AI Chat

AI Chat is where you ask questions and give instructions in plain language. It answers questions, drafts texts, summarizes and reworks wording. Unlike an AI service you use privately, it draws on your company knowledge, respects your roles and, in standard mode, processes data exclusively in the EU.

Best for: writing drafts, shortening and rephrasing texts, questions about your own documents, translations, summaries of long documents.

Before you begin

AI Chat is open to every member of your organization, regardless of role.
Your administrator sets up which models you can choose from under Settings → AI models.

Ask a question

In the sidebar, click AI Chat.
Type your question into the input field (Ask your question) and press Enter.
The answer appears while it is being written. Click Stop to end it early.

When you move the mouse over an answer, Copy and Regenerate answer appear below it. Copy copies the complete text of the answer. If the answer has sources, the action is called Copy answer with sources and also copies the source references shown. Microsoft file references contain the file name, the storage location, the recorded modification date and the link to the original file; knowledge base references contain the document name and, where available, the page. The copy captures this answer as it stands and does not check the sources again. Above your own message, Edit message appears: you change the question and trigger a new answer with Send, instead of sending a second message after it.

Every conversation is kept in the Chats tab in the left column and is visible only to you. When you open AI Chat, a new chat starts; you open earlier conversations in the Chats tab. With New chat at the top you can start a new conversation at any time without losing the old one.

Include your company knowledge

Unless you choose to, the AI does not access your documents. In the Sources menu, before sending, you choose the knowledge bases, Microsoft documents or, after separate approval, Outlook mail and Outlook calendar.

Next to the input field, open Sources.
Choose one or more knowledge bases.
Ask your question in full sentences. “How many vacation days is an employee entitled to after five years?” works better than “vacation”.

The selected sources appear above the input field; Sources shows how many there are. The selection also applies to the next question in this chat until you change it. With Clear selection you remove all selected sources. You can also select knowledge bases and Microsoft 365 together. If the answer is based on evidence, below it you see how many sources were used (Used 1 source, Used 3 sources), where applicable split into From your knowledge bases, From Microsoft 365 and From the web. A click opens the passage. For anything that matters (a deadline, an amount, a commitment to a customer), read the passage instead of trusting the answer.

You only see the knowledge bases you have been granted access to. If one is missing from the list, it is restricted to selected people; your administrator can add you.

Reference recordings

If Transcription is enabled for your organization, you bring a recording into the chat with @.

In the input field, type @ and part of the title, for example @Building committee.
Choose the recording from the list, with the mouse or with the arrow keys and Enter.
The recording now appears above the input field; ask your question as usual.

Only finished recordings that you are allowed to see are suggested: your own and those shared with the team. You can reference up to three recordings at the same time; click the × on a reference to remove it again. The reference applies to all further questions in this chat until you remove it. The chat passes very long recordings to the model in shortened form and then tells you that the answer might be in the missing part. To ask a question about all recordings at once, use Transcription → Ask all recordings (see Transcription).

Use documents from Microsoft 365

Use documents from SharePoint or OneDrive in the chat without transferring your files into a knowledge base. The original files stay with Microsoft; the content needed for your question is retrieved for processing. Your administration defines the storage locations, and every new access uses the permissions of your personal Microsoft business account.

Open Integrations → Microsoft 365.
Click Connect with Microsoft and sign in with your Work or school account.
Open Go to chat.
Next to the input field, open Sources and choose Microsoft documents.
Ask a specific question about a document, for example “Which deadlines does the work instruction on complaints set?”.
Open the Microsoft source of the answer and check the original file.

You can additionally choose a knowledge base if the answer should take both collections into account.

Other suitable questions are “Summarize the responsibilities in the work instruction” and “Compare price and delivery time of the Alpenrad and Berglicht quotes”. Name known document names or the topic so that the search can find matching results. At most three documents are read per question; a complete evaluation of all company files is therefore not promised.

The integration page names the file formats that can currently be read. Start with a small DOCX file; PDF is only available once it has been enabled. The complete formats and limits are in the reference. For a personal one-off task, you can also choose the source for an agent. If personal workflows are enabled, use the Microsoft documents step there. Public chatbots do not get personal Microsoft access.

If the answer shows Sources restricted, document content was withheld and not used as evidence. If needed, open the original or use another source. If there is no usable Microsoft source, current company information is not backed by this answer. Checking documents and writing the answer use your organization's normal AI quota.

The Microsoft source is grayed out

In the Sources menu, open the link Connect Microsoft 365 or Manage Microsoft 365. There you see the next setup step. If the Microsoft tenant or an approved storage location is missing, contact your administration. If a finite chat retention period is missing, the owner of your organization has to set it. If an approved model with document access is missing, your administration can approve a suitable model.

OneDrive is connected, but my files do not appear

Connecting your account does not automatically approve your own OneDrive as a storage location. The administration can add the OneDrive of its connected account with Choose my OneDrive. For shared team documents, an approved SharePoint library is the better fit. Even within an approved storage location, you can only read files that your Microsoft account is allowed to access.

A file was changed or my access was revoked

New retrievals check your current permissions and read accessible originals again. Microsoft may show a change in its search results only after a delay. Earlier answers are not deleted retroactively because a file changed or access was revoked, and they do not back current information. Microsoft chats stay personal and do not use public web search, even if you later switch off new Microsoft retrievals. AI processing is subject to the same model approvals of your organization as other sources; the integration shows EU providers only or Global (incl. non-EU). With global approval, the permitted models can also process Microsoft content outside the EU. You can delete the chat or export it personally; these chats are left out of the organization export.

Research your personal Outlook mail

Find customer correspondence, have explicitly stated commitments or open questions explained and prepare a reply to copy over yourself. Mail access is approved separately from your Microsoft documents.

Open Integrations → Microsoft 365.
In the Outlook mail section, click Allow Outlook reading and confirm read access with your personal business account.
Open Go to chat.
Under Sources, choose the option Outlook mail.
Ask a specific question, for example “Which delivery date was promised to the customer Alpenrad for order A17, and which points are still open?”.
Check the linked original emails before you use the suggested reply.

If a Microsoft account is already connected, the mail approval must use the same account. The document connection stays in place when you add the mail approval. If your email address is hosted by another mail provider, Outlook mail does not search that mailbox; only messages in the connected Microsoft mailbox are available. For an answer drawn from both correspondence and documents, you can additionally choose Microsoft documents. An approved document storage location is not required for pure mail questions; the finite chat retention and an approved model with tool access are still required.

The search is limited and does not prove that all messages of a conversation or a customer were found. If the search terms produced no results, the research may show additional candidates based on message type and time received; for statements on the topic, matching original emails are read fresh. Search query invalid means that an AI tool request was rejected before it ran; this notice does not indicate a Microsoft outage. Research incomplete shows that a conversation still contains open research steps, but no answer is currently being generated. Shared mailboxes and mail attachments are not read in this first version; missing content and limited excerpts are named. No messages are sent, saved, moved or deleted. For mail sources, Copy answer with sources contains the subject, sender, date received and the original reference. You check the reply text and copy it into Outlook yourself.

After a mail question, the chat stays personal and does not use public web search, even if you later deselect the mail source. With Disconnect you end document and mail access of your Microsoft account together; a revocation of permissions at Microsoft is detected at the next actual retrieval. The complete mail limits are in the reference.

View and prepare events in your Outlook calendar

Have your events summarized and prepare a meeting together with emails and documents. Calendar access is approved separately from documents and mail.

Open Integrations → Microsoft 365.
In the Outlook calendar section, click Allow calendar reading and confirm read access with your personal business account.
Open Go to chat.
Under Sources, choose the option Outlook calendar, and for meeting preparation additionally Outlook mail or Microsoft documents.
Ask a specific question, for example “Which meetings do I have tomorrow, and what should I prepare for the meeting with Alpenrad?”.
Check the linked original events before you rely on times or participants.

Every event mentioned appears as a numbered source with its time and a link to the original in Outlook. Times are given in German time (Europe/Berlin). The description or agenda of an event is only read if the question requires it. If a Microsoft account is already connected, the calendar approval must use the same account; existing document and mail approvals stay in place.

The overview is limited: an event that is not listed does not prove that you are free at that time. Canceled events are marked as canceled. Shared calendars, other people's availability and event attachments are not read in this first version. No events are created, changed, answered or canceled. After a calendar question, the chat stays personal and does not use public web search. The complete calendar limits are in the reference.

Get current information from the internet

The model's knowledge has a cutoff date. For prices, news or market figures, switch on Search the web below the input field. The AI then decides by itself whether and when to search; the search runs through a European search provider, and the sources used appear as an expandable Searched the web card above the answer. For wording work, summaries of your own documents and brainstorming you do not need the switch.

The web search switch is missing

There are two possible reasons. The chosen model does not support tools: switch to another model using the model name below the input field, and the switch appears. Or web search is disabled for your organization.

Protect sensitive data

Anonymization replaces certain personal data in your message with placeholders before sending and puts them back into the answer. It is switched off by default and only applies to the text you type into the input field. It detects email addresses, phone numbers, IBANs, credit card numbers, German ID card numbers, vehicle license plates and IPv4 addresses in common German and international formats. Names and postal addresses are deliberately not detected.

Below the input field, click the plus icon (Add attachment) and choose Anonymous.
Write your message as usual. Anonymization active appears above the input field.

You switch anonymization off again with the same menu item; a check mark shows that it is switched on. The same value gets the same placeholder across several messages of the same chat, so that the context is preserved for the AI. Attached files, content from your knowledge bases and content from Microsoft 365 are not anonymized. So rewrite names, addresses and unusual spellings yourself if the AI should not see them.

You also attach an image or a PDF to the message through the same plus menu; the item only appears for models that can process files. PDF files may be at most 3 MB in size; for larger documents, Document chat is the right place.

Choose a different model

Click the model name below the input field. You can switch in the middle of a conversation, for example to a more powerful model for a difficult analysis and back to a fast one for the summary. For most tasks the preset model is enough.

To the right of a model, you see its consumption for your organization's chat in the current quota period: Low, Medium, High or Very high. If no consumption rule applies for this chat period, no tier appears there; an empty spot means neither “Low” nor “Very high”. The differences are large: a model at the “Very high” tier uses many times as much for the same amount of text as a model at the “Low” tier. The tier says nothing about the quality of the answer for your specific task: for wording, summaries and standard questions, an economical model as a rule delivers the same result. What consumption lies behind the tiers is explained in the Reference.

If a powerful model exceeds its monthly allowance, it appears grayed out and the chat answers with the base model; a corresponding notice appears below the answer. You do not need to do anything: on the first of the month the model is automatically available again.

Work with templates

Templates are ready-made instructions that you call up with a few clicks. They are in the Templates tab in the left column, and on a phone in the chats and templates panel. Datenmassiv AI provides the Library, organized by task, for example “Create a quote”, “Check an invoice or receipt” or “Draft a reply to an Outlook email”. Above it are My templates, From your team, Favorites and Recently used. In an empty chat, some templates appear as starting suggestions. The search above the list also finds templates by the name of their folder; below each result you see where the template is located.

Click a template.
If the template has fields, Fill in template asks for the details. You must fill in required fields; selection fields often offer Other… for your own entry.
With Apply the finished text lands in the input field. Check or add to it and send it.

Icons on a template show what it uses: web search, knowledge base, a file or Microsoft 365. The chat switches web search on by itself when you apply the template. If the template needs a knowledge base, a file or a Microsoft source, a notice appears above the input field; then choose the source under Sources or attach the file with +. Templates put missing details as visible placeholders in square brackets, for example [add price], instead of inventing them.

Guided conversations

Some templates are marked as Guided conversation. Instead of a finished text, the AI asks for the necessary details one after another, for example for a quote, a job posting or an entry in the record of processing activities. After Start conversation a new chat begins with the name of the template; your current conversation is kept. Simply answer the questions; at the end the AI sums up and creates the draft after you confirm. If you need a truly fixed order, build a workflow.

In the Templates tab, click New template, or move the mouse over one of your own messages in the history and choose Save as template.
Under Type, choose between Text template and Guided conversation.
Enter a Name and write the Template text. For parts that change every time, insert a field with Insert field; under Fields when inserting you set the label, input type and choices.
Under Visibility, choose Only me or My team and click Create template.

With My team, everyone in your organization sees the template under From your team with your name; they can use and copy it, but only you can change it. Later you share it through the menu on the template with Share with team or withdraw the sharing with Stop sharing. You adapt a template from the library or from colleagues with Copy to my templates; the copy belongs to you.

Organization templates, which the whole team sees without a personal author, are maintained by owners and administrators under Settings → Templates, and also by editors with the “Manage templates” permission. All roles and permissions at a glance: Reference.

What you should know about storage

Your conversations are stored within the respective organization and remain available there in the Chats tab, visible only to you. When you switch organizations, you see only the conversations you had in that organization. How long they are kept is set by the owner of your organization under Settings → Data processing agreement (DPA); the default is twelve months, after which they are deleted automatically.

In standard mode, your AI processing runs exclusively in EU regions, and the database, storage and email are also in the EU. Whether models outside the EU are additionally available is set by Datenmassiv AI for your organization, not by your own administrator. Under Settings → AI models you see the applicable scope as a label: EU providers only or Global (incl. non-EU). Three services work outside the EU regardless, and none of them gets to see your uploaded documents. Which ones they are and what each of them processes is listed in full in the Reference.

Next step

Knowledge bases: store documents so that the chat answers from them.
Document chat: ask questions about a single file without setting anything up first.
Reference: roles, file formats, limits and retention periods in one place.