MicrosoftPreview
Microsoft's link preview fetcher.
- Operator
- Microsoft
- In the user agent
MicrosoftPreview- robots.txt token
MicrosoftPreview- Follows robots.txt
- does not say whether it follows robots.txt
- Official documentation
- www.bing.com
- Checked on
- 2026-11-11
What is MicrosoftPreview?
MicrosoftPreview is Microsoft's link preview fetcher. It loads a page to show its preview when a link is shared in a chat or social network.
The operator's description: Generates page snapshots for Microsoft products.
(www.bing.com)
How do I block or allow MicrosoftPreview?
With robots.txt, using the token MicrosoftPreview. Microsoft does not say whether it follows robots.txt. To block the whole site:
User-agent: MicrosoftPreview
Disallow: /To allow it, use Allow instead of Disallow. Before blocking, weigh what it brings: look at how often it visits and what it brings before deciding.
How do I see whether MicrosoftPreview visits my site?
In your server or CDN access logs, look for MicrosoftPreview in the user agent. Google Analytics does not show these visits: agents do not run its JavaScript.
Anyone can copy the name in a user agent, so counting log lines is not enough. Knocklog reads your site's traffic on any host, confirms who is who, and shows how often MicrosoftPreview came, which pages it read and what that brought you.
How do I know it is really MicrosoftPreview?
The IP's reverse DNS, confirmed forward and back, must end in .search.msn.com.
Knocklog runs this check on every visit and separates the genuine agent from impostors.
Does MicrosoftPreview visit your site?
See in seconds how your site treats AI agents. Then connect your traffic to learn who really came.
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