Missing Copilot in Word/Excel

Question

I have two Microsoft licences

• Microsoft 365 Business Standard with my company's account (this allows me to install locally Office desktop applications)
• Office 365 E1 with my client's account (this allows me to access my client's workspace for SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook and allows me to use only Office web applications)

In Office desktop applicattion I am logged with bith my my client's profile is the active one.

Last week my client also provided me the following licence:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot

I gor Copilot enabled in Outlook, Teams and M365 Copilot desktop app, where I can also see a switch between WORK and WEB profile, and I can also use the Agents created by my client's colleagues using M365 Copilot Studio (before getting the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence from my clinet I could not use these agents).

The problem is that I do not see Copilot in Office desktop applications: I do see Copilot if I log into Office web application (using my client's profile) by if I lo in to Office desktop application with my client's profile I am missing Copilot fiìunctionalities.

Answer 1

Hi there,

I’m Cherrelyn, and I’m here to help.

Since you're seeing Copilot in the web apps but not in the Office desktop apps, the issue is likely tied to the active account in your desktop Office environment. Even though both accounts are signed in, only one can be "active," and Copilot requires the Microsoft 365 Copilot license to be active under that profile. To fix this, try setting your client account (with the Copilot license) as the active account in Word/Excel desktop. Go to File > Account and switch the active user if needed. You may also need to sign out of your company account temporarily to allow the Copilot features to appear.

I hope this helps, and if you have any questions, feel free to reply to this post.

Warm regards,

Cherrelyn

Answer 2

Hi Giovanni,

Thanks for the screenshot. The issue is that your company account is providing the Office license, but your client account has the Copilot license. Copilot only works when the active account matches the license with Copilot. Please try to sign out of your company account in Word/Excel. Sign in only with your client account (the one with Copilot). Restart the app and check if Copilot appears.

Warm regards,

Cherrelyn