M365 Copilot — @ References (Context IQ)

At a glance

What it does
Inserts a direct reference into your prompt.
Copilot reads that item first, then answers from it.

Without a reference
Copilot searches your recent work broadly.
Results depend on what it finds — often incomplete.

The single rule
If the answer must be traceable to a specific
document, email, or meeting — reference it.

Reference type	What you can pin	For
File	.docx, .pdf, .xlsx, .pptx from OneDrive or SharePoint	Any role working with documents
Email	Specific Outlook message by subject or sender	Sales · Legal · PM · EA
Meeting	Teams meeting with a transcript or recording	Manager · Team Lead · PM
Person	Colleague in your M365 tenant	HR · Manager · EA
SharePoint site / list	Entire SharePoint site or list — type @site name to trigger	PM · Analyst · Knowledge management

Reference types — what works where

Type	What you can reference	Trigger	Works in
File	Word docs, PDFs, Excel workbooks, PowerPoint decks — from OneDrive or SharePoint. Upload directly in chat for local files.	`@filename`	Chat Word PowerPoint Excel
Email	Specific Outlook messages. Context IQ suggests recent messages as you type. Select by subject line or sender name.	`@subject`	Chat Outlook
Meeting	Teams calendar events that have a transcript or AI recap. Meetings without a transcript cannot be referenced.	`@meeting name`	Chat Teams
Person	Colleagues in your tenant. Copilot summarises recent communications with that person — emails, meetings, and messages you both participated in.	`@name`	Chat
SharePoint site or list	Ground a prompt on an entire SharePoint site or list you have access to. Type @ and start typing the site name — available in Copilot Chat in Work mode. (GA February 2026)	`@site name`	Chat

Before and after — the gap in practice

Checking project risks

Without reference

"What are the risks in this project?"

Generic list. May pull from multiple projects or none at all. Not traceable.

With reference

"What risks are listed in @Q2-Risk-Register.xlsx with a score above 15?"

Specific risks from that file only, with scores. Traceable output.

Preparing for a client call

Without reference

"What did we discuss with Acme last month?"

Copilot searches broadly — may miss the right meeting or include unrelated threads.

With reference

"Summarise the open items from @Acme kick-off call Mar 14."

Summary sourced from that meeting transcript only. Gaps are visible.

Checking a contract clause

Without reference

"What are our termination terms?"

May return standard boilerplate or pull from the wrong contract version.

With reference

"What does @MSA-Acme-v3-signed.pdf say about termination for convenience?"

Answer drawn from the signed version of that contract. Quotable.

Catching open commitments

Without reference

"What did I promise to send the client?"

Copilot scans recent emails broadly — may miss commitments in older threads.

With reference

"List any commitments I made in @Re: Acme proposal — Apr 2."

Every commitment extracted from that specific email. Nothing invented.

When to reference — use cases

Reference explicitly whenever the answer must trace to a source

Document review and gap analysis

PM · Delivery Lead · Commercial · Legal

File reference

Reference

The contract, spec, or report under review
A comparison version (v2 alongside v1)
A checklist or compliance framework

Prompts

@Contract-v2.docx List every clause that changed from the version I described."
@Spec-Rev4.pdf Which requirements have no assigned owner?"
@Procurement-Policy.docx Does this PO process comply with sections 3 and 7?"

Reference both files in one prompt to compare them: "@Doc-A.docx @Doc-B.docx — summarise the differences in section 5."

Meeting follow-up and action tracking

Manager · Team Lead · Project Manager · EA

Meeting reference

Reference

Teams meeting with transcript enabled
Multiple sessions from the same project

Prompts

@Project kick-off Apr 7 List every action item with owner and due date."
@Weekly review Apr 9 What risks were raised that don't appear in the register?"
@Budget review Mar 31 What decisions were made versus deferred?"

Meetings without a transcript cannot be referenced. Enable transcription before recording-sensitive discussions if you want post-meeting Copilot access.

Email thread extraction

Sales · Legal · PM · Executive Assistant

Email reference

Reference

A specific email thread by subject
The most recent message in a chain

Prompts

@Re: Acme proposal Apr 2 What did I commit to sending by end of week?"
@Fwd: Invoice dispute — Mar 28 Summarise their objections and what they want."
@Re: Contract renewal Draft a reply that addresses the three open points."

Copilot reads the referenced email body. It does not read file attachments from that email — reference the attachment separately if needed.

Person context and relationship prep

Manager · HR · EA · Executive

Person reference

Reference

A colleague in your M365 tenant
A direct report or project stakeholder

Prompts

@Sophie Martin What topics have we discussed in the last two weeks?"
@Karim Bensalah Are there any open items from our last exchange?"
@Lena Fischer Summarise what she has been working on based on our meetings."

Person references surface communications you participated in — emails and meetings with that person. They do not access the person's files or messages with others.

Common mistakes

Expecting file-specific answers without a reference

Asking "What does the contract say?" with no @ reference forces Copilot to guess which contract you mean. Results vary.

Fix: Always reference the specific file when the answer must come from it.

Referencing a folder instead of a file

Context IQ does not support folder references. You must reference individual files. Selecting a folder name returns no results.

Fix: Open the folder in SharePoint and reference the specific file you need.

Assuming Copilot reads email attachments automatically

Referencing an email gives Copilot the email body only. Attached files are not read unless you reference them separately as files.

Fix: Download the attachment, upload it to OneDrive, then reference it with @filename in your prompt.

Referencing something you cannot access

Copilot respects your M365 permissions. If you do not have read access to the file or email, Copilot cannot read it either. You may see the file name in suggestions but get no content in response.

Fix: Request access from the file owner before referencing it, or ask someone with access to run the query.

Referencing a meeting with no transcript

If transcription was not enabled during the meeting, Copilot has no text to work from. The meeting may appear in the picker but yield no useful output.

Fix: Enable transcription by default in Teams settings. Retroactive transcription is not available.

Rules to follow

1Type @ to open the reference picker — do not paste file names as plain text. Plain text is not grounding.
2Reference as many items as needed in one prompt. Copilot reads all of them.
3Local files on your hard drive cannot be referenced via @. Upload them to OneDrive first, or attach them directly in the chat window.
4If Context IQ does not suggest the file you need, start typing more of the exact filename. Recently opened files appear first.
5Permissions carry through. If Copilot's answer seems incomplete, check that you have access to the referenced item directly in SharePoint or Outlook.
6To ground on an entire SharePoint site or list, type @ and start typing the site name. Works in Copilot Chat in Work mode — the picker shows sites alongside files.

Scope and limits

Context IQ grounds Copilot on the items you select. It does not bypass your organisation's permission policies or data classification rules.

File location

OneDrive or SharePoint only. Local files require upload first.

Supported file types

.docx, .pptx, .xlsx, .pdf. Image-only PDFs may return partial content.

Email attachments

Not read automatically — reference the attachment separately.

Meeting references

Require transcript. No transcript = no content available.

Permission model

Copilot sees only what you can access. References do not grant or bypass permissions.

External content

No external URLs via @ reference. Use Copilot's web search toggle for public web content.

Result consistency

Two users referencing the same file may see different content if their permissions differ.

SharePoint site grounding (@)

Type @ in Copilot Chat (Work mode) to reference an entire SharePoint site or list. Permissions apply — only content you can access is used. Individual file references are more targeted; site references are broader.

What powers Context IQ — Work IQ

When you type @ to pin a file, email, meeting, or person, Copilot retrieves and reads that item through Work IQ — Microsoft 365 Copilot's context layer. Work IQ has three parts: Data (your tenant content, surfaced under your permissions), Memory (what Copilot has learned about how you work), and Inference (reasoning over both). Context IQ and @ referencing are the front-end you see; Work IQ is the engine underneath. As of June 16, 2026 the Work IQ APIs are generally available, which lets your organisation build custom agents that ground in M365 data the same way Copilot does.

Work IQ APIs status

Generally available June 16, 2026. Agent-to-Agent (A2A) and remote MCP are GA; the REST interface is coming soon.

What it powers for you

The retrieval and grounding behind every @ reference — Data, Memory, and Inference, applied under your existing permissions.

Who needs the APIs

Developers building custom agents on M365 context. Everyday @ referencing in Copilot Chat needs no API work.

Building on Work IQ — billing

Using @ references inside Copilot Chat is covered by your Microsoft 365 Copilot licence and is not separately metered — this section does not change how your day-to-day referencing is billed. It applies only if your organisation builds its own agents on Work IQ (via Copilot Studio, Microsoft Foundry, or the raw Work IQ APIs). Those custom agents need an M365 Copilot licence as the access gate and draw on the new Copilot Credits consumption meter when they ground in M365 data. Microsoft's pre-built Copilot agents under an existing licence are not separately metered.

@ references in Copilot Chat

Covered by your Copilot licence. Not separately metered.

Custom agents on Work IQ

Require an M365 Copilot licence AND draw Copilot Credits on consumption.

Pre-built Microsoft agents

Covered under an existing Copilot licence — not separately metered.

Copilot Credits rate

$0.01 per credit (pay-as-you-go). A task's cost = model use + context retrieval + tool calls + runtime. Roughly: fixed for tool and action calls, variable for chat and context grounding.

Admin controls

Off by default. Admins set spend limits and usage alerts at tenant, group, or user level; reporting lives in the Cost Management dashboard in the M365 admin center.