What Is Work IQ in Microsoft 365 Copilot? (And How to Turn It On or Off)

Microsoft has redesigned Copilot Chat. If you've noticed Work IQ at the top of your Copilot window and wondered what it does, this guide explains it in plain English. It also shows you how to switch between answers based on your work data and answers from the web.

What is Work IQ?

Work IQ is the intelligence layer behind Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI agents. It connects Copilot to your organisation's knowledge, people and work. It doesn't just find information. It builds an ongoing understanding of how your people, content, projects and relationships connect. 

In simple terms:

• Microsoft Graph tells Copilot where your data is.
• Work IQ helps Copilot understand what that data means and why it matters.

For example, Work IQ can recognise that these items all relate to the same project:

• A Teams conversation
• A SharePoint document
• An Outlook email thread
• A customer opportunity in Dynamics 365

That means Copilot can give you answers that are more relevant and better suited to your work. Work IQ also brings in business data from Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, not just Microsoft 365 apps.  

The three layers of Work IQ

Microsoft builds Work IQ on three connected layers: 

Data: brings together your files, emails, meetings, chats and business apps.

• Memory: learns how you and your team work, including your preferences, habits and the people you collaborate with most.
• Inference: connects your data and memory so Copilot can surface insights and suggest next steps.

Key benefits of Work IQ

Better context: Work IQ connects information across Microsoft 365 and your business apps. This gives Copilot a deeper understanding of your priorities.

More accurate answers: Work IQ understands how your content, conversations and people relate to each other. Copilot can then give more accurate answers with less searching and rework. 

Better productivity: Your team spends less time collecting information from different places and more time acting on it.

Enterprise security: Work IQ uses your data where it already sits, without copying or extracting it, so your existing security boundaries stay in place. When Work IQ is on, Copilot can only use work content you already have permission to see. 

What happened to the Work and Web tabs?

The new Copilot design replaces the separate Work and Web tabs with a single Work IQ button. Instead of switching tabs, you now use one on/off control to decide whether Copilot can use your work data. When Work IQ is on, it reads your prompt and decides whether to use work data, web content or both. 

How to turn Work IQ on or off

1. Open Copilot Chat and look at the top-left of the window, where Work IQ appears.
2. Select the Work IQ button to switch it on or off.
   • On: Copilot can use your emails, files, meetings, chats and people.
   • Off: Copilot won't use your work data, which is useful for web-only research.
3. Type your prompt as usual.

Tip: The Auto dropdown next to Work IQ is the model picker. It doesn't control web search. Use it to choose options such as Quick Response or Think Deeper. 

Another way to steer Copilot: You can leave Work IQ on and add an instruction to your prompt, such as "Only use my work data".  

Who can use Work IQ?

• License: Work IQ needs a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license. If you use the free Copilot Chat, you won't see Work IQ.
• Admin settings: What's available depends on your license, subscription and admin settings. For example, your IT administrator can turn off web content. 

Learn to get more from Copilot with 365 Training Hub

Knowing when Copilot is using your work data and when it's using the web helps you trust its answers and get better results. 365 Training Hub runs live, interactive Copilot training for New Zealand organisations. Options include an introduction to Copilot Chat and the Be Future-Ready: Leaders Copilot Workshop. 

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