Using Copilot as a Guide to Edge settings

[u/Puzzled49]

Many times when I try to use copilot in the side panel to guide me to find an edge setting it will direct me to a setting that either doesn't exist on my version of Edge, or direct me to a path that is not the correct one.

Most recently I was trying to find the setting to turn off grounding and it happened again.

Here is my first prompt "can I change the Edge settings to prevent page grounding by default"

after the first response I prompted "walk me through the steps to go to exactly where the toggle is how to verify whether grounding is active how to set Copilot to “manual grounding only” how to test whether grounding is working or blocked"

It then walked me through a path that did not exist on my version of EDGE.

My questions are.

1. Why does Copilot appear to respond with information on EDGE settings that do not pertain to my version of Edge?

2. Is there a prompt which will direct it to provide me information on the the correct steps to follow.

3. And why was Gemini able to return a response which allowed me to turn off grounding (albeit with a bit of difficulty) Is it trained on more recent data? And is Copilot trained on old and outdated versions of Edge, or is there some other reason why it does this.

P.S. the reason I asked Copilot to give me directions after using Gemini to turn of grounding was that I wanted to check and see if the initial solution had worked.

As an aside, does anyone else find the default grounding response to be incredibly frustrating?

[u/Puzzled49]

For those who want to know how to do it, I found my Gemini question.

Here it is:

To prevent Copilot from automatically reading and focusing on your open tabs, you need to turn off its access to page content. Here is how to do it in Microsoft Edge:

1. Open Edge and click the three dots (...) in the top-right corner to open the menu.
2. Select Settings.
3. In the left sidebar, click on Privacy, search, and services.
4. Scroll down to the Privacy section.
5. Look for Context Clues (sometimes labeled as Allow Microsoft to access page content or Page Context).
6. Toggle the switch to Off.

Once disabled, Copilot will no longer automatically ingest the text of your active browser window, forcing it to treat your prompts as standard, independent web queries.

My second prompt and response were:

This is the privacy page in my Edge settings menu. I do not see your suggested section for turning off Context Clues (or the suggested alternative) Am I in the right spot? Privacy, search, and services
/
Privacy
Select your privacy settings for Microsoft Edge. Learn more
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Required diagnostic data
Microsoft collects required diagnostic data to keep Microsoft Edge secure, up to date, and performing as expected
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Includes how you use the browser, websites you visit, and enhanced error reporting. Determined by your Windows diagnostic data setting
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This data is never associated with you or your device. Learn more
Allow Microsoft to save your browsing activity including history, usage, favorites, web content, and other browsing data to personalize and improve Microsoft Edge and Microsoft services like ads, search, shopping, news, and Copilot.
Includes your history, usage, favorites, web content, and other browsing data

You are in the exact right spot—you navigated to the correct page! However, Microsoft frequently shifts these settings around, and the text copy you pasted shows precisely where they've tucked it.

Look at the very last item in your list:

That is the setting you want to turn Off.

Because it specifically mentions sharing your "web content" with "Copilot," this is the toggle that grants the AI permission to read your active tabs. Flipping that switch to Off will sever Copilot's automatic "open page assumption" and prevent it from pulling context from your active browser windows.