Dr. Estera Kot

FabCon Europe 2026 in 18 demos · Part 1 of 18 · Defaults to check Monday

“Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot” is on for everyone

One Microsoft 365 admin center setting decides who can ask Copilot about your Power BI data. It ships set to All users.

By Dr. Estera Kot, Microsoft MVP, CTO at Clouds on Mars, and former Microsoft Principal Product Manager for the Apache Spark runtime in Fabric. Published .

Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot is a setting in the Microsoft 365 admin center that decides which users can get answers from Power BI reports and semantic models inside Microsoft 365 Copilot. It has three values: No users, All users, and Specific groups. Microsoft enables it by default. In the demo tenant behind FabCon Europe 2026 in 18 demos, it showed All users, and no admin had touched it.

It matters because Fabric IQ in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is now GA. A business user asks Copilot Chat a data question and gets an answer from a semantic model. The setting does not widen anyone's data access. It opens a new way to reach data people can already read.

In short

  1. Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot, in the Microsoft 365 admin center, decides who gets Power BI answers in Microsoft 365 Copilot. It is GA and set to All users by default.
  2. It is one of four gates with three owners: a Microsoft 365 admin, a Fabric administrator, and each semantic model's owner.
  3. The setting grants no new data access. Copilot answers with the user's permissions, RLS, and OLS, so stale workspace access becomes Copilot access.
The Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot panel in the Microsoft 365 admin center. All users is selected, and Save stays grey because nothing changed. 12 seconds, no sound, recorded Oct 19, 2026.

Same demo in Polish and German. Step-by-step runbook: D01.

What the Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot setting is and how it works

The setting lives in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Copilot, Settings, View all. An admin role such as AI Administrator can change it.

The panel has two steps. Step 1 is the switch: which users may reach Fabric data from Microsoft Copilot. Step 2 links to a separate Fabric tenant setting. A question in Copilot Chat passes four gates before an answer comes back, and three of them start on.

Four gates between a Copilot Chat question and a semantic model A question travels left to right through four gates. Gate 1, owned by the Microsoft 365 admin, is the Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot setting, default All users. Gate 2, owned by the Fabric administrator, is Share Fabric data with your Microsoft 365 services, default on in the same geography, and pasted report links still work when it is off. Gate 3, owned by the model owner, is the AI setting on each semantic model, default on. Gate 4 is the user's permissions with RLS and OLS, always enforced. Then the answer appears in Copilot Chat. Microsoft 365 admin Fabric administrator Model owner Workspace owners 1 2 3 4 Who may ask What Copilot finds Which models answer Which rows Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot Share Fabric data with your Microsoft 365 services AI setting on each semantic model The user's permissions, RLS, and OLS Default: All users Default: on, same geography Default: on Always enforced Off: a pasted report link still works Answer in Copilot Chat A switch that starts on: Microsoft chose it Not a switch: checked every time Four gates between a Copilot Chat question and a semantic model Four gates from top to bottom. Gate 1, Microsoft 365 admin: Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot, default All users. Gate 2, Fabric administrator: Share Fabric data with your Microsoft 365 services, default on in the same geography, pasted links still work when off. Gate 3, model owner: AI setting on each semantic model, default on. Gate 4: the user's permissions, RLS, and OLS, always enforced. Then the answer in Copilot Chat. 1 Microsoft 365 admin Who may ask Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot Default: All users 2 Fabric administrator What Copilot finds Share Fabric data with your Microsoft 365 services Default: on, same geography Off: a pasted link still works 3 Model owner Which models answer AI setting on each semantic model Default: on 4 Workspace owners Which rows The user's permissions, RLS, and OLS Always enforced Answer in Copilot Chat Starts on: Microsoft chose it Not a switch: checked every time
Figure 1. A Copilot Chat question passes four gates with three owners. Gates 1 to 3 are switches that start on. Gate 4 never switches off.

Gate 1 decides who may ask. With No users, those users see no Fabric context in Copilot responses. Gate 2, Share Fabric data with your Microsoft 365 services, sends report metadata to Microsoft 365 for Copilot search and the attach menu.

Gate 3 is the model's own AI setting, covered in part 2, the semantic model AI setting. Gate 4 is the user's existing permissions, with row-level security (RLS) and object-level security (OLS).

Outside the United States and the European Union, a Fabric setting must also allow Azure OpenAI processing in another geography. Each user needs what Learn calls a Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium license.

What the demo shows

The 12-second clip changes nothing. It shows the state Microsoft shipped.

The panel title says Fabric data available in Microsoft Copilot, so search for both names when you audit.

Limits and catches

The catch: the setting grants no new access, so it exposes old access. Anyone who can read a report can now ask about it in Copilot Chat, outside Power BI. Workspace access that nobody cleaned up becomes Copilot access.

The switch is tenant-wide. It scopes users and groups, not workspaces or models. To keep one model out of Copilot, use that model's AI setting.

Turning off Gate 2 does not stop answers. Reports drop out of Copilot search and the attach menu, but a pasted report link still works.

Power BI reports: full context

  • Name, description, and URL
  • Who has access, and the workspace
  • Creator, last editor, and dates
  • Page names, chart titles, and field names

Apps, dashboards, paginated reports

  • Name, URL, access, and workspace

Usage signals

  • Which reports each user viewed
Route
Through Microsoft Graph, in the background
Used by
Copilot search, the attach menu, and the Semantic Index
Default
On when both tenants share a geography
Figure 2. What Share Fabric data with your Microsoft 365 services sends to Microsoft 365. Users see only items they can already open.

Learn adds: “When you allow Microsoft Copilot users to search and retrieve data stored in Fabric, their query data from Microsoft Copilot will be shared with Fabric.” Sensitivity labels and DLP policies still apply.

Paginated reports, dashboards, top-level apps, and models on Embedded capacities are not supported. Data agents answer in Copilot Chat only once published as a Microsoft 365 agent, see part 12, the Fabric data agent. The MCP door has its own gates, see part 3, the Fabric IQ MCP server.

One Learn page lags. The Fabric admin article on Microsoft 365 sharing still says Frontier only, while the Fabric IQ page says GA.

How to check the setting in your tenant

You need access to Copilot settings in the Microsoft 365 admin center. The steps follow runbook D01.

  1. Open admin.cloud.microsoft and go to Copilot, Settings, View all.
  2. Select Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot.
  3. Read the two parts: people can search and retrieve Fabric data, and which users it applies to.
  4. Check Allow users to access. The default is All users.
Copilot > Settings > View all > Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot
  Step 1  ( ) No users   (x) All users   ( ) Specific groups
  Step 2  Share Fabric data with your Microsoft 365 services
          (Fabric admin portal, owned by a Fabric administrator)

Expected result: the setting is on for All users. Decide whether that matches your data policy before anyone asks Copilot about finance data. Time and cost: about 2 minutes, no Fabric capacity needed.

What to do on Monday

On Monday: Check the value of Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot and decide who should have access.

If the answer is not everyone, pick Specific groups, choose a security group you control, and select Save.

Key facts at a glance

Checked on Microsoft Learn on November 3, 2026.

IDFactSource
K1Location: Microsoft 365 admin center, Copilot, Settings, View all.Use Power BI data in Microsoft Copilot
K2Values: No users, All users, Specific groups. Enabled by default.Use Power BI data in Microsoft Copilot
K3Power BI answers in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat are GA.Fabric IQ in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
K4AI Administrator can change it. Global Reader can view only.Configure Microsoft Copilot settings
K5License: Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium for every user.Fabric IQ in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
K6Metadata sharing is on by default in the same geography. Changes take up to 24 hours.Share data with your Microsoft 365 services
K7Outside the US and EU, the cross-geography processing setting is required.Copilot and Agent admin settings

Frequently asked questions

Is Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot on by default?

Yes. Microsoft Learn says it is enabled by default, and a demo tenant recorded on October 19, 2026, showed All users selected. Find it in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Copilot, Settings, View all.

Who can change Fabric data in Microsoft Copilot?

A Microsoft 365 admin with a role such as AI Administrator. Global Reader can view Copilot settings but not change them. The related Fabric tenant settings belong to a Fabric administrator.

Can Copilot see Power BI data a user is not allowed to see?

No. Copilot answers with the user's existing permissions, including row-level security and object-level security on the semantic model.

What happens if I turn off Share Fabric data with your Microsoft 365 services?

Reports drop out of Copilot search and the attach menu, but users can still paste a report link or name a report in a prompt. To stop Power BI answers, change Step 1 in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Can I allow Copilot access to Power BI data for only some users?

Yes. Choose Specific groups and select a security group. To keep one semantic model out of Copilot, use the AI setting on that model.

About the author

Dr. Estera Kot is CTO at Clouds on Mars, a Microsoft and Databricks partner for data and AI in Europe and the Middle East. At Microsoft she was Principal Product Manager for the Apache Spark runtime in Azure Synapse Analytics and Microsoft Fabric, and she created the Native Execution Engine. She is a Microsoft MVP and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Warsaw University of Technology. She presented this series as the FabCon Europe 2026 recap in Gdynia on October 21, 2026, and online on October 23, 2026. Slides, recordings, and runbooks are in the public recap repository.

Sources

Microsoft Learn, checked on November 3, 2026, then the recap materials.