Copilot Memory and Instructions
Copilot can remember your preferences, role, and working style. Learn how memory, custom instructions, and chat history work together to personalise your AI experience.
Copilot that knows YOU
Imagine your assistant remembering that you prefer bullet points over paragraphs, that you work in healthcare, and that you always want British English spelling.
That’s Copilot Memory. Instead of repeating your preferences in every conversation, Copilot remembers them and applies them automatically.
There are three ways Copilot personalises:
- Saved memories — facts Copilot explicitly remembers (you asked it to remember, or it learned from conversations)
- Custom instructions — rules YOU set in Settings (“Always use British English”, “I work in HR”)
- Chat history — context Copilot picks up from your past conversations
You control all of it. You can view, edit, and delete any memory at any time.
Three types of memory
| Type | How It Works | You Control It By |
|---|---|---|
| Saved memories | Facts Copilot remembers from conversations — explicitly saved or inferred | View and delete in Settings > Personalization |
| Custom instructions | Rules you set: role, language, format preferences, working style | Edit in Settings > Personalization > Custom instructions |
| Chat history | Context Copilot picks up from recent conversations — dynamic, may be updated/discarded | Managed through chat deletion; all traces deleted within 7 days of chat removal |
Custom instructions — your personalisation lever
Custom instructions are the most powerful way to shape Copilot’s behaviour. Set them once, and they apply to every conversation:
| Instruction Example | What It Does |
|---|---|
| ”I’m an HR director at a healthcare company” | Copilot adjusts answers for your role and industry |
| ”Always respond in British English” | Spelling and language preferences |
| ”I prefer bullet points over paragraphs” | Output format |
| ”Always include sources when citing data” | Citation behaviour |
| ”Keep responses under 200 words unless I ask for more” | Response length |
Real-world: Dana's custom instructions
Dana at Oakfield Healthcare set these custom instructions:
- “I’m the HR Director at Oakfield Healthcare, a private hospital group with 500 staff in New Zealand”
- “Use British English spelling (organisation, programme, centre)”
- “When I ask about policies, reference our HR SharePoint site first”
- “Keep responses professional but warm — I work with employees at all levels”
- “Always flag if something might have privacy implications for employee data”
Now every Copilot conversation automatically adjusts for Dana’s role, location, language preference, and data sensitivity concerns — without her repeating any of it.
Managing your memories
Viewing and deleting
- Go to Settings > Personalization
- View all saved memories and custom instructions
- Delete individual memories or clear all
- Turn memory features on or off
Important privacy facts
- Memories are stored in your Exchange mailbox (hidden folder)
- They follow the same security and compliance policies as your email
- Deleting a chat does NOT delete saved memories — you manage those separately
- Your admin can disable memory for the whole organisation via the “Enhanced personalization” control
- Memory data is not used to train AI models
🎬 Video walkthrough
Flashcards
Knowledge Check
Jordan at Peak Solutions notices that Copilot always responds in American English, but his team uses British English for client communications. What's the BEST long-term fix?
Dana wants to ensure Copilot doesn't retain any information from a sensitive HR conversation she had about employee performance reviews. What should she do?
Next up: You’ve learned all three domains. Let’s bring it all together with exam scenarios that test your knowledge across prompting, agents, documents, meetings, and responsible AI.