Copilot's Privacy Settings: A Real Walkthrough, Not Just a Toggle List
Most people accept whatever Copilot's privacy prompt says the first time it appears and never open the settings menu again. That's fine until the moment it isn't: you connect Copilot to OneDrive and want to know exactly what that gave it access to, or you realize a conversation about something sensitive is sitting in your activity history, or someone asks whether Copilot is "training on your stuff" and you genuinely don't know the answer. This is what each setting actually controls, not just what its label says.
Where to find these
In consumer Copilot, open your profile and look for Settings, Privacy, and Memory (on the mobile app, the path runs through your profile and Account). On a work account, privacy is handled through your organization's Microsoft 365 data protections and admin policies, so much of what follows describes the personal-account experience. Labels and paths change, so if yours differ, follow Microsoft's Copilot privacy controls page.
A scenario worth having in mind
Say you just used Copilot to talk through how to handle a difficult performance conversation with someone you manage, including specifics about their name and the exact issue. That's exactly the kind of conversation you don't want sitting in a shared laptop's history, and not the kind you want folded into a training dataset either. Here's an illustrated version of the privacy panel and which of these you'd check first. Exact labels and layout differ by platform and change over time.
Copilot Settings
Copilot's privacy and settings panel, illustrated
Training on conversation activity: On
Training on voice conversations: On
Personalization and memory: On
Connectors: OneDrive Connected, Outlook Connected
Conversation history: delete individual items or everything
- 1
Training on conversation activity: Check this first for the performance conversation. It controls whether your conversation activity can be used to train Microsoft's AI models going forward.
- 2
Training on voice conversations: A separate switch for voice. If you talked through the performance conversation out loud, this is the one that covers it.
- 3
Personalization and memory: Controls whether Copilot remembers details from your conversations to personalize answers. Turning it off does not opt you out of training, and opting out of training does not turn personalization off.
- 4
Connectors: Not the one this scenario touches directly, but worth a glance while you're here: confirm OneDrive and Outlook are only connected because you actually use them, not left over from a one-time task.
- 5
Conversation history: There is no switch to stop history being saved, so delete the specific conversation about the performance discussion rather than waiting to clear everything later.
The settings that actually matter
- 1
Conversation history and deletion
Copilot saves your conversations, and Microsoft's privacy FAQ says there is no toggle to turn history off. What you can do is delete individual conversations or your whole conversation history at any time, and Microsoft states that it retains conversation activity for a limited period (18 months, per its FAQ) before automatic deletion. If you share a device or don't want a sensitive conversation sitting around, deleting that conversation is the control to reach for first.
- 2
Training on conversation activity and voice conversations
These are separate toggles from history, and they're what people usually mean when they ask if Copilot is "trained on my data." Opting out excludes your future conversation activity from being used to train Microsoft's AI models. Microsoft notes it doesn't exclude conversations from other uses described in its privacy statement, such as product improvement, safety, security, and compliance. Text and voice have their own switches, so check both.
- 3
Personalization and memory
This controls whether Copilot remembers details to personalize its responses. It is independent of training: you can opt out of training and keep personalization on, or the reverse. Microsoft's controls page also lists a Microsoft usage data setting and a personalized ads setting, which are worth a look while you're there.
- 4
Connector permissions (OneDrive, Outlook, and others)
Connectors let Copilot look up a connected service like OneDrive or Outlook.com when you ask it to, and Microsoft says Copilot only works with content your account already has permission to view, without storing, modifying, or expanding that access. Microsoft also says data from connected services isn't used to train Copilot. This is worth reviewing periodically, especially after you've connected something for a one-time task and forgotten about it.
- 5
Vision and voice
Copilot Vision, which lets Copilot see a screen or camera during a Voice conversation, works only in an active session. Microsoft says captured images aren't stored after the session ends, though text transcripts of the interaction may be saved. Vision is available with a personal Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium subscription, so if you don't see it, that's the likely reason, not a settings problem.
- 6
Account-level data controls
For a broader view of what Microsoft holds about your account, Microsoft points to its privacy dashboard at account.microsoft.com. That's the place to look if you're closing an account or want a fuller reset than deleting conversations one by one.
What each control does, at a glance
| Setting | What it actually controls | Who typically needs to change it |
|---|---|---|
| Conversation history (delete) | Removes individual conversations or your whole history | Anyone on a shared or public device |
| Training on conversation activity | Whether your conversation activity can be used to train Microsoft's models | Anyone handling sensitive or confidential material |
| Training on voice conversations | The same choice, for voice | Anyone who uses Copilot Voice |
| Personalization and memory | Whether Copilot remembers details to personalize responses | Anyone who doesn't want Copilot remembering things about them |
| Connectors (OneDrive, Outlook) | Whether Copilot can search your connected files and mail when asked | Anyone who wants file-aware answers, or anyone revoking a one-time grant |
A common misconception
Deleting a conversation, or turning off personalization and memory, is often assumed to also stop your data from being used for model training. Microsoft describes these as independent controls. Opting out of training is its own setting, and it applies to your future conversations.
The difference between a personal account and a work account
If you're using Copilot signed in with a work or school account, several of these settings may be set by your organization's IT admin rather than left up to you, particularly around data handling and what Copilot can reach. Work accounts also run under your organization's Microsoft 365 data protections rather than the consumer controls described above. This is a genuinely different situation from a personal account, where the settings above are yours to change. If you're not sure which kind of account you're on, or you're trying to understand why your Copilot at work behaves differently from the one on your own subscription, Copilot Chat vs. Microsoft 365 Copilot walks through that distinction directly.
Two settings that sound like one setting are the most common reason someone thinks they've locked something down when they haven't.
A short routine worth doing once
Rather than treating this as a one-time setup task, it's worth a five-minute pass every so often, especially after connecting a new source or trying a new feature for the first time:
Check which connectors are currently connected, and disconnect anything you connected for a single task and forgot about.
Confirm the training settings for conversation activity and voice reflect what you actually intend, separately from personalization and memory.
Delete any individual conversation that touched something sensitive, rather than waiting to do a full wipe later.
If you're on a work account, note which settings are admin-controlled so you're not troubleshooting something that was never yours to change.
None of this requires distrust of Copilot specifically. It's the same habit worth building around any assistant that can see your files, your mail, and your screen: know what each permission actually does before you grant it, and revisit it once it's no longer needed. If you're still getting oriented with Copilot generally, the Complete Beginner's Guide to Copilot is a good starting point before working through settings this specific.
Official sources
- Privacy FAQ for Microsoft Copilot
- Microsoft Copilot privacy controls
- Connecting Microsoft Copilot to other services
- Using Copilot Vision with Microsoft Copilot
- Conversation history in Microsoft Copilot
Checked on September 21, 2026. Features, plans and names change often, so the vendor's own pages are the final word.