Three products, one name
You'll often get the ticket "Copilot can't see my emails". Before you can fix it, you need to know which Copilot the user is actually using. Microsoft uses the Copilot name for three different things, and most early Copilot tickets turn out to be a mix-up between them. Think of a building with three doors that all have the same sign on them.
| What the user has | Account | What it is grounded in |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Microsoft Copilot | Personal Microsoft account (MSA) | The public web plus whatever the user types or uploads. Your tenant has no control over it. |
| Copilot Chat, labelled Copilot Chat (Basic) | Work (Entra ID) account with an eligible Microsoft 365 licence, at no extra cost | The web, plus content the user uploads or has open in Outlook or Teams. It cannot search their mailbox, files or meetings by itself. |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on, labelled Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) | Work account plus a paid Copilot licence, or a Microsoft 365 E7 licence, which includes it | The web plus the user's own work data (mail, files, meetings, chats) through Microsoft Graph and Work IQ, found automatically. |
There is a fourth label you will see: Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic). It means the user has no add-on licence but does get standard access to Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, and Copilot Chat is still grounded on the web only. For support, treat it as "unlicensed, with some in-app features".
Naming note (checked November 2026): Since August 2026 the old Microsoft 365 Copilot app has been called Microsoft Copilot, and its web address is moving to
copilot.cloud.microsoft. Microsoft's admin documentation now often says just "Microsoft Copilot" for the paid product as well. Users will describe all of this as "Copilot", so don't rely on the words they use. Rely on what you can see and check.
The three questions
Ask these in this order. Each one takes about thirty seconds.
Q1 "Which account are you signed in with? Click your profile picture and read me the email address."
→ @gmail.com / @outlook.com / a home address = consumer Copilot. Stop here.
→ name@yourcompany.com = work account. Go to Q2.
Confirm on screen: work sessions show a "Work" label and the green
shield (enterprise data protection). Personal sessions show a
personal label and a different background colour.
Q2 "What does it say under your name?"
(In the Copilot app, open the account area in the navigation pane.)
→ Copilot Chat (Basic) = free Copilot Chat, no Copilot in Word/Excel/PowerPoint
→ Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic) = no add-on, standard access to in-app features
→ Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium)= paid add-on licence
Q3 "Type: 'What were my last three meetings about?' without attaching anything."
→ Answers from their calendar and transcripts = work data grounding works (Premium)
→ Asks them to upload or paste content = no Graph grounding
Q3 is the behaviour test, and it catches problems the labels miss. A Premium user can switch Work IQ off. When it's off, answers aren't grounded in their work data, so Copilot behaves like Basic even though the licence is there. Before you go looking for a licence fault, check that toggle.
Gotcha: The single app now holds a personal account and a work account side by side, with an account switcher. A user who "had it working yesterday" may simply have switched to their personal account. Q1 catches this, so always ask it first.
Confirming in the tenant (read-only)
The user's screen tells you what they see. The tenant tells you what they've been given. When the two don't match, that's your fault to investigate.
Admin center: go to admin.microsoft.com → Users → Active users, select the user, then open Licenses and apps. Look for a Copilot licence, or Microsoft 365 E7, in the list. L5 covers which role is the smallest one that can see this. For now, use a read-only role where you can.
PowerShell (Microsoft Graph SDK):
# Read-only scope: enough to read licence details
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes 'User.Read.All'
# List every SKU on the user's record
Get-MgUserLicenseDetail -UserId 'priya.shah@contoso.com' |
Select-Object SkuPartNumber
# Example output
# SkuPartNumber
# -------------
# SPE_E3
# Microsoft_365_Copilot <- the Copilot add-on (Entra licensing reference, 'Copilot for Microsoft 365')
If Microsoft_365_Copilot isn't in the list, don't close the ticket yet. E7 and the Copilot Business offer for firms of up to 300 users carry their own SKUs. Check the friendly licence names in the admin center before you tell anyone they're unlicensed.
Diagnostic: in the admin center, go to Support → Help and support and type copilot missing. That opens the Copilot Service Plan Diagnostic. Microsoft documents it for the AI administrator role. It lists the Copilot service plans assigned to the user, such as Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot in Productivity Apps.
Pitfall: Microsoft notes that the diagnostic and the admin center can disagree for older accounts after new service plans are added. The licence shows as assigned, but the diagnostic says the plan is missing. Write down both results. The fix belongs in a later lesson; for now, just recognise the mismatch.
Worked example
Ticket: "Copilot won't summarise my inbox." Here's what Priya's answers tell you:
Q1: priya.shah@contoso.com, Work label, green shield → work account ✔
Q2: label reads "Copilot Chat (Basic)" → no add-on
Q3: Copilot asks her to paste the emails → no Graph grounding
Tenant: SPE_E3 only, no Copilot SKU → matches what she sees
There's no fault here. She's on Copilot Chat, and it's working as designed. Whether she should get a licence is a business decision, not a fix. Tell her so plainly, and point her to whoever approves licences.
One-sentence answers for users
- Consumer: "You're signed in with your personal account, so this is Microsoft's consumer Copilot. It can't see anything at work and our company protections don't apply. Switch to your work account for work tasks."
- Copilot Chat: "Your work Copilot Chat is protected and can search the web, but it only sees work content you upload or have open. It can't search your mailbox, files or meetings on its own."
- Premium: "Your Microsoft 365 Copilot licence lets it find your own emails, files and meetings for you, but only ones you already have permission to open."
Key takeaways
- Identify the account first, then the label, then the behaviour. In that order, the three questions settle most "which Copilot" tickets.
- A Work label and the green shield mean a work account with enterprise data protection. A personal label means consumer Copilot, which your tenant doesn't manage.
- Copilot Chat (Basic) and Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic) can't search Graph. Only Premium finds work data automatically, and only while Work IQ is on.
- Check the screen against the tenant: Licenses and apps,
Get-MgUserLicenseDetail, and the Copilot Service Plan Diagnostic. - Product names changed in August 2026 and may change again. Check them against current documentation and date your notes.