Configure the connection settings
Configuring the connection setting varies based on the type of data source you add to your tenant. You can connect to an on-premises or online data source. This unit discusses the general process for connecting to each, highlighting only the general setup instructions that apply to numerous out-of-the-box connector setups.
Configure the connection and set permissions
The following sections discuss the property and permissions settings necessary to configure your connection.
Connect to an on-premises data source
You can connect to an on-premises data source using the Microsoft Graph Connector Agent, which allows for secure data transfer between on-premises data and the connector APIs.
To set up the Microsoft Graph Connector Agent, you need to:
- Download and install the latest version using the installation configuration assistant.
- Ensure the execution policy allows remote signed scripts.
- Configure the agent to handle up to three connections with the recommended settings.
- Provide authentication details using either a client secret or a certificate, and if needed, generate a self-signed certificate using the provided script.
For online data sources, access the Microsoft Graph connectors gallery to view the collection of connectors created by Microsoft and our partners.
Connect to an online data source
The Graph Connectors Service is an orchestrator for syncing data from external cloud sources to Microsoft platforms, using ready-made or custom-built connectors through the Graph connector SDK (Shared Development Kit). This service operates on a scheduled pull mechanism to regularly index and input updates into Microsoft Graph.
Select properties
You can choose the properties that Microsoft Search indexes. The specific properties available for crawling depend on the connector you're using and the configuration options it provides. Typical crawled properties include:
- Content: What the item is about, like the words in a document or the description of an issue. We use this property to search the full text of the content, show a preview of the result, group similar results together, figure out the language, support HTML and plain text, rank the results by relevance, and help you write better queries.
- Metadata: Extra info about the item, like who wrote it, when it was created or changed, and other custom fields you might have.
- Attachments: Files or other things that are linked to the main item.
- System Properties: Properties that come from the system where the data is stored, like content IDs, URLs, and content type info.
For example: With the Enterprise websites Microsoft Graph connector, you can easily index articles and content from your company's websites. This way, everyone can find what they need by using Microsoft Search.
Assign property labels
When you go to the Assign property labels page, you can give your source properties some labels that Microsoft already knows. Labels help Microsoft 365 Copilot understand what your data means. They also let Copilot use your connector data in cool ways, like better search results, people cards, smart discovery, and more.
The most important label is Title. We strongly suggest that you pick a property for this label if you want your connection to join the result cluster party.
Important
Incorrectly mapping labels degrades search experiences. It's okay for some labels to not have a property assigned.
Aliases for source properties
You can add aliases to your properties under the Alias column on the Manage schema page. Aliases are friendly names for your properties. They're used in queries and in creating filters. They're also used to normalize source properties from multiple connections such that they have the same name so you can create a single filter for a vertical with multiple connections.
Grant permissions to access the data source
Before users can see connector search results, you must map the user identity to a unique identifier for your data source (using either non-Azure AD Identities or Microsoft Entra identities). Once these mappings are complete, people in your Access Control List (ACL) can see only the search results scoped to them.