The grounding issue in Copilot notebooks (and OneNote)

Question

The grounding issue in Copilot notebooks (and OneNote)

Bohdan Heraschenko 0

Hello Support Team,

I am encountering an issue with Copilot Notebooks where it completely fails to recognize or read provided documents.

Specific issues observed:

No Grounding on References: Copilot Notebooks completely ignores the documents added to the References section. It does not ground its responses on the provided reference materials at all.
OneNote Integration Issue: When I add a section from OneNote using the "Add to Copilot Notebooks" command, the section is successfully added as a reference within the Notebook. However, as mentioned above, Copilot still does not read or utilize the content from this OneNote section.

I would like to add an important detail regarding this issue:

The only workaround where Copilot Notebooks actually recognizes references is if I manually attach them directly inside the chat. To do this, I have to type the "/" command, select the OneDrive icon, and manually pick each file from the "Recent" section for that specific chat prompt.

However, this completely defeats the purpose and convenience of the References feature, as it forces me to manually re-upload and attach the necessary files to every single chat turn or session.

Subscription Details & Context:

Please note that this issue has persisted across different subscription tiers. I experienced this problem while on the M365 Personal plan, and it continues to happen even after upgrading to the M365 Personal Premium plan.

To clarify, this is happening on a personal/individual Microsoft account, not a corporate or enterprise tenant.

Nick Lorson 0 Reputation points

2026-06-25T08:59:09.0566667+00:00

A couple of things you can try. Make sure the files are stored in OneDrive and not locally, and try removing and re-adding the references as the connection can drop silently without any error. The workaround you found with the / command is pretty much the most reliable option right now, which is annoying but at least confirms the file itself is readable. Definitely worth reporting it via the feedback button in Copilot so Microsoft can keep track of it.
Bohdan Heraschenko 0 Reputation points

2026-06-25T09:43:14.5033333+00:00

Thanks @Nick Lorson for your answer! In most cases, the references I use are Copilot (Loop) Pages, so they should already be in OneDrive (in fact, I can manually pick them from OneDrive's "Recent" section). And yes, I've tried removing and re-adding them several times, and even created a new "Test" notebook from scratch, but unfortunately, nothing worked.
Alexandra Mcfarlane 0 Reputation points

2026-08-20T00:57:41.4166667+00:00

I have the same issue with a Microsoft Business account. nothing at all is recognised in a notebook - It doesn't matter if it is a link or a document, nothing is detected by Copilot. I have reported the issue to Microsoft, but as usual, there is virtually no customer support. It is so frustrating since there is now no difference between a standard 365 subscription and the extra $30 a month I am paying for the advanced CoPilot. I hope that Microsoft fix this problem asap.
Bohdan Heraschenko 0 Reputation points

2026-08-21T07:39:02.5033333+00:00

@Alexandra Mcfarlane After the latest updates, some features have been working much better as of August. However, for some reason, my reference limit was reduced to 20, so I assume certain capabilities are still in the rollout phase.

That said, I have to admit that patience is sometimes required. From the moment I first encountered this issue until it started working noticeably better, it took about 5 to 6 months. However, I believe Microsoft is likely deploying these improvements more quickly for business accounts.

Your answer

Nick Lorson 0 Reputation points

2026-06-25T08:59:09.0566667+00:00

A couple of things you can try. Make sure the files are stored in OneDrive and not locally, and try removing and re-adding the references as the connection can drop silently without any error. The workaround you found with the / command is pretty much the most reliable option right now, which is annoying but at least confirms the file itself is readable. Definitely worth reporting it via the feedback button in Copilot so Microsoft can keep track of it.
Bohdan Heraschenko 0 Reputation points

2026-06-25T09:43:14.5033333+00:00

Thanks @Nick Lorson for your answer! In most cases, the references I use are Copilot (Loop) Pages, so they should already be in OneDrive (in fact, I can manually pick them from OneDrive's "Recent" section). And yes, I've tried removing and re-adding them several times, and even created a new "Test" notebook from scratch, but unfortunately, nothing worked.
Alexandra Mcfarlane 0 Reputation points

2026-08-20T00:57:41.4166667+00:00

I have the same issue with a Microsoft Business account. nothing at all is recognised in a notebook - It doesn't matter if it is a link or a document, nothing is detected by Copilot. I have reported the issue to Microsoft, but as usual, there is virtually no customer support. It is so frustrating since there is now no difference between a standard 365 subscription and the extra $30 a month I am paying for the advanced CoPilot. I hope that Microsoft fix this problem asap.
Bohdan Heraschenko 0 Reputation points

2026-08-21T07:39:02.5033333+00:00

@Alexandra Mcfarlane After the latest updates, some features have been working much better as of August. However, for some reason, my reference limit was reduced to 20, so I assume certain capabilities are still in the rollout phase.

That said, I have to admit that patience is sometimes required. From the moment I first encountered this issue until it started working noticeably better, it took about 5 to 6 months. However, I believe Microsoft is likely deploying these improvements more quickly for business accounts.