How to Remove References from Copilot Responses Generated from Uploaded Knowledge Files?

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Posted on by Hums

I'm using Microsoft Copilot Studio to create a bot, and I’ve uploaded some internal knowledge files to serve as the bot's data source. When the bot generates responses based on these files, it automatically adds references (citations) to the response, such as:

"Here is the information you requested [Reference - File Name."

I would like to remove these references entirely from the bot's responses when the knowledge file is the source.

Here are the details of my setup:

I’ve uploaded internal documents and files as a knowledge.
The bot is generating accurate responses but includes references (e.g., file names that I don’t want to appear in the responses.
I’m looking for a way to suppress or remove these references from the response.

Any guidance or step-by-step instructions would be greatly appreciated!

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SaiRT14 1,990 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi Hums,

Currently, there is no out-of-the-box option to disable these references directly in Microsoft Copilot Studio.

Work around: Implement a post-processing function in your Copilot actions or prompts. If the references follow a predictable pattern, like [Reference - File Name], apply a regular expression to remove them. function removeReferences(response) { return response.replace(/\[Reference - .*?\]/g, '').trim(); }

pls try. Thanks

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divanshu 25 on at

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Hi,

Here are some steps that you can follow and remove source citation in the copilot chat:

Go to your Conversational boosting topic and go to existing GenAI node. Go to its properties.

Scroll down to the Advanced section in the node settings.

Uncheck the "Send a Message" option.

Set the "Save LLM Response" option to "Complete".

Define a variable in the "Save bot response as" field .

Add a "Send a Message" node after the GenAI node.

In the message content of this new node, insert a variable referencing the saved GenAI response. Use the format:

Topic.YOUR_VARIABLE.Text.Content

(Replace YOUR_VARIABLE with the actual name you used, e.g., Topic.MyBotResponse.Text.Content)

I have tested this and you can also apply the same steps.

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DaniBash 27 on at

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To remove that references ([0],[1]...) there isn´t any option yet.

But you can use a formula with substitute to remove it.

So, save the LLM answer as a record variable with full response, and in the send message action, insert this formula (remenber to adjust the variable name):

Substitute(
Substitute(
Substitute(
Substitute(
Substitute(Topic.llmAnswer.Text.Content, "[1]", ""),
"[2]", ""
),
"[3]", ""
),
"[4]", ""
),
"[5]", ""
)

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