Queue messages and steer a response
Line up later research questions, redirect a running response, and manage waiting messages.
Use the queue for a question you want Copilot to answer next. Use steering when you want to change the response already in progress. Both controls belong to the selected conversation.
Choose how to send the message
- Open the intended conversation in Copilot Agent.
- Write the question or instruction.
- Check the primary send action, or open Send options to choose how the message should run.
| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| Send message | Starts a response when the chat is ready for a new turn. |
| Add to queue | Saves the message for a later turn. During generation, the primary send action also adds the message to the queue. |
| Steer this response | Sends an instruction for the running response to consider at its next checkpoint. |
For example, queue a separate follow-up question when the current answer should finish first. Steer the current response when you want it to focus on a different date range, use a named source, or change the requested output.
If Copilot has already started writing the answer, a text steering message can run afterwards as a separate request. A step-only instruction that arrives too late may no longer apply. Read the acknowledgement and queue state rather than assuming the running work changed immediately.
Inspect the waiting work
Choose Queue & steering above the composer, or Manage queue in the queue banner. Readers can inspect waiting work with View queue; changing it requires contribution access to the workspace and chat.
The dialog separates Queued for later messages from Steering current turn instructions. Each queued message starts a separate turn in the displayed order. Check the author, position, and message text before choosing an action.
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Edit | Opens Edit waiting message. Change Message, then choose Save changes. The item keeps its author, position, and settings. |
| Reorder | Offers Move up, Move down, Move to first, and Move to last where another position is available. |
| Steer now | Moves your queued message into steering while a response is running. |
| Return to queue | Returns an eligible steering message to the front of the queue for a later turn. Step instructions cannot return to the queue. |
| Remove message | Removes your waiting message from Queued for later. |
| Cancel instruction | Cancels your waiting steering instruction before the running turn takes it. |
Contributors manage their own waiting items. A chat Admin or Owner can also reorder another member's waiting item. That does not give them the queue's edit, remove, merge, or clear controls over everyone else's messages.
Once the running response has taken a steering instruction, these waiting-item controls cannot recall or edit it. Send a new instruction if you need to change course.
Change several of your items
- Select the checkboxes beside your waiting items. You can select up to 20.
- Review the available Cancel selected, Steer selected, Return selected to queue, and Merge selected actions.
- Wait for confirmation, then review the resulting queue before making another change.
Merge combines eligible text messages in run order. It requires at least two of your own waiting messages and a combined message length within the displayed limit. Step instructions cannot be merged. The merged item keeps the earliest queued message's settings, or the earliest steering message's settings if every selected item is steering.
All my items offers actions beyond the selected items. Clear all my items removes your own waiting items from the queue and steering list. Read the scope before applying an action to all of them.
Stop a response or finish sooner
The composer's Stop generating requests a stop at the next safe checkpoint. Check the acknowledgement and queue, especially if the answer was already finishing. Removing a queued message or cancelling a waiting instruction does not stop the response already in progress.
Answer now asks Copilot to wrap up with the results verified so far. The person who started the running turn, or a chat Admin or Owner who can contribute, can request this. Work responds at safe checkpoints, so an action already saving a change or starting a job may complete first. Completed changes are not rolled back by stopping or asking for an answer.
For actions on individual waiting plan steps, see Follow plans and AI agents.
Cancel processing from the chat list
The chat list also offers a cancellation control for an active session. In the compact sidebar it is the Cancel generation button, with a Stop generating tooltip; the larger list can show Stop Processing in the session menu.
This cancels the session's processing job and clears its pending queue and steering list. Review that wider effect before using it in a shared conversation. It does not undo changes already completed. The failed-session Retry generation control requests another processing attempt; it does not restore prompts cleared by cancellation.
These session controls require contribution access to the workspace and chat. They have a different scope from Clear all my items, which acts on your own waiting messages.
If the queue changes before your action saves
The running response may take an item while you are viewing it. If a change fails or the item is no longer waiting, choose Refresh and inspect the current queue before retrying. An edit draft remains available to copy when its item can no longer be edited.
Choose Done to close the queue. Open research history to review recorded queue changes and the responses they produced.