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The right Copilot settings depend first on which account and app you use. A personal Microsoft account in the updated Copilot app has different controls from the older personal app, while a work or school account uses Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat with organizational data protections. After identifying that context, review memory, shared experiences, web search, ad personalization, browser-data import, chat-history and training statements, and response customization separately. There is no single privacy switch.

Start with your account and Copilot version

Before changing anything, identify both the sign-in account and the app version. The labels and privacy explanations are not interchangeable.

What you use What matters Where the guidance applies
Personal Microsoft account, updated Copilot app The current personal settings include controls for saved memories, shared experiences, web search, ad personalization and, for eligible accounts, Edge browsing-data import. The updated app became available for web, desktop and mobile on August 18, 2026. Rollout and labels can still vary.
Personal Microsoft account, older Copilot app The older privacy page describes legacy conversation-activity, training and history controls. Those instructions apply only to the older version. Do not assume an old training toggle exists in the updated app.
Work or school Microsoft Entra account, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat Enterprise data protection, organization-managed settings, logging and separate personalization features apply. This is a different service and privacy model from personal Copilot.

If you cannot tell which version you have, check whether the settings page describes the updated personal app and includes Settings > Personalization. An administrator may also control what appears in a work or school account. Microsoft changes labels during rollouts, so a missing option is not proof that your account is using the wrong version.

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Understand what each control actually does

Copilot’s controls address different data flows and response behaviors. Turning off one does not turn off the others.

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  • Saved memories: information Copilot stores for future personalization.
  • Shared experiences: a separate choice governing personalization across Copilot and other Microsoft experiences.
  • Web search: whether Copilot can retrieve current public information for a response.
  • Ad personalization: whether Microsoft can tailor advertising using permitted data such as chat history and saved memories.
  • Browser-data import: whether eligible accounts let Copilot use Microsoft Edge browsing data.
  • Chat history and training: separate questions about retention, model training and service logging.
  • Custom instructions: preferences that shape format, tone or level of detail; they are not a privacy or accuracy guarantee.

Use this separation to make deliberate trade-offs instead of looking for one “private mode.”

How to turn off Copilot memory and personalization

Updated personal Copilot app

  1. Open Copilot and go to Settings > Personalization.
  2. Review Saved memories. Turn the setting off if you do not want Copilot to save new memories for personalization.
  3. Select Manage to inspect individual memories, delete selected items or delete all saved memories.
  4. Review Shared experiences separately and turn it off if you do not want personalization shared across Copilot and other Microsoft products.

Turning Saved memories off does not erase memories already saved. Use Manage to delete those records. The exact labels may differ while Microsoft completes the app rollout.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

Work or school Copilot Chat can personalize responses using chat history and custom instructions. Where an organization enables it, work insights can also draw on work content. This is not the same memory control described for personal Copilot. If you need less personalization, remove or shorten custom instructions and ask your Microsoft 365 administrator which organizational features are enabled.

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Should you turn off web search?

Web search is primarily a response-quality and data-use choice. Microsoft Support says, “Copilot can search the web to improve the quality of its responses by referencing the latest publicly available information.” This is useful for changing facts such as current policies, product details, public events and recent developments.

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Keep web search on when

  • Your question depends on information that may have changed recently.
  • You want public sources considered rather than an answer based only on the model’s existing knowledge.
  • You are comparing current requirements, schedules or publicly documented features.

Consider turning it off when

  • You do not want a prompt to trigger a web search.
  • Your task is entirely offline, such as rewriting text you provide.
  • Your organization has a policy limiting external search from work prompts.

In personal settings, use the Web search toggle if it is available. Turning it off controls web searching; it does not disable memory, ad personalization, chat logging or every other data practice. Keeping it on also does not guarantee a correct answer. Check important claims against authoritative sources.

Review personalized advertising separately

The current personal settings include an Allow ads personalization control. Microsoft says personalized ads may use chat history, saved memories and other Microsoft data you have chosen to share.

  1. Open Copilot settings and find the advertising or privacy section.
  2. Review Allow ads personalization.
  3. Turn it off if you do not want those permitted data sources used to tailor advertising.

This setting is independent of Saved memories. Deleting memories or turning memory off does not, by itself, answer the advertising choice; inspect both controls.

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Decide whether to import Edge browsing data

The updated personal Copilot app documents browser-data import under Settings > Web browsing. Imported browsing data can be sensitive, so read the description before enabling it and consider whether your browsing includes health, financial, employment or other private topics.

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Availability is limited. Microsoft documents the control for eligible individual accounts based in the United States, and also describes availability for work, school or organizational accounts. Not seeing the option is expected for many personal users; do not infer that all personal accounts can import browsing data.

Before enabling it, check

  • Which account is signed in to Edge and Copilot.
  • What categories of browsing information the control covers.
  • Whether your employer or school has a policy governing browser-data use.
  • Whether the usefulness gained is worth sharing that information with the service.

Can you stop Copilot from using chats for training?

Updated personal app

Microsoft’s current activity-history description says that prompts, responses and file contents in the Microsoft Copilot app are not used to train foundation models. That is the current statement for the updated personal app. Do not search for a legacy opt-out switch and assume its absence means training is occurring.

Older personal app

The older privacy-controls page describes a different product version. It explains an opt-out for using conversation activity for model training and describes conversation history being retained for 18 months. Both points must be read with the explicit older-app limitation. They should not be presented as the settings or retention policy for the updated app.

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Work or school Copilot Chat

When you sign in with a work or school account, Microsoft says enterprise data protection applies and prompts and responses are not used to train foundation models. That exclusion does not mean that activity is unlogged. Microsoft states that prompts, Bing search queries triggered by those prompts and responses are logged. Organizations can apply additional controls and may manage personalization features.

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Training exclusion, retention, logging and administrator access are different questions. Ask your organization which retention and access policies apply to your tenant rather than relying on the personal-app explanation.

Use custom instructions to make answers easier to use

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat supports custom instructions that tell Copilot how to format or tailor responses. Microsoft’s example is asking for bullet points when summarizing a meeting. Useful instructions are short, stable and easy to evaluate.

Practical instruction examples

  • “Answer in concise bullet points, then list open questions.”
  • “Use plain language suitable for a nontechnical reader.”
  • “For meeting summaries, separate decisions, owners and deadlines.”
  • “Show assumptions before recommendations.”

Custom instructions change presentation and emphasis; they do not verify facts, override organizational policies or guarantee accuracy. Review factual and high-stakes output, especially when an instruction asks for brevity that could omit qualifications.

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Recommended settings by priority

Your priority Settings to review Trade-off
Minimize personalization Turn off Saved memories, delete existing memories through Manage, and review Shared experiences. Remove unnecessary custom instructions. Copilot may provide less continuity and fewer tailored responses.
Get current public information Keep Web search on for time-sensitive questions. Prompts may trigger searches, and web-grounded answers still require checking.
Reduce ad targeting Turn off Allow ads personalization. Ads may be less tailored; this does not delete chats or memories.
Avoid sharing browser context Leave browser-data import off. Copilot cannot use eligible Edge browsing context to personalize help.
Use organizational protection Sign in with the work or school account when appropriate and follow your organization’s Copilot policy. Prompts, triggered Bing queries and responses can still be logged under enterprise controls.
Improve readability Add concise custom instructions for format, tone or audience. Better formatting is not a correctness guarantee.
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Privacy practices that settings cannot replace

Microsoft’s general Copilot privacy guidance cautions users not to provide confidential or sensitive personal data they would not want used for the purposes described in that guidance and the Microsoft Privacy Statement. Treat every prompt as a deliberate disclosure.

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  • Remove account numbers, passwords, access tokens and unnecessary personal identifiers before pasting text.
  • Use approved organizational workspaces for company information and follow your employer’s data-classification rules.
  • For a sensitive task, ask whether web search, browser import or personalization is needed at all.
  • Verify legal, medical, financial, employment and security-related answers with an appropriate authoritative source.

When a setting is missing or behaves differently

The control is not shown

Check the account type, app surface and rollout status. Browser-data import has a documented eligibility and United States limitation for individual accounts. Work or school administrators can also hide or govern features.

A memory remains after you turned memory off

Turning off Saved memories prevents new saving but does not delete existing entries. Open Manage and remove the memories you do not want retained.

You cannot find the old training opt-out

Confirm whether you are using the updated personal app. The older opt-out and 18-month history description apply only to the older app. The updated app’s current activity-history statement says prompts, responses and file contents are not used to train foundation models.

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Work chats appear in records

That is consistent with Microsoft’s enterprise description: training exclusion and logging coexist. Ask your administrator about retention, access and any regional or tenant-specific rules.

A practical review sequence

  1. Identify personal versus work or school sign-in.
  2. Identify the updated personal app versus the older app.
  3. Review Saved memories and delete existing entries if needed.
  4. Review Shared experiences.
  5. Choose Web search based on whether current public information is useful for your tasks.
  6. Inspect Allow ads personalization separately.
  7. Leave browser-data import off unless you understand its scope and are eligible to use it.
  8. Read the correct training, history and logging explanation for your account type.
  9. Add only the custom instructions that consistently improve your output format.
  10. Apply your organization’s policy and avoid entering information you would not want handled under the applicable privacy statement.

Recheck these controls after a major Copilot update, account change or administrator-policy change. Microsoft’s labels, rollout status and eligibility can change independently, so the setting you need may move even when the underlying choice remains separate.

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