Microsoft Defender XDR

Advanced Hunting Modes

4 September 2026Doc update+5 / −5 lines

In brief

The article now includes an updated section heading, refreshed screenshots and image descriptions, clearer guided-tour wording, and a new publication date.

What Defender admins need to know

Administrators have clearer instructions for finding Advanced hunting and completing the guided tour. No action is required.

Summaries are generated from the documentation change itself.

Documentation change

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The comparison below shows only the changed extract. Use the full-page view for complete context.

[!INCLUDE Microsoft Defender XDR rebranding]

Use guided and advanced modes in advanced hunting

You can find the advanced hunting page by going to the left navigation bar in the Microsoft Defender portal and selecting Hunting > Advanced hunting. If the navigation bar is collapsed, select the hunting icon .

In the advanced hunting page, two modes are supported:

To take the tour, select Take tour when the guided hunting invitation banner appears:

Follow the blue teaching bubbles that appear throughout the page and select Next to ~~advance to~~continue through the ~~next teaching bubble.~~tour.

You can take the tour again at any time by going to Help resources > Learn more and selecting Take the tour.

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ appliesto:     - Microsoft Defender XDR     - Microsoft Sentinel in the Microsoft Defender portal ms.topic: how-to-ms.date: 06/16/2026+ms.date: 07/02/2026 ai-usage: ai-assisted --- @@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ ai-usage: ai-assisted  [!INCLUDE [Microsoft Defender XDR rebranding](../includes/microsoft-defender.md)] +## Use guided and advanced modes in advanced hunting --You can find the **advanced hunting** page by going to the left navigation bar in the Microsoft Defender portal and selecting **Hunting** > **Advanced hunting**. If the navigation bar is collapsed, select the hunting icon ![Icon for advanced hunting in the Microsoft Defender portal navigation bar](./media/advanced-hunting-modes/hunting-icon.png).+You can find the **advanced hunting** page by going to the left navigation bar in the Microsoft Defender portal and selecting **Hunting** > **Advanced hunting**. If the navigation bar is collapsed, select the hunting icon ![Screenshot of the Advanced hunting icon in the Microsoft Defender portal navigation bar](./media/advanced-hunting-modes/hunting-icon.png).  In the **advanced hunting** page, two modes are supported: @@ -51,9 +51,9 @@ When you open the advanced hunting page for the first time after guided mode (gu  To take the tour, select **Take tour** when the guided hunting invitation banner appears: -[![Image of a guided hunting banner prompting the user to take the tour](./media/advanced-hunting-modes/1-guided-hunting-banner-tb.png)](./media/advanced-hunting-modes/1-guided-hunting-banner.png#lightbox)+[![Screenshot of the guided hunting prompt with an option to take the tour](./media/advanced-hunting-modes/1-guided-hunting-banner-tb.png)](./media/advanced-hunting-modes/1-guided-hunting-banner.png#lightbox) -Follow the blue teaching bubbles that appear throughout the page and select **Next** to advance to the next teaching bubble.+Follow the blue teaching bubbles that appear throughout the page and select **Next** to continue through the tour.  You can take the tour again at any time by going to **Help resources** > **Learn more** and selecting **Take the tour**.