Onenote Copilot not working when working previously.

Question

Copilot is not working within the Onenote window on Mac. When I hit the copilot button, the window remains blank. My copilot subscription through my student account is still active (I've verified my account is active).

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Moved from: Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Development

Answer 1

If Copilot is not working in OneNote on your Mac, there could be several reasons for this issue:

1. Internet Connectivity Issues: Ensure that your internet connection is stable, as Copilot requires a reliable network to function properly.
2. Licensing or Account Conflicts: Make sure that you are signed in with the correct account that has the active Copilot subscription. If you are using both a personal and a student account, it might cause conflicts.
3. Recent Office Update or Reset: If there has been a recent update or reset of Office, it may affect the activation status of Copilot.
4. Privacy Settings: Check if Copilot is blocked by your privacy settings. You may need to adjust these settings to allow Copilot to function.
5. Device-Based Licensing: Ensure that you are using a user-based license, as Copilot is not available with device-based licensing.

If the issue persists, consider reaching out to your Microsoft 365 admin for further assistance to ensure that everything is configured correctly for your account.

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References:

• Copilot is missing, disabled, or doesn't work correctly
• Copilot is missing, disabled, or doesn't work correctly

Answer 2

Hi @Matthew Marquez,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for contacting us. I would like to provide you with the following information:

Since your account is tagged as education, I will base my guidance on Microsoft Education accounts. In this case, I recommend clearing the OneNote cache. Before doing so, make sure to sync your data to avoid losing information.

Steps to perform:

1. Ensure data is synced before clearing the cache

• Open OneNote and check that all notebooks are synced with OneDrive.
• If there are unsynced changes, wait until syncing is complete to avoid data loss.

2. Exit OneNote completely

• Close OneNote .

3. Open the cache folder

• On Finder, select Go > Go to Folder…
• Enter the path:

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.onenote.mac/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft User Data/OneNote/

In this folder, you will see cache files (usually with the .bin extension).

4. Delete the cache

• Delete the entire Microsoft OneNote folder or the .bin files in the Cache folder.
• Then Empty Trash to free up space.

5. Restart OneNote

• Reopen OneNote. Your notebooks will reload from OneDrive and create a new cache.

Important Notes:

• Unsynced data loss: Any changes not synced will be lost after clearing the cache.
• Do not delete the Backup folder unless certain: The Backup folder may contain local copies; only delete it if you have confirmed your data is safe on OneDrive.

Since you are using an education account, it is managed by your school’s administrator (possibly the IT department). If clearing the cache does not resolve the issue, you may contact your IT department to check if any policies are applied to accounts in the tenant.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to your response.

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