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For onboarding instructions, check out this short video:
Researcher agent is an intelligent assistant within Microsoft 365 Copilot, designed to handle complex, multi-step research tasks. It delivers comprehensive, source-cited reports to help you make informed decisions faster. Researcher draws insights from both the web and your work content - including files, emails, meetings, and chats you have access to.
How Researcher agent differs from the standard Copilot experience?
Researcher agent is designed for deeper reasoning of your tasks. It excels at tackling complex tasks that require thoughtful analysis. By taking longer processing time, Researcher agent delivers a more comprehensive, insightful response. The standard Copilot experience helps with a broad range of everyday tasks across Microsoft 365 apps. The agent is optimized for speed and efficiency and is great for quicker tasks like summarizing emails or drafting short replies.
| Use this when you... | Choose |
|---|---|
| Need a quick summary, a short reply, or lightweight brainstorming | Standard Copilot chat |
| Need deeper reasoning, solving problems across multiple sources (web + your work), and a report you can share | Researcher agent |
| Want citations and a clean structure (headings, bullets, visuals) that help you present or decide | Researcher agent |
| Have a back and forth task, but not heavy analysis | Standard Copilot chat |
These distinctions are by design. Researcher agent deliberately spends more time retrieving and analyzing to write a more in-depth analysis.
Why use Researcher agent?
- Saves you hours: It pulls from your work content and the web and composes a structured, reasoned response.
- Trust building: It shows sources and organizes findings so you can verify and share with confidence.
- Fits how you work: It’s right inside Microsoft 365 Copilot; at work, it respects the same permissions, policies, and compliance you already rely on.
What does the final Researcher agent response look like?
- Visuals, charts, and graphs to make content easier to understand.
- Organized sections that help you present findings clearly.
- Cited sources so you can trust the information.
Where can you find Researcher agent?
Sign into the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. You can find Researcher under Agents in Chat.
How do you use Researcher agent?
Open Researcher in Microsoft 365 Copilot, ask your question, and let it gather insights from trusted sources. Receive a clear report with key findings and next steps to act on.
How to get the best results from Researcher agent?
Be specific in your prompt - Clear and detailed questions lead to more focused and reliable results.
Define your search scope - Decide whether you want data from workplace resources, the web, or both. This helps create a more targeted and relevant report.
Engage with clarifying questions - Researcher agent may ask clarifying questions to guide the output and keep you involved. This phase is important to help you steer the research and ensure the final report meets your needs.