CopilotStuck?
Quick fixes for Copilot.
Find your problem, try the fix, and get back to it. Still stuck after a minute? Raise your hand.
Settings and setup
- My screen doesn't match the site.
Menus move. Look for the same words nearby, or ask Copilot "Where is the setting for...?" and name it. Then tell a facilitator, so we can fix the site.
- I don't see Skills anywhere.
Copilot doesn't have a Skills menu. You build each skill as an agent: go to Agents, then Create agent.
- The interview only asked a few questions.
The prompt probably didn't paste in full. Use the Copy button, not click and drag. Start a new chat and paste it again.
- It already seems to know things about me.
That's memory from your earlier chats. If what it knows is right, keep going. If it's wrong or out of date, say so, and it will ask.
- Copilot told me to paste my instructions somewhere else.
Trust the site. An AI's idea of its own menus is often out of date. Use the click path on the step.
- I ran out of time in the interview.
Type "pause." It gives you a one-line summary, and you can finish later in the same chat.
- There's no instructions box in my notebook.
Copilot's notebooks don't have one. Build it as an agent instead: go to Agents, then New agent, then Skip to configuration, and paste your instructions there.
Email and calendar
- Copilot can't see my email.
The free Copilot Chat can't see your email from here. Use Copilot inside Outlook, or skip email today and do More to build instead.
- My email is Yahoo, iCloud, or personal Hotmail.
There's no connector for those. Skip the connect step. Do More to build, or paste a few emails into the Inbox Assistant when it asks.
Inbox Assistant
- It says it can't see my email.
Run it from Copilot inside Outlook. Copilot Chat on its own can't see your inbox.
- No drafts showed up in my Drafts folder.
Copilot saves drafts only when you run it from Copilot inside Outlook. Open the thread in Outlook and look there. If it still isn't there, ask whoever manages your Microsoft 365 account whether Copilot is allowed to create drafts.
- It asked if I want to send something.
Say no. The skill never sends. Open the draft and send it yourself if it's right.
- My name shows up twice at the bottom of a draft.
Your email signature already adds it. Tell it "no sign-off on drafts," and add that line to My settings so it sticks.
- Times in the report are off by an hour.
Check the Time zone line under My settings.
- Filing didn't do anything.
Filing is probably still OFF. If it's ON, reconnect your email and tick every permission box.
- It missed an email I expected to see.
Ask it to "run my inbox sweep for the last 7 days." If it keeps missing one kind of email, add that sender or topic to Priority people.
- The skill didn't start when I typed the phrase.
Use the exact trigger phrase.
More to build
- It didn't draw the flowchart.
Some setups can't draw inside the chat. You'll get the flowchart as boxes and arrows in text. Same steps, same decisions.
- It couldn't open my price page.
The prices have to be on a public page as text. Prices inside an image, a PDF, or a customer login can't be read reliably. Use a price list file instead.
- It made up a price.
Your price list didn't load. Paste it again, then ask for the quote again.
- It can't save a skill from the chat.
Save the prompt in your Agent instructions instead. It works the same way every time you open a chat there.
When all else fails
- Nothing here matches my problem.
Ask Copilot itself. Copy the prompt below, fill in the brackets, and paste it in. For where a menu lives, trust the site first.
I'm trying to [what you're doing] in Copilot and I'm stuck. Here's what I see on my screen: [describe it, or paste a screenshot]. Walk me through fixing it, one step at a time, and wait for me after each step.