What has changed
Microsoft has updated how Copilot connectors ingest data. Instead of processing content and identity crawls one after the other, the two crawls now run in parallel. The practical result is that ingested items become available to users sooner, because indexing no longer has to wait for the identity pass to finish before content can be surfaced (or vice versa).
Why it matters for admins
Content freshness is one of the most visible quality signals in any search or Copilot experience. If a document lands in a connected source but takes a long time to appear in results, users assume the data is missing. Running both crawls concurrently shortens that gap without requiring any change to how you configure a connection.
- New and updated items surface in Copilot and Microsoft Search more quickly
- Shorter end-to-end ingestion time for connections with large identity sets
- Better perceived reliability for Copilot-powered experiences built on connector data
- No configuration change required to benefit from the improvement
What to do next
There is no action required to enable the change. If you manage Copilot connectors, it is still worth reviewing your existing connections and monitoring crawl status in the admin experience so you can confirm that content and identity data are both completing successfully. Where users have previously reported stale or missing results from a connected source, re-check those connections after the update to see whether freshness has improved.
Source: Microsoft Learn. Summarised independently — check the source for the latest detail.