Simple Chat

Chat interface controls

Reference for every documented control in the SimpleChat chat interface.

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

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

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

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

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
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