# Microsoft Graph

> Microsoft Graph is Microsoft's umbrella term for your work data in Microsoft 365, such as mail, calendar, files and chats, which Copilot grounds its answers in.

**Category:** Copilot

**Microsoft Graph is why Copilot doesn't start from a blank page.** From the moment you open it, Copilot can reach your Outlook mail, your calendar, your Teams chats and the SharePoint and OneDrive files you have access to. When you ask a question, [grounding](/glossary#grounding) searches this data for relevant content and adds it to your prompt, so Copilot can answer about your actual work without you attaching anything.

The limit is your permissions. Copilot only surfaces what you personally can see, which makes it **only as clean as your organisation's sharing settings**: a file shared too widely is a file Copilot can find. A Claude chat works the other way round, knowing only what you type, attach or explicitly connect.

## At work

Ask Copilot "what's on my plate this week?" and it answers from your actual calendar and inbox, pulling in the meetings and open requests it finds through Microsoft Graph.

## Often confused with

Semantic index. Microsoft Graph is where your work data lives; the [semantic index](/glossary#semantic-index) is the search layer that finds the relevant parts of it by meaning.

## Related terms

- Grounding
- Semantic index
- Copilot connector
- Microsoft 365 Copilot

## See it in a lesson

[Context and grounding](/en/learn/copilot/working-smart/context-and-grounding)

## Further reading

- [Microsoft Copilot architecture and how it works (Microsoft Learn)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-architecture): Where Microsoft Graph fits in how Copilot answers a prompt.
- [Data, privacy, and security for Microsoft 365 Copilot (Microsoft Learn)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-privacy): How Copilot only surfaces what you have permission to see.
- [What information does Copilot use to answer my prompt? (Microsoft Support)](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/what-information-does-copilot-use-to-answer-my-prompt): Which of your work data Copilot can draw on.

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Last updated: 14/10/2026  
Source: Rollo Academy glossary