Most failures trace to licence or permission
Before working through this triage list: confirm the user has the M365 Copilot paid add-on assigned. The majority of "Copilot isn't working" reports are licence gaps, not product failures.
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Copilot says it has no access to your data
"I don't have access to your emails" or Web mode active
- Free Copilot Chat (included with E3/E5) — web only, no M365 data (except Outlook: inbox and calendar grounding available on free tier)
- Work/Web toggle set to Web mode
- M365 Copilot paid add-on not assigned
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Copilot can't find a specific file or email
@ picker shows nothing, or referenced item returns no content
- File is on local disk, not OneDrive or SharePoint
- You don't have read access to the file
- File was recently created and not yet indexed
- Email attachment — Copilot reads body only
- Upload file to OneDrive first
- Request access directly in SharePoint
- Wait up to 24 hours after file creation — indexing for Copilot grounding can take significantly longer than a standard SharePoint search index update
- Context IQ guide →
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A meeting is missing from the @ picker or recap
Meeting doesn't appear as a referenceable item
- Transcript was not enabled during the meeting
- Transcript was started mid-meeting — early content missing
- Meeting transcript not yet processed (up to 24h)
- Enable transcript by default in Teams settings
- Start transcript within first 60 seconds of next meeting
- Teams Meetings guide →
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Copilot only found a few emails — missed most of the thread
Returned 2–3 emails when dozens exist
- Chat has a hard cap: ~10 email results per query
- Teams messages default to last 30 days of current thread
- General query — Copilot sampled broadly rather than exhaustively
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Answer is generic — could apply to any project
"Typically, projects face risks such as…" — not your project
- No source referenced — Copilot searched broadly
- Prompt had no file or meeting context
- Copilot fell back to general knowledge
- Add @ reference to the specific file or meeting
- Add "based only on @filename" constraint
- Context IQ guide →
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Answer is too long, too detailed, or wrong format
Wall of text when you needed a table or 5 bullets
- No format constraint in the prompt
- No audience specified — Copilot defaulted to comprehensive
- Multiple tasks in one prompt
- Add format: "as a table" / "under 150 words" / "5 bullets"
- Name the audience: "for the CFO" / "for a new joiner"
- Prompt Hygiene guide →
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Two people asked the same question and got different answers
Same prompt, different users, inconsistent results
- Different M365 permissions — each person sees different content
- No explicit source referenced — Copilot searched each person's own data
- Prompt was vague — Copilot chose different content to surface
- Reference a shared source everyone can access
- Deploy a Copilot Studio agent for consistent team-wide answers
- Agents guide →
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Copilot ignored a condition or instruction in the prompt
"Exclude closed items" — included them anyway
- Constraint was buried at the end or mid-sentence
- Multiple instructions — some were deprioritised
- Constraint was implied rather than explicit
- Move the constraint to a separate sentence
- Use "Do not include X" — explicit negative instruction
- Prompt Hygiene guide →
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A shared Page is showing old information
"The summary no longer matches the project status"
- Pages are snapshots — they do not auto-update
- Copilot created the Page from content at a point in time
- Regenerate the Page from the updated source
- Use Loop for live-updating collaborative content instead
- Pages guide →
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Notebook is not using the documents I pinned
Answers seem to come from general knowledge, not the files
- Files were added but not yet indexed in the Notebook
- File type not supported (e.g. image-only PDF)
- Files are in a format Notebooks cannot read
- Wait a few minutes after adding references before querying
- Ensure files are .docx, .pdf (with text), .xlsx, or .pptx
- Notebooks guide →
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An agent is giving different answers than expected
Team members get inconsistent or out-of-scope responses
- Instruction block does not include explicit boundaries
- Prompt is too vague — agent guesses the intent
- Knowledge sources are outdated or not yet indexed
- Add explicit "Do not…" boundaries to the instruction block
- Use the conversation starters from the repo as prompt templates
- Agents guide →
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No Copilot button in Word, PowerPoint, or Excel
Ribbon doesn't show Copilot icon in Office apps
- M365 Copilot paid add-on not assigned to this user
- Office app version is out of date
- Admin has restricted Copilot to specific groups
- Check licence: Settings → Subscriptions → Copilot
- Update Office via File → Account → Update Options
- Office Apps guide →
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Schedule this prompt option is not appearing
Hovering over a prompt in chat history shows no scheduling option
- Scheduled prompts require M365 Copilot paid add-on
- Feature may not yet be rolled out to your tenant
- Hovering over wrong area — must hover the prompt result, not the input
- Run the prompt first, then hover the result in chat history
- Confirm licence includes scheduled prompts (GA Jan 2026)
- Scheduled Prompts guide →
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Copilot during a Teams meeting shows no content
Panel is blank or "Copilot is generating…" never resolves
- Transcript has not been started
- Meeting was just started — transcript needs a few minutes of content
- Org policy may restrict in-meeting Copilot
- Start transcript (More → Start transcription) then wait 2–3 min
- Ask your Teams admin if in-meeting Copilot is enabled in your policy
- Teams Meetings guide →
Copilot uses web data, not my M365?
Toggle set to Web, or free licence
→ Switch to Work
Generic answer from a vague question?
No file or meeting referenced
→ Add @reference
Meeting not in @ picker?
No transcript = no reference
→ Enable transcript
Output too long, wrong format?
No format constraint in prompt
→ Add format rule
Page shows stale content?
Pages are snapshots, not live
→ Regenerate it
Team gets inconsistent answers?
Everyone has different data access
→ Deploy an agent
No Copilot button in Word/Excel/PPT?
Licence not assigned or app outdated
→ Check Settings → Subscriptions
Copilot missed most emails?
Chat cap is ~10 results per query
→ Reference specific thread