Chat Types & Access

Per-chat access patterns — workspace, shared, and personal — and how files and ACL interact with each.

Findable has three distinct types of chats, each with different storage, lifecycle, and access control characteristics. For the full chat-type comparison, see Architecture Overview. This page focuses on how chat access interacts with files, ACL, and the multi-source RAG pipeline.

Shared Files & Azure Blob Storage

Shared and personal files are stored in Azure Blob Storage and made searchable via Azure AI Search. A single blob container holds all files, organized by folder path.

Container layout:

{azureBlobStorageContainerName}/          ← default: "data"
├── {azureBlobStorageSharedFolder}/       ← default: "Shared"
│   ├── {folderName-1}/                   ← one folder per shared chat's file set
│   │   ├── report.pdf
│   │   └── slides.pptx
│   └── {folderName-2}/
│       └── handbook.docx
└── {azureBlobStoragePersonalFolder}/     ← default: "Personal"
    ├── {sanitized-upn-1}/                ← e.g. "john-doe-contoso-com"
    │   └── notes.txt
    └── {sanitized-upn-2}/
        └── data.csv

• Shared folders are scoped per chat — each chat with dataSourceType: SHARED gets its own subfolder under the shared root
• Personal folders are scoped per user — the user’s UPN is sanitized (@ and . replaced with -) and used as the subfolder name

Data source naming: The folder path (e.g. Shared/my-folder) is sanitized by generateDataSourceName() — slashes become dashes, all lowercase, non-alphanumeric characters stripped. This produces a name like shared-my-folder which is used as the identifier for all four Azure AI Search resources tied to that folder.

Search resource pipeline: When a user creates a folder and clicks “Create Search Resources”, the server provisions four Azure AI Search resources — all sharing the same sanitized name:

Resource	Purpose
Data Source	Points Azure Search at the blob folder path
Index	Schema for searchable fields (content, metadata, vectors)
Skillset	AI enrichment pipeline (OCR, chunking, embeddings)
Indexer	Scheduled job that crawls the data source → skillset → index

Resources are created from JSON templates in /src/azure/search/schemas/{apiVersion}/ and support both API key and managed identity authentication.

Indexing schedule:

• Shared folder indexers run on a configurable interval: azureSharedFolderIndexingIntervalInMinutes (default: 60 min), starting at azureSharedFolderIndexingStartTime (default: 02:00)
• After file uploads, the indexer can also be triggered on-demand

Personal folder retention: A background purge job runs periodically and deletes personal folders (blobs + all search resources) that haven’t been accessed within personalFolderRetentionInHours (default: 72h). Access timestamps are tracked in the datasourcelastaccessed Cosmos container.

ACL on file operations:

• Personal files — path-scoped by the user’s UPN; no chat ACL check needed
• Shared files — require chatId; the server validates the user’s entitlement against the chat via validateChatAccess(). Read access requires any role (owner/contributor/user); write/delete requires owner or contributor
• Admins bypass all file ACL checks

Configurable settings (Admin → Personal Workspace [#/admin/workspace] for file location; Admin → AI Search Endpoints [#/admin/search] for index settings):

Setting	Default	Description
azureBlobStorageContainerName	data	Blob container name
azureBlobStorageSharedFolder	Shared	Root folder for shared files
azureBlobStoragePersonalFolder	Personal	Root folder for personal files
azureBlobAuthType	apiKey	Authentication: apiKey, connectionString, or managedSystemIdentity
personalFolderRetentionInHours	72	Hours before unused personal folders are purged (0 = disabled)
azureSharedFolderIndexingIntervalInMinutes	60	Indexer schedule for shared folders

Personal Files in Shared Chats

When enablePersonalFilesInSharedChats is enabled, users can upload and search their own personal files while inside a shared chat. The files are stored in the user’s private storage — never in the shared chat’s data source.

Storage backend is determined by personalFileLocation (Admin → Personal Workspace [#/admin/workspace]):

Backend	Where uploads go	Folder structure
Azure Blob (default)	User’s private Azure Blob container	Private/ folder
OneDrive	User’s OneDrive	{oneDriveFolderName}/AttachedFiles/{chatId}/ (e.g. AIAssistant/AttachedFiles/abc123/)

OneDrive folder layout (when personalFileLocation = OneDrive):

User's OneDrive
└── AIAssistant/                    ← configurable via oneDriveFolderName
    ├── Workspace/                  ← ephemeral workspace files
    └── AttachedFiles/              ← per-chat attached files
        ├── {chatId-1}/             ← files attached while in shared chat 1
        └── {chatId-2}/             ← files attached while in shared chat 2

How it works at runtime:

1. User toggles to “My Files” inside a shared chat via the Data Source sidebar (or uploads a file via the prompt input)
2. The client sets sourceState[sourceId].disabled = true on shared sources and activates the user’s WORKSPACE source entry
3. The client sends the dataSources[] array with runtime sourceState applied — the shared chat’s persisted configuration is never modified
4. The server’s chatSecurityGuard validates the user is only accessing their own personal data source (prefix check against the user’s UPN)
5. The RAG query runs against the user’s personal index — the shared chat’s index is not modified

Gating:

• Global toggle: enablePersonalFilesInSharedChats (Admin → Personal Workspace [#/admin/workspace]) — controls visibility of the personal files panel in all shared chats
• Per-source control: WORKSPACE sources in dataSources[] have allowUserToggle — when true, end users can disable/enable their personal source at runtime from the sidebar
• Personal files can always be attached via the prompt file input regardless of panel visibility

OneDrive shared index: When using OneDrive, all users’ attached files are indexed into a single shared Azure AI Search index (oneDriveSharedIndexName). ACL filtering ensures each user’s queries only return their own files.

Multi-Source Architecture:

• The shared chat’s dataSources[] may include a WORKSPACE source entry (type: workspace) alongside SHARED sources
• WORKSPACE sources resolve indexName at runtime from the authenticated user’s UPN (not stored in the chat configuration)
• Users toggle between shared and personal sources via the Data Source sidebar — this only affects their runtime sourceState, not the persisted chat configuration

Entity Scope Configuration

The entity scope system controls Personal/Shared/Public availability for all entity types (chats, prompts, flows, pages, etc.):

• Global defaults (defaultEntityScopeConfig) — Set base rules for all entity types
• Per-type overrides (entityScopeOverrides) — Override the global defaults for specific entity types
• Configure both in Admin → Entity Scopes ([#/admin/scopes])

See Entity Scope Configuration for the full reference.