SharePoint search that is modern and tailored to each person, running on the classic search index and, where Copilot is present, on the Microsoft Graph semantic index. Without a Copilot licence, this is what users get rather than Copilot Search.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Microsoft Search in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Index
Speeds up queries that filter on certain columns by keeping those columns sorted, with pointers back to each row; the price is more storage and slower writes.
- WHERE
Limits a SELECT, UPDATE or DELETE to just the rows meeting a condition. Omit it, and the statement hits every row.
- Microsoft Graph
API giving access to Entra and Microsoft 365 data. Authorisation uses application or delegated permissions rather than Azure RBAC.
- Semantic index
An automatically built vector index over Microsoft Graph data that helps Copilot match information by meaning and related words instead of exact keywords, always within what each person may see. It can't be switched off, though sites hidden from search are left out of it too.
- Licence
What entitles one particular user to the services a subscription offers. Each product licence is made up of several service plans (one per app or service), and before giving it to someone an admin has to record that user's usage location.
- Get
Key Vault permission on secrets that allows a single secret to be read; App Service Key Vault references need nothing beyond it.
- Copilot Search
Unlicensed users get Microsoft Search, while licensed ones automatically get this: AI-driven searching through the Microsoft Copilot app across Microsoft 365 and linked third-party sources, with a handover to Copilot Chat. It cannot be enabled on its own.
Related terms
- Copilot connectors
Bring content from outside systems into Microsoft 365 so that Copilot, agents and Microsoft Search can work with it. Items are either indexed in Microsoft Graph with their access lists or fetched on demand, and in both cases the source's permissions still apply.