data is only accessible for people with a Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription.
- Learn more about work data access at What information does Copilot use to answer my prompt?
- Copilot Memory
- Learn more about memory personalization at Personalize what Microsoft 365 Copilot remembers.
Turn off and on Work IQ for referencing work data
The Work IQ toggle controls whether Copilot Chat can reference work data like emails, Teams messages, files, and more. Learn more about Work IQ at What information does Copilot use to answer my prompt?.
Control data sources in Copilot Chat
When you’re drafting a prompt in Copilot Chat, control the sources Copilot can access in the Change data sources menu.
- Go to Copilot Chat and sign in with your Microsoft 365 work or school account.
- In the Message Copilot compose box, select the
Add and manage sources button. - At the bottom of the menu, select
Change data sources. - In the Change data sources menu, use the toggles to turn on and off the sources you want Copilot to reference when generating a response.
- For example, you can turn off Viva Engage to prevent Copilot from using Viva Engage data to respond to your prompt.
- Select the Turn off all button at the top of the data sources menu to turn off all data sources except for web search.
- Finish writing your prompt and select
Send.
Review sources in Copilot Chat
Once Copilot Chat responds to your prompt, you have complete visibility into the sources Copilot referenced when generating a response.
Review inline citations
Copilot Chat responses include inline citations of its sources next to the information it generated.
- In a Copilot Chat response, find an inline citation and hover your cursor over it.
- When hovering of the inline citation, you can:
- Select the source file to open it in a side pane in Copilot Chat.
- Select Ask Copilot to create a new prompt referencing that source specifically.
- Select ... More actions for tasks, like summarizing files, drafting a response to emails, or seeing who contributed to the file.
Review the Sources list
You can also view a complete list of all Copilot’s sources by completing the following steps:
- At the bottom of a Copilot Chat response, select the Sources button.
- In the Sources side pane, scroll through the entire list of Copilot’s sources.
- Select a source, and another side pane opens with the source file.
- At the top of the file’s pane, select the
Open in ... button to open the file in its related app.
- For example, select Open in Outlook to open the referenced email in Outlook.