Chat interface controls

How to use this reference

Use this page when you can see a control in Chat but are not sure what it does or when to use it. The generated inventory lists 47 real controls plus 3 child sub-elements. The child elements document-comparison-edit-btn-label, fork-conversation-button-label, and fork-conversation-button-spinner are mentioned with their parent controls instead of receiving separate rows.

Conversation list

Control	What it does	Why you would use it	Enabled by
pin-selected-btn	Pins the selected conversations so they stay prominent in the conversation list.	Use it when a project, incident, or recurring workflow needs to stay easy to find.	Always available
hide-selected-btn	Hides selected conversations from the normal feed without deleting them.	Use it to reduce noise while keeping conversations recoverable from hidden/history views.	Always available
delete-selected-btn	Starts deletion for selected conversations. If archiving is enabled, deletion can archive instead of immediately removing records.	Use it when old conversations should no longer appear in your active workspace.	Always available
export-selected-btn	Opens the export flow for selected conversations.	Use it when you need an offline copy for handoff, records, review, or migration.	Always available
new-conversation-btn	Creates a fresh chat thread and resets the active conversation context.	Use it when a new task should not inherit previous context, documents, or agent state.	Always available

Conversation header and status

The conversation details dialog includes a paginated Microsoft 365 sharing and analysis acknowledgements section. It shows the recorded source, decision, effective duration, and approval reference without exposing credentials or private profile preferences.

Control	What it does	Why you would use it	Enabled by
workflow-activity-btn	Opens the workflow activity view associated with the current conversation when a workflow run is linked.	Use it to inspect workflow progress, failures, and generated activity without leaving the chat context.	Always available
conversation-info-btn	Opens conversation details for the active chat.	Use it when you need ownership, timestamps, participants, or other conversation-level facts.	Always available
conversation-contents-toggle	Opens the conversation contents drawer for navigating messages and artifacts.	Use it in long chats when jumping to a section is faster than scrolling.	Always available
conversation-documents-toggle	Opens the used-documents drawer for files and sources referenced by the conversation.	Use it to audit what grounded an answer or to get back to a cited source.	Always available
header-scope-lock-btn	Shows that the conversation search/document scope is locked and opens the scope-lock modal.	Use it to confirm why a chat is constrained before asking broader questions.	Always available
confirm-scope-lock-toggle-btn	Confirms a scope-lock change from the scope-lock modal.	Use it when you intentionally want to lock or unlock the conversation scope after reviewing the warning.	Always available

Chat tools and composer

Microsoft 365 agents can pause for a source-sharing or deeper-analysis decision. The local approval dialog offers only the durations permitted by the action. The same request is available in Approvals and notifications; declining a source keeps unrelated tools available. See Microsoft 365 data and approvals.

Connect Microsoft 365 appears on a paused request when the selected source needs delegated sign-in or consent. It opens Microsoft’s authorization flow for that request’s sources and returns to the same conversation to resume it. It does not send you to Profile, approve data sharing, or create a workflow Run as binding. Connection failures stay visible in the request instead of being presented as a model answer that no documents exist.

Control	What it does	Why you would use it	Enabled by
image-generate-btn	Adds image-generation intent to the chat flow so the assistant can create images from the prompt.	Use it for visual concepts, mockups, illustrations, or generated imagery rather than text-only answers.	enable_image_generation
search-documents-btn	Opens the grounded search panel for searching workspace documents from chat.	Use it when the answer should come from personal or group workspace content instead of general model knowledge.	enable_group_workspaces enable_user_workspace
choose-file-btn	Lets you select a supported local file and starts chat upload processing for the conversation.	Use it when the file is the immediate subject of the conversation and you do not want to visit Workspace first.	enable_chat_file_uploads
upload-btn	Adds the selected upload to the chat after file selection.	Use it to confirm an upload before asking questions about that file.	enable_web_search
search-web-btn	Sends the current message to an admin-configured Azure AI Foundry agent, which searches the public web through Grounding with Bing Search and returns results with citations.	Use it for current events, public facts, or external pages that are not in your workspaces. Only the message you type is sent externally, never conversation history or workspace content.	enable_web_search
url-access-btn	Opens review for URLs pasted into the message so they can be inspected by the chat flow.	Use it when pasted links should be fetched or reasoned over instead of treated as plain text.	enable_url_access
source-review-btn	Starts Deep Research so SimpleChat can inspect search results and linked source pages within configured crawl limits.	Use it for research tasks where source review and evidence collection matter more than a quick answer.	enable_source_review
send-btn	Sends the current composer message to the selected model or agent.	Use it once the prompt, files, scope, and optional tools are ready.	Always available
scroll-to-bottom-btn	Jumps the message pane to the newest message when you are scrolled upward.	Use it to return to an in-progress response or the latest turn.	Always available
chat-mobile-tools-toggle	Opens the mobile tools panel containing quick actions, voice controls, and selectors.	Use it on smaller screens when desktop toolbar controls move into the offcanvas panel.	Always available
chat-tutorial-btn	Launches the guided chat walkthrough.	Use it when onboarding users or when you want a reminder of the main chat workflow.	Always available

Microsoft 365 outgoing action cards

Implemented in version: 0.261.038 (application/single_app/config.py). Manual and delayed email/invitation tools display a saved review card separately from the agent’s text and citations. Cards remain available after reload and through Approvals and workflow activity.

Control	Purpose and limits
Send	Sends a manually prepared message or invitation after checking the current owner, permissions, and reviewed revision.
Send now	Claims an eligible delayed action before its scheduled delivery. It is not a retry for an uncertain remote outcome.
Cancel	Stops an unclaimed delivery without mailbox authentication. It leaves Outlook drafts and does not recall sent messages.
Full review	Loads the complete owner-only body when the initial preview is truncated. Send stays unavailable until that detail is loaded.
Reconnect	Renews sign-in and returns to the same saved card. It does not resend the agent request or automatically confirm the action.
Refresh	Retrieves current server state after an interrupted request or a change in another tab. It never sends merely by refreshing.

Only the data owner receives send/cancel controls and private body/recipient details. Shared viewers get a read-only summary. The countdown is informational; loading an overdue card never submits a send. Check Outlook before preparing a replacement when delivery has an unknown outcome. Immediate operations keep their existing tool-result receipts without a second Send button.

For email, Send submits the reviewed content and leaves the original Outlook draft. Do not send the retained draft again. See Microsoft 365 Email.

Prompt, model, agent, and reasoning selectors

Control	What it does	Why you would use it	Enabled by
search-prompts-btn	Shows the saved-prompt picker button for finding prompts available from enabled workspaces and agents.	Use it when you want a reusable prompt instead of typing instructions from scratch.	enable_group_workspaces enable_public_workspaces enable_semantic_kernel enable_user_workspace
prompt-dropdown-button	Opens the searchable saved-prompt dropdown.	Use it to insert a prepared prompt for a common workflow, team standard, or public workspace task.	enable_group_workspaces enable_public_workspaces enable_user_workspace
model-dropdown-button	Opens the searchable model picker for the active chat.	Use it when you need a different approved model for cost, quality, modality, or policy reasons.	Always available
enable-agents-btn	Switches the chat toolbar toward agent selection when agents are enabled.	Use it when the task needs configured tools, instructions, or actions rather than a plain model response.	enable_semantic_kernel
agent-dropdown-button	Opens the searchable agent picker.	Use it to choose a specialized agent with approved instructions, actions, documents, or governance scope.	Always available
reasoning-toggle-btn	Opens reasoning-effort controls for models that support configurable reasoning.	Use it when a hard planning or analysis task needs more deliberate reasoning, or a simple task should be cheaper/faster.	Always available
tts-autoplay-toggle-btn	Toggles automatic spoken playback for AI responses.	Use it for hands-free review, accessibility, or listening while working in another window.	enable_text_to_speech

Grounded search and document scope

Control	What it does	Why you would use it	Enabled by
scope-dropdown-button	Chooses the workspace scope used by grounded search, such as all accessible content, personal, group, or public workspaces.	Use it when the same question should be limited to a team workspace, public workspace, or personal files.	Always available
document-dropdown-button	Chooses the specific documents used by grounded search, analysis, or comparison.	Use it when you know which file or small document set should ground the answer.	Always available
tags-dropdown-button	Filters grounded search by document tags.	Use it to narrow broad workspaces to a topic, project, lifecycle stage, or classification.	Always available
clearFiltersBtn	Clears selected grounded-search filters.	Use it when a search is too narrow or you want to return to the full chosen scope.	Always available
document-comparison-edit-btn	Reopens comparison setup for source/target document selections. The child label document-comparison-edit-btn-label supplies the visible text.	Use it when the wrong source or target document was selected for Compare.	Always available

Search within a conversation

Control	What it does	Why you would use it	Enabled by
performSearchBtn	Runs the current search query against conversation content.	Use it to find a prior answer, pasted detail, citation, or decision inside a long conversation.	Always available
searchPrevBtn	Moves to the previous match in the conversation search results.	Use it to step backward through matches without closing the search panel.	Always available
searchNextBtn	Moves to the next match in the conversation search results.	Use it to scan every occurrence of a term or phrase in order.	Always available
clearHistoryBtn	Clears stored conversation search history.	Use it when old searches are no longer useful or should not appear as suggestions.	Always available

Export, fork, and delete dialogs

Screenshot needed

Export, fork, and delete dialogs

Capture conversation export, fork, and delete confirmation dialogs with navigation and confirmation buttons visible. Redact content.

Save as docs/images/reference/chat-controls-export-fork-delete.png

Drop the file at that path and it replaces this card automatically. No other change needed.

Control	What it does	Why you would use it	Enabled by
export-prev-btn	Moves back to the previous step in the conversation export flow.	Use it to revise export choices before creating the output.	Always available
export-next-btn	Moves forward to the next step in the conversation export flow.	Use it to continue after choosing conversations and export options.	Always available
confirm-fork-conversation-btn	Confirms forking the conversation; fork-conversation-button-label supplies text and fork-conversation-button-spinner appears while the fork runs.	Use it when you want a separate branch of the same chat context for a different direction or experiment.	Always available
confirm-delete-conversation-btn	Confirms deletion for the active conversation.	Use it after reviewing the delete dialog and deciding the conversation should be removed or archived.	Always available

Collaboration and replies

Screenshot needed

Collaboration and replies

Capture the collaboration dialog showing participant confirmation and reply cancellation controls. Redact names and email addresses.

Save as docs/images/reference/chat-controls-collaboration.png

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Control	What it does	Why you would use it	Enabled by
collaboration-confirm-add-btn	Confirms adding a participant to a collaborative conversation.	Use it when the selected person should join the shared conversation.	Always available
collaboration-reply-cancel-btn	Cancels the current reply-to-message state.	Use it when you started replying to a specific message but want the next message to be a normal conversation turn.	Always available

Voice input

Screenshot needed

Voice input

Capture the composer voice input recording state with microphone, send recording, and cancel recording controls visible.

Save as docs/images/reference/chat-controls-voice.png

Drop the file at that path and it replaces this card automatically. No other change needed.

Control	What it does	Why you would use it	Enabled by
speech-input-btn	Starts voice input capture for speech-to-text in chat.	Use it to dictate longer prompts, work hands-free, or reduce typing.	enable_speech_to_text_input
send-recording-btn	Submits the captured recording for transcription and chat input.	Use it after recording a prompt you want SimpleChat to process.	Always available
cancel-recording-btn	Stops and discards the current voice recording.	Use it when you misspoke, captured background noise, or no longer want to send the dictated prompt.	Always available