Note: Microsoft is updating the way we ask for permission to use your voice data to improve Microsoft products that use our speech recognition technology. This may impact the data you see on your privacy dashboard. To learn more about these changes, see How does Microsoft protect my privacy while improving its speech recognition technology?
When you use Microsoft products and services while signed in with your Microsoft account, you can choose to save your data to the cloud to help improve your experience. The privacy dashboard provides tools to view and clear this data and to manage your privacy settings for the products you use. Data that appears on the dashboard can include data related to your Bing and Cortana searches, Microsoft Edge browsing, and location, voice, media, and apps and services activity.
Once you clear your data, we'll delete it from the dashboard and begin removing it from our systems.
App and service data may be shared with service providers and third party apps that you log into using your Microsoft account. If you choose to clear this info, we'll clear all activity data about the apps in question, details about when you launched or closed the app, how long you used the app and other diagnostic information. If you also to want to remove any activity data that’s associated with cookies in your browser, you should clear your cookies in Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer. If you use a different browser, refer to that browser's instructions.
You can manage your data and settings on the following pages of the privacy dashboard:
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To manage activity history for your account, go to your privacy dashboard home page.
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To manage ad settings, go to the Ad settings page.
If you’re using the new Microsoft Edge, browse activity appears if you:
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Turn on syncing for browsing history. Learn more
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Turn on personalized advertising and experiences for Bing, Microsoft News, and other Microsoft services. Learn more
If you’re using the legacy Microsoft Edge, browse activity appears if you:
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Are signed in to Windows with your Microsoft account while browsing.
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Select Full for the Diagnostic data setting.
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Turn on Cortana in Windows, and in Microsoft Edge.
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Turn on browsing history in Cortana.
For more info about Microsoft Edge, see Learn more about Microsoft Edge, browsing data, and privacy and Browse InPrivate in Microsoft Edge.
Search activity appears if you:
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Search from Bing, and are signed in to Bing with your Microsoft account—though you can still view your search activity on the Bing.com Search History page.
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Land on Bing pages when you search from Cortana. Search activity doesn't appear if you search from the Cortana app on a phone that uses an iOS or Android operating system.
See the Microsoft Privacy Statement to learn more about the data we collect, or learn more about privacy in Windows.
Manage which data is collected
The data that Microsoft collects is used to personalize your experiences, help keep you safe, and improve our software, services, and devices. You can choose which data you share.
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To change your privacy settings on your Windows 10 device, select Start > Settings > Privacy .
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To change your privacy settings on your Windows 11 device, select Start > Settings > Privacy & security.
Tips for viewing your data
If your data is taking a long time to appear on the privacy dashboard, make sure:
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Your device is turned on and plugged in.
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Your device has continuous internet connectivity—you're not using a metered internet connection.
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The battery saver is off if your device is running on battery power. To check, select Start > Settings > System and then select Battery in Windows 10 or Power & battery in Windows 11. Make sure that the Battery saver setting is turned Off.
If you don't see the data you're expecting, it might be because:
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You didn't sign in with your Microsoft account.
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You cleared your data recently and turned off the settings that allow Microsoft to collect data.
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You don’t use the feature or service you’re trying to view data for. This could be because you're too young to use it, or the feature or service isn’t supported in your country or region.
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The data can't be displayed right now. Microsoft will show it when it's available.
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The data isn't available on the privacy dashboard.
To learn how to find more data for the products you use, visit the Privacy at Microsoft page and select the products you're interested in, like Windows or Xbox. For personal data that we don't include on the dashboard, contact our privacy team.
Notes:
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The privacy dashboard shows the data we've collected. If you want to see sign-in activity for your Microsoft account, you can view recent activity. If you're worried that someone gained unauthorized access to your account, see Recover your Microsoft account.
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Certain data may not be displayed or deleted according to our Privacy Statement—for example, certain laws prohibit us from disclosing data such as financial account numbers, government issued identification numbers, or data that may adversely impact the rights and freedoms of others. For more information, see the “How to access and control your personal data” section in the Privacy Statement.
