Microsoft turned workplace search into one MCP tool. Answers come with sensitivity labels.
By Lior AharonovFounder, 7IT Solutions ·
What happened
On Tuesday 20 October 2026 Microsoft introduced retrieve, a new MCP tool in Work IQ that searches a user's email, files, meetings, Teams messages and people. Microsoft says it evolves the Copilot Retrieval API for agents. Each hit carries fields such as webUrl, contentProtection and sensitivityLabel, next to a markdown answer to ground on.
Why it matters
With the default copilot strategy, retrieve can also reach federated connectors, external data sources and MCP tools. Your server can end up as one more source behind a single enterprise search call, and the hits travel with their labels.
What to do
If you sell an MCP server to Microsoft 365 customers, read the strategy section: grounding limits search to SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and Outlook, so plan for customers who turn your source off.
Enterprise agents will not open twenty connections to find a file. They will ask one tool, and that tool decides which sources are in the room.
Lior Aharonov · my takeSources
| Microsoft 365 Developer Blog: Work IQ, the new retrieve tool | devblogs.microsoft.com |
Researched with AI tools; every fact is checked against the linked sources.