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.
What's new — June 2026
Copilot Cowork is now generally available and billed on usage — Copilot Credits, $0.01/credit pay-as-you-go — and the Work IQ APIs reached GA. If you build custom agents that ground in your M365 data via Work IQ, that usage is metered in Copilot Credits (off by default; admins set spend limits and alerts). See the licensing/comparison guide for the full cost picture.
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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