MS Word - the Copilot pane no longer allows highlighting text (so I can copy/paste)

Question

MS Word - the Copilot pane (chat) no longer allows highlighting text (so I can copy/paste).

Also, I notice that if I launch Word, I can go to Copilot pane and "Send Feedback" / "Report a problem" and type in the form. But once I attempt to highlight text in a chat, and then go to the feedback form, the form won't accept any text input.

I get my Word via Microsoft 365 Subscription (personal)

I online chatted with a support person who had me delete these folders:

C:\Users[Moderator's note: PII removed]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\IdentityCache

C:\Users[Moderator's note: PII removed]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneAuth

Reboot my PC, Open Word (Sign back into M365.)

The problem remains :(

Also, from search/read on web, they say it's related to WebView component (that Word uses for the UI.) I've "cleared my browser" cache. No change. (And which browser anyway, Edge, Chrome? To me, external browser seems unrelated)

Answer 1

RE: Close all Office apps first (Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), then reopen Word ... restores Copilot pane behavior, at least temporarily.

The "Close all" works sometimes. Not always.

And, it is "temporarily", because it happens again.

Answer 2

Hi, Dennis

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Sorry for this frustrating situation that you're facing. What you’re describing looks like the Copilot side pane (and even the “Send Feedback” form) is losing normal mouse and keyboard input focus inside Word’s embedded web-based UI, so text selection and typing stop working even though Word itself is fine.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

Close all Office apps first (Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), then reopen Word and test Copilot

There’s a frequently met class of problems where Office features that rely on the embedded web component can misbehave when multiple Office apps are running at the same time. A clean “only Word is open” test often restores Copilot pane behavior, at least temporarily.

Repair the Edge WebView2 Runtime (this is the “web UI engine” Word uses)

Even though you “cleared the browser cache,” Word’s pane runs on WebView2, which can have its own selection/copy issues when it gets into a bad state. Repairing WebView2 often resets that layer without reinstalling Office. (Windows: Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime > Modify/Repair.) WebView2 has a history of copy/paste and selection edge cases, especially with mouse interactions.

Run Word in Safe Mode once to rule out add-ins interfering with the pane

Press Win+R, type winword /safe, then open Copilot and try selecting text. If it works in Safe Mode, an add-in is likely blocking input inside the pane, and you can disable add-ins afterward in normal Word to find the culprit.

Office “Quick Repair” (then “Online Repair” if needed)

This refreshes damaged Office components that Copilot relies on, without you having to hunt for which cache folder is involved.

Hope this helps. Feel free to get back if you need further assistance.

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