Copilot unable to see all of my mails in outlook

Question

I have recently totally rebuilt a laptop, windows 11, O365 personal subscription, all updates applied.

Copilot is up and running in the apps, and on the web, but I have a problem that copilot does not see all the emails in my outlook inbox (and other folders, but for simplicity i will concentrate on inbox)

For example, in outlook for Monday 3rd August I have twelve emails which are searchable find in outlook but copilot can only see four of them

Answer 1

Hey,

Copilot doesn't list your folder, it searches it. It ranks results and only returns a handful, so getting four out of twelve may just be the search cap rather than missing emails.

Quick test to tell the difference. Pick one of the eight Copilot skipped and ask about it directly, naming the sender and subject. Try two or three.

If Copilot finds them that way, it's a ranking issue and the fix is just asking narrower questions rather than asking about a whole day, or specifying how many emails you want it to search or to help guide copilot's query.

If Copilot says it can't find them, they're genuinely outside what it can see. On a rebuilt machine the usual causes are:

• Mail sitting in a local PST or data file instead of syncing to the server. Outlook search finds it, Copilot can't.
• Accounts re-added as IMAP or POP rather than connected accounts.
• Encrypted, protected or digitally signed emails, which Copilot skips.
• Mail in Other rather than Focused, or in an archive folder.

Answer 2

Hello Mark Anson,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Before we proceed, may I know if there are any common point between all of the excluded emails? Also, may I know the prompt you used?

I'm waiting for your reply.