MC1247902 - SharePoint: AI citations analytics for documents and pages

Updated April 21, 2026: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience. 

Introduction

We are adding AI citations analytics to SharePoint to help site owners understand how their SharePoint documents, news posts, and pages are referenced by Microsoft Copilot and other AI agents. These insights will help organizations track content value, identify high‑impact information, and understand how AI‑powered workflows use SharePoint content. Users must have the appropriate Microsoft Copilot licenses to use the AI features that may generate citations.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 480725.

When this will happen

General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout will begin in mid‑Aprilstart of July 2026 (previously mid‑April) and will complete by mid-Mayend of July 2026 (previously mid-May).

How this affects your organization

Who is affected:

• SharePoint Online site owners, content authors, and admins.
• Users who have Microsoft Copilot licenses for the experiences that may generate citations.

What will happen:

The following updates will appear in SharePoint:

• SharePoint Popular content in Site Usage will display documents, news posts, and pages ranked by how often they are cited by Copilot or AI agents.
• SharePoint page analytics will include a new Total citations card showing the number of times a page or news post is referenced in Copilot or agent responses.
• SharePoint file statistics will include a new AI citations metric displayed alongside existing metrics such as views and viewers.
• A new AI citations analytics page will appear under Site Usage. It will provide:
  • The number of users who consume site content through Copilot and AI agents.
  • The total number of citations for the site.
  • The most frequently cited documents, news posts, and pages.

Supported agents include Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Loop, Planner, SharePoint Knowledge Agent, and SharePoint custom agents.

This feature will be on by default and will not require admin action to enable.

Screenshot 1 - AI citations aggregated across site content in the Site analytics view: 

Screenshot 2 - AI citations shown for an individual SharePoint page or news post in Page analytics:

What you can do to prepare

No admin action is required before the rollout.

You may want to:

• Inform site owners and content authors about the new analytics.
• Review your SharePoint usage and analytics processes to understand how the new AI citation metrics may support governance, content lifecycle planning, and content strategy.
• Update internal documentation or training materials.
• Provide guidance to users on Copilot licensing requirements if your organization centrally manages those licenses.

Compliance considerations

No compliance considerations identified. Review as appropriate for your organization.