# Work IQ

> The intelligence layer that lets Microsoft 365 Copilot and its agents reason over your organisation's mail, calendar, files, chats and meetings, within the permissions you already have.

**Category:** Copilot

**Work IQ is what lets Copilot answer from your actual work, not just the web.** Microsoft describes it as a **workplace intelligence layer**: it builds an understanding of your mail, calendar, files, chats and sites across Microsoft 365, and Copilot reasons over that when it answers. It is permission-aware, so it only surfaces content you can already open.

Work IQ comes with the paid [Microsoft 365 Copilot](/glossary#microsoft-365-copilot) add-on and is available across its Copilot experiences and agents. Free Copilot Chat is mainly web-grounded and does not get this broad organisational grounding. The nearest Claude comparison is a [connector](/glossary#connector) to your mailbox and drive, except that here the access is there from the start.

## At work

Before a renewal call, a sales manager asks Copilot what was agreed with the client last quarter. Copilot answers from the relevant email thread and meeting notes instead of asking her to paste them in.

## Often confused with

[Microsoft Graph](/glossary#microsoft-graph). Graph is how Copilot reaches your mail, files and calendar, with your permissions. Work IQ is the name Microsoft gives to the intelligence layer that reasons over that work context; its documentation lists the two side by side.

## Related terms

- Microsoft Graph
- Grounding
- Semantic index
- Microsoft 365 Copilot

## See it in a lesson

[Which Copilot do you have?](/en/learn/copilot/getting-started/which-copilot-do-you-have)

## Further reading

- [Work IQ overview (Microsoft Learn)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/extensibility/work-iq/): Microsoft's definition of Work IQ and the data it draws on.
- [What is Microsoft Copilot? (Microsoft Learn)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-overview): Which Copilot tiers get organisational grounding through Work IQ.
- [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 sources Copilot draws on when it answers you.

---

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