Find what you need with Microsoft Graph connectors
Tired of hunting for scattered content across numerous work apps, which often distracts you from core tasks? By consolidating disparate data sources in a single place, you can make searching for content much easier. Microsoft Graph connectors help bring your organization’s data and content into Microsoft Graph, boosting productivity and streamlining your digital workspace, all while adhering to the stringent security and trust guidelines of Microsoft 365.
In the coming weeks, we’ll explore what Microsoft Graph connectors are, how to build them to suit your organization’s needs, and best practices to ensure seamless integration of your data into intelligent Microsoft 365 experiences, including Microsoft 365 Copilot. So, grab a virtual front-row seat, and let’s embark on this exciting journey together!
What are Microsoft Graph connectors?
Microsoft Graph connectors are the connection between your company data in external data sources and Microsoft Graph, enabling a way to surface external content in various Microsoft 365 experiences.
With a single platform for all your data, Microsoft Graph allows your end-users to enjoy uniform experiences with both your external data and your Microsoft 365 content.
Where does my content show up?
By integrating external content into Microsoft 365 using Microsoft Graph connectors, your external content will show in search results alongside your Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and other Microsoft 365 content. Bringing your data sources together to serve content in the flow of work enriches the following experiences:
- Find all your enterprise content in the productivity applications (Microsoft365.com, Bing at Work, SharePoint Online) your users access daily via Microsoft Search
- Receive intelligent recommendations under Quick Access and My Content in the Microsoft 365 app
- Get content suggestions from 3P data while composing emails in Outlook on the web using Context IQ
- Easily find, summarize, and learn important details about all content relevant to a user’s natural language prompt with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Learn more about each of these experiences in our documentation.
How do I get started with Microsoft Graph connectors?
We have two options for developers to build custom connections for their organization: Microsoft Graph connectors API and the Microsoft Graph connectors SDK.
The API provides developers complete freedom in choosing their connector architecture, crawl scheduling mechanisms, and more.
The SDK allows developers to write minimal code and delegates all management, monitoring, and configuration capabilities to the Graph connectors platform.
Regardless of how you build, connections can be managed by your search admin in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center’s Search & Intelligence portal.
Is my data secure with Microsoft Graph connectors?
One crucial aspect of bringing content to Microsoft 365 is maintaining security and data access controls. When implementing Microsoft Graph connectors, you map existing access control lists to objects in Microsoft 365 and Entra ID, ensuring that only individuals with the right permissions can access content.
This allows organizations to keep centralized access to their data secure. To learn more, please review our documentation.
Next steps
Information is everywhere and its growth is exponential across the multitude of applications we use to get work done. Safely index your external data in Microsoft Graph alongside content from your Microsoft 365 apps to deliver intelligent results across Microsoft 365 apps and services, regardless of where that information resides. Your users will thank you for it.
Learn more about Microsoft Graph connectors and get started. We’ll be back soon with more tips and tricks for building Microsoft Graph connectors.
More resources:
- Visit our Microsoft 365 Dev Center
- Follow us on Microsoft 365 Developer (@Microsoft365Dev) / X for the latest news and announcements
Happy coding!
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