Browsers and Mail Enable or Disable "Allow Copilot to read context clues on the web" in Microsoft Edge

This tutorial will show you how to to turn on or off "Allow Copilot to read context clues on the web" in Microsoft Edge for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Microsoft Edge is your AI-powered browser. With Copilot in Microsoft Edge, you can get answers to your questions without leaving the tab or window that you're already in. Ask Copilot to help you make decisions, research topics, or summarize web pages or PDFs to find exactly what you're seeking.

Copilot may give better answers based on the current webpage, browser history, or your preferences in Microsoft Edge.

When you submit a prompt to Copilot in Microsoft Edge, Microsoft may use multiple sources of information to help answer in a way that is relevant and helpful to you. These include the query, recent conversation history, and browsing context.

The large language model that operates in Copilot uses these inputs to answer your prompt:

• Ground the response with search results from Microsoft Bing.
• Make the answer more relevant to you based on your conversation history.
• Make the answer relevant for the browsing context – such as when asking Copilot to summarize the current page you're on.

Based on the prompt you input, Microsoft Edge will determine the source(s) it needs to respond.

For prompts that don't need browsing context, such as "Help me plan a trip to Cannon Beach," Microsoft Edge does not share page information outside of the URL, page title, your query, and previous conversation history to help Copilot answer your query effectively.

For prompts that need browsing context, (e.g., when you ask Copilot to summarize a webpage or answer a question about a product you’re viewing), Microsoft Edge will use information from your webpage/browser to answer the question.

To comply with additional regulations in the EU region and China, Copilot will explicitly ask for your permission before using information from Microsoft Edge for the first time as shown below. Copilot will then remember this preference and use browser information as appropriate.

You can modify this permission anytime by turning on or off Allow Copilot to read context clues on the web below.

Conversation history stores all Copilot queries and responses.
Conversation history is stored until a user deletes it for users signed in with a Microsoft account. This is independent of whether using Copilot in the Microsoft Edge, on Copilot web domains, on Bing.com, or on Microsoft mobile apps such as Bing, Edge, and Copilot.

Page context-based conversations:
Copilot can answer page context-based questions on most websites with user consent in the Edge settings. Page context-based questions will work on private PDFs. Edge and Copilot will not store or train on the context that has been used for grounding.

References:


Here's How:

1 Open Microsoft Edge.

2 Click/tap on the Setting and more (Alt+F) 3 dots button, and click/tap on Settings. (see screenshot below)


3 Click/tap on Copilot and sidebar in the left pane, and click/tap on Copilot under "App and notification settings". (see screenshot below)

If you do not see a left pane, then either click/tap on the 3 bars menu button towards the top left OR widen the horizontal borders of the Microsoft Edge window until you do.

4 Turn on (default) or off Allow Copilot to read context clues on the web for what you want. (see screenshot below)

The Allow Copilot to read context clues on the web setting will be grayed out if Show Copilot is turned off.

5 You can now close the Settings tab if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink