Forum Discussion

RaeT's avatar
RaeT
Occasional Reader
Apr 18, 2026

Copilot Notebook - No web search enabled

HI, It appears this just isn't a function of Notebook currently, and the only other post I see about it was from last year where someone couldn't get it to work.  Does anyone know if this is a planned change to add it in the future?  I'm not seeing the usefulness of Notebooks if it can only search internally. My SharePoint can do that without an extra step. 

If it has since been added since last seen, does anyone know where the settings are for it so I can have our admins look?  Our regular Copilot Work chats do allow web searches, so it's not that. 

microsoft 365 copilot

2 Replies

  • V_2Manib's avatar
    V_2Manib
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 21, 2026

    Notebook is not purposed to be enabled for web search as this is meant for a personalized, secure workspace for you to collaborate your work between conversations and pages. 

    For more details : You can read the official service description of the Notebook 
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/office-365-platform-service-description/microsoft-365-copilot

    Hope this helps and answer your question. It is not intended to be used for web search but you can customize it to scrawl through your own grounded information within the Notebook and refer back/forth as you need to create your own context.

  • V_2Manib's avatar
    V_2Manib
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 21, 2026

    Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks are not meant to be used for web searches, for that purpose you have conversations and Pages. 
    Notebooks are meant to be secure private workspace for you to gather, synthesize and use any of your org content for deep thinking or structure problem solving. Notebooks bring together references from communications and files, enabling users to generate insights, audio summaries, and content drafts.
    You can create notebooks for scenarios like quarterly forecasting, triaging support issues, or drafting strategy documents.
    Copilot Notebooks maintains a history of interactions to support continuity and reuse and supports real-time collaboration via Copilot Pages.

    Hope that answers your question besides, there is official description here : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/servicedescriptions/office-365-platform-service-description/microsoft-365-copilot