Microsoft's support documentation confirms that disabling Copilot's personalization and memory settings stops future responses from being shaped by details remembered from earlier conversations. That's the short answer for anyone searching how to turn off Copilot chat history personalization: switch off the relevant setting, and Copilot stops using those memories to personalize future responses.
The exact control depends on which Copilot you're using. Personal Copilot accounts have a Personalization and memory setting, while Microsoft 365 Copilot provides a separate Chat history toggle. Microsoft's Copilot privacy controls and Microsoft 365 Copilot chat history guide document these options.
What follows covers where to find the controls, what they actually change, and what happens to memories Copilot has already built from your conversations.
What the Chat history toggle does and does not do
Copilot relies on two related but separate things. One is the chat transcript itself, the conversations you can scroll back through and reopen. The other is Copilot Memory, which collects key details from previous conversations and remembers them for future responses.
The Chat history toggle in Microsoft 365 Copilot governs whether Copilot can make inferences from those previous conversations to personalize future answers.
Microsoft's support documentation confirms that turning off chat-history personalization stops Copilot from using those inferences. For personal Copilot, turning off personalization and memory similarly stops remembered details from shaping future responses.
You can still view your past conversations after switching off personalization. That does not delete the visible chat history. The setting changes whether Copilot uses past conversations for personalization, not whether those conversations remain in your account.
Microsoft's Copilot transparency documentation also explains that Copilot experiences can be personalized based on previous interactions and that users can manage personalization through their settings.
How to turn off Copilot chat history personalization
Before starting, check whether you're using a personal Microsoft account or a Microsoft 365 work or school account. The controls and menu labels aren't identical.
For personal Copilot accounts:
Sign in to Copilot on the web or in the Windows app using your personal Microsoft account.
Select your profile icon, then your profile name.
Open Memory > Personalization and memory.
Switch off Personalization and memory. Microsoft says this stops Copilot from using remembered details to personalize future responses.
Return to the same menu to confirm the setting remains off.
These steps follow Microsoft's current consumer Copilot documentation. The controls may look different in other versions of the app.
For Microsoft 365 Copilot:
Open Copilot Chat and sign in with your Microsoft 365 account.
At the top right, select Settings and more > Chat settings.
In the Chat settings window, select Personalization from the left-side menu.
Find the Chat history tile and move its toggle to Off. Depending on your work or school account, it may instead be labeled Chat history & work insights.
Confirm the toggle remains off after returning to the settings.
Microsoft confirms that switching off this setting stops Copilot from using previous chat-history inferences for personalization. It does not automatically delete the visible conversation transcripts.
What to check if the Chat history setting is missing
Sign-in state isn't always obvious. You might be signed into Windows 11 with a personal Microsoft account but browsing Copilot on the web in a different, signed-out browser profile, or using Edge where sign-in doesn't always carry over automatically.
Check the account icon inside Copilot itself on whichever surface you're troubleshooting, rather than assuming your Windows sign-in state applies everywhere.
If you're signed in with a personal account and the Chat history toggle isn't there, you may be looking for a Microsoft 365-specific control. Look for Memory > Personalization and memory instead.
If you're using a work or school account, follow the Microsoft 365 Copilot instructions above. Availability may also depend on your organization's Microsoft 365 Copilot plan and administrative settings.
Chat history vs. Copilot Memory settings
If your account shows a Saved memories control instead of, or alongside, Chat history, that's another setting worth checking.
Microsoft's Copilot memory guidance explains that saved memories contain details Copilot retains for future conversations. Turning off Saved memories stops new memories from being saved, but doesn't automatically delete existing entries.
Removing existing memories means deleting them individually or using Delete all memories in the memory management area.
Microsoft also provides memory-management controls for personal Copilot accounts. Its consumer privacy documentation explains how to review and delete specific memories or all saved memories.
The important distinction is that disabling personalization, turning off saved memories, and deleting chat transcripts are separate actions. Don't assume switching off one control clears everything Copilot has stored.
Microsoft's current documentation establishes these differences:
Chat history: In Microsoft 365 Copilot, switching off this toggle stops the use of previous chat-history inferences for personalization.
Personalization and memory: In personal Copilot, switching this off prevents remembered details from shaping future responses.
Saved memories: Turning off memory saving doesn't necessarily delete entries already stored. Delete them separately if you want them removed.
Personalized ads: Governed by separate advertising controls, not simply by switching off chat-history personalization.
AI training: Controlled separately through Copilot's privacy settings.
One detail worth knowing is the 30-day deletion window. Microsoft's current Microsoft 365 Copilot documentation states that turning off Chat history personalization removes inferences made from previous conversations after 30 days.
If you turn the toggle back on within that period, Copilot can restore those memories. This is now documented directly by Microsoft, rather than relying solely on an older third-party guide.
That behavior applies to the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat history control and shouldn't automatically be assumed to work identically for every personal Copilot account.
Ads and AI training: controls outside this toggle
Microsoft states that turning off Copilot personalization doesn't automatically disable personalized advertising. That preference is controlled separately.
For personal Copilot, Microsoft's privacy controls for individuals explain how to turn off Allow ads personalization under Settings > Personalization.
You can also manage personalized advertising more broadly through your Microsoft account's privacy dashboard.
AI training opt-outs are another separate control. Microsoft's current support documentation confirms that signed-in personal Copilot users can opt out of having future conversation activity used to train generative AI models.
On the web, select your profile icon, then your profile name, and open Privacy. From there, you can turn off Training on conversation activity and Training on voice conversations.
In the Windows Copilot app, open your profile icon > Settings > Privacy to find those controls.
Microsoft says opting out excludes future conversation activity from model training. It doesn't necessarily exclude that activity from other product improvements, security, compliance, or advertising-related processing covered by Microsoft's privacy policies.
Treat chat-history personalization, Saved memories, personalized ads, and AI-training controls as separate privacy questions. They don't all share one setting or behave identically, so check each option rather than assuming one toggle covers everything.
Managing Copilot chat history going forward
For most readers trying to manage Copilot chat history in Windows 11 or on the web, the first step is to identify which Copilot experience they're using.
With a personal Microsoft account, open Memory > Personalization and memory and switch personalization off. In Microsoft 365 Copilot, open Chat settings > Personalization and turn off Chat history or Chat history & work insights, whichever appears.
If Saved memories are enabled, review them separately and delete entries you no longer want retained. Turning off memory saving alone doesn't necessarily remove what Copilot already stored.
If your goal is to remove conversation transcripts rather than stop personalization, use Copilot's chat-history deletion controls or the Microsoft privacy dashboard.
Finally, check advertising and AI-training preferences independently. Switching off chat-history personalization is useful, but it isn't a single switch for every way Microsoft processes your Copilot activity.
Comments
Be the first, drop a comment!