How to Remove Citations and References from Chatbot Responses in Copilot Studio?

Question

How to Remove Citations and References from Chatbot Responses in Copilot Studio?

Jeremy Fermin 35

Hi everyone!

I'm working on a chatbot in Copilot Studio and looking for a way to remove citations or references (such as PDF links) from its responses. Right now, the chatbot includes source links in its answers, but I’d like to provide clean responses without extra references.

Is there a built-in way to do this in Copilot Studio, or would I need to use Power Automate or Expressions? Any guidance, best practices, or workarounds would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Anonymous

2025-02-14T08:58:13.9833333+00:00

Hi Jeremy Fermin - Currently Copilot Studio does not provide a built-in way to remove citations or references (such as PDF links) from the chatbot responses.
Mohammed Ali 0 Reputation points

2025-03-04T14:24:21.9866667+00:00

Whats the best way to remove it when using a generative answers node?
Richard Reukema (Phx) 20 Reputation points

2025-04-28T17:34:02.8166667+00:00

So close to a perfect sales agent for my book, but giving the knowledge of the book will also give quotes directly from the book, regardless of the direction provided in the bot. Why can we just have a check box which says include reference links or not in the chat?

Accepted answer

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Your answer

Anonymous

2025-02-14T08:58:13.9833333+00:00

Hi Jeremy Fermin - Currently Copilot Studio does not provide a built-in way to remove citations or references (such as PDF links) from the chatbot responses.
Mohammed Ali 0 Reputation points

2025-03-04T14:24:21.9866667+00:00

Whats the best way to remove it when using a generative answers node?
Richard Reukema (Phx) 20 Reputation points

2025-04-28T17:34:02.8166667+00:00

So close to a perfect sales agent for my book, but giving the knowledge of the book will also give quotes directly from the book, regardless of the direction provided in the bot. Why can we just have a check box which says include reference links or not in the chat?

Answer 1

Gerasimos Filippakos 90

I had the same question so I did some digging, and I found this to be the best workaround:

Use GenAI Node but:

Scroll down to 'Advanced'
Uncheck 'Send a Message' under it
Change 'Save LLM response' to 'Complete'
Set a 'Save bot response as' variable that works for you
Add a 'Send a message' node
In the text to be sent, add a variable and select this "Topic.YOUR_VARIABLE.Text.Content"

The only downside to this is that you can see still the [1], [2] at the end of the text (NO links or mentions of the references however, just plain text of the numbers).

Jeremy Fermin 35 Reputation points

2025-03-06T14:03:45.94+00:00

I actually did the same thing. To remove the citation or reference markers, just customize the message node with this formula:

Substitute(Substitute(Substitute(Topic.YOUR_VARIABLE.Text.Content, "[1]", ""), "[2]", ""), "[3]", "")

This will clean up the response by removing the [1], [2] markers.
Basel Saif 0 Reputation points

2025-03-09T09:42:49.17+00:00

Hey everyone, I have a question. I'm working on this agent and tried adding the 'Send a Message' node after the Condition node and before that, but it didn’t work. I'm not an expert, so I’d really appreciate any help. Thanks in advance!
Gloria Albuquerque-MSFT 15 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-12T02:02:28.89+00:00

Hi Basel,

When you create a topic, a Trigger node automatically appears on the authoring canvas. You can then add different types of nodes to achieve the desired conversation path for your topic.

To add a node after another node or between two nodes on your topic authoring canvas:

Select the Add node icon below the node under which you want to add a new node.

Select the desired node type from the list that appears.

Delete a node

Select the More icon (…) of the node you want to delete, and then select Delete.

Controls for editing nodes on the canvas

You can use controls on the toolbar to cut, copy, paste, and delete the selected node or selected adjacent nodes.

The toolbar also has a control to undo an edit. Open the Undo menu to revert all actions back to the last save or to redo the previous action.

Paste nodes

Once you use the Cut or Copy tools to place one or more nodes on the clipboard, there are two ways to paste them in the canvas:

If you select a node and then select Paste, the nodes on the clipboard are inserted after the selected node.

If you select the "+" to see the Add node menu, then select Paste, the node on the clipboard is inserted at that location.

Add input and output parameters for a topic

Topics can have input and output parameters. When a topic redirects to another topic, you can use these parameters to pass information between the topics.

Additionally, if your agent uses generative mode, it can automatically fill topic inputs from the conversation context, or after generating questions to gather values from users. This behavior is similar to how generative slot filling works for actions.

To learn more about input and output parameters for topics, see Manage topic inputs and outputs.

Design a topic conversation path

When you create a topic, a Trigger node automatically appears on the authoring canvas. You can then add different types of nodes to achieve the desired conversation path for your topic.

To add a node after another node or between two nodes on your topic authoring canvas:

Select the Add node icon below the node under which you want to add a new node.

Select the desired node type from the list that appears.

Please click on the below link for more details :

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/authoring-create-edit-topics?tabs=webApp

If the answer is helpful, please click “Accept Answer” and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click “Comment”.

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Basel Saif 0 Reputation points

2025-03-12T10:47:38.41+00:00
Thank you Gloria, this was helpful but I'm looking for removing the citations from the answers the agent provides and i was asking where should i add the

a 'Send a message' node

In the text to be sent, add a variable and select this "Topic.YOUR_VARIABLE.Text.Content"

As i tried to add it before and after the create generative answer node, and didn't work.
Palapala Naidu 0 Reputation points

2025-03-21T11:08:43.21+00:00

I have created an agent using M365 Copilot and uploaded the raw data through an Excel file containing employee details for a particular course.

However, I have encountered one disadvantage: when I prompt the agent to provide the status of a specific employee from the Excel file, it not only gives the status but also shares the entire Excel file with the employee, which is not appropriate.

Your assistance with this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Carol Teh 5 Reputation points

2025-04-03T09:31:36.93+00:00

Yes it works. But I only want to hide one reference from an excel file, I am exploring how to make the response so "intelligent"...
Carol Teh 5 Reputation points

2025-04-03T09:34:28.25+00:00

I am using Jeremy's suggestion to mask the reference number.. thanks for this great tip
Hesham Mohamed 0 Reputation points

2025-07-07T05:21:59.18+00:00
Hi @Jeremy Fermin I just came across your answer today, and it was very useful to me. Since we use internal PDF files as KB, we wished not to make the citation show the data source. Your reply is very helpful but I can add to it to refine for others who might come across your answer again.

[ The only downside to this is that you can see still the [1], [2] at the end of the text (NO links or mentions of the references however, just plain text of the numbers).]

in the message node we can use Power FX to clean the answer.text.content from [1], [2] etc

Substitute( Substitute( Substitute( Substitute( Topic.Answer.Text.Content, "[1]", "" ), "[2]", "" ), "[3]", "" ), "[4]", "" )

Answer 2

Hello,

To resolve this issue, I would suggest raising a support ticket using the link below. This will allow an assigned engineer from the respective team to investigate and assist in resolving the matter promptly.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/get-help-support?view=o365-worldwide

Thank you.

If the answer is helpful, please click “Accept Answer” and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click “Comment”.

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Learn how to get online or phone support for your Microsoft 365 for business subscription. You must be an admin for a business subscription to get support.

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How to Remove Citations and References from Chatbot Responses in Copilot Studio?

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