Copilot Rewrite Feature not working in Classic Outlook

Nunes, Michael 25 Reputation points

When creating a new email in Classic Outlook and attempting to rewrite the text using Copilot, the following error message appears:

👁 User's image

  1. Nunes, Michael 25 Reputation points

    Please need help.

  2. Gabe Bratton 836 Reputation points • Microsoft Employee • Moderator

    What Office Channel are you on? To check click File, Office Account, under About Outlook.

  3. Nunes, Michael 25 Reputation points

    Monthly Enterprise Channel

  4. Nunes, Michael 25 Reputation points

    Thanks for the clarification.

    I’ll coordinate with our tenant admin to open a support case to support the investigation.

  5. Cory H 0 Reputation points

    We have a few users with Copilot licenses in our enterprise environment, and we have received reports of the same issue. We are on the same MEC as well Version 2603 (Build 19822.20180)

    Rewrite with Copilot works in Outlook New with no problems.

    but in Outlook Classic as of about 10-12 days ago, when a user attempts to use rewrite with Copilot, they get the error 'Sorry, something went wrong. Copilot is working on it.' once they click Generate.

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Answer recommended by moderator

Gabe Bratton 836 Reputation points • Microsoft Employee • Moderator

Support has some cases with this issue in Monthly Enterprise Channel and working to get those escalated. If it's an option, you could switch to Current Channel and see if it works better there. The issue can happen on any channel but right now it appears more persistent on MEC. If you have bandwidth, please have your tenant admin open a support case which will help the investigation and priority for the issue.

  1. Cory H 0 Reputation points

    Hey Gabe, I checked with one of our users today who was affected, and the change implemented has fixed the issue. Rewrite is now once again working in Outlook Classic. Thank you for listening and helping us resolve this issue!

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1 additional answer

  1. Gabriel-N 18,875 Reputation points • Microsoft External Staff • Moderator

    Hello Nunes, Michael

    After testing on my side, the function still appears to be working as expected.

    👁 User's image

    Could you please help confirm the following points:

    • Since drafting with Copilot requires a specific license, kindly recheck whether the license is still assigned to you and has not expired. You can verify this in the Harmony portal.https://portal.office.com/account/?ref=Harmony#subscriptions
    • Please make sure that Outlook is fully updated to the latest version.

    Additionally, it would be helpful if you could provide:

    • The version of your Outlook (classic). You can go to File > Office Account and share a screenshot.
    • The connection type of the affected account (Exchange, POP, IMAP).
    • Your operating system version.

    As workarounds, you may also try:

    • Pressing Alt + Shift + I to see if the feature works with this shortcut.
    • Checking if the feature is available in the left vertical bar and using it while we continue investigating.

    👁 User's image

    Looking forward to your reply.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

    1. Nunes, Michael 25 Reputation points

      I have a M365 copilot license assigned.

      My classic outlook version:

      👁 Screenshot 2026-04-23 115343

      Classic outlook updated:

      👁 Screenshot 2026-04-23 115414

      Type of connection is Exchange.

      yes the copilot feature is available in the sidebar:

      👁 User's image

      My Operating system version:

      👁 Screenshot 2026-04-23 115729

    2. Gabriel-N 18,875 Reputation points • Microsoft External Staff • Moderator

      Hello Nunes, Michael

      Thank you for the quick response. However, it seems that the screenshots are not visible, could you please re-upload them?

      In the meantime, besides using Copilot in the sidebar as a workaround, you might also try the following:

      Hope this helps, and I’ll look forward to your update.

    4. Gabriel-N 18,875 Reputation points • Microsoft External Staff • Moderator

      Please note that Q&A forum is a public platform, and moderators will modify the question to hide personal information in the description. Kindly ensure that you hide any personal or organizational information the next time you post an error or other details to protect personal data.

      Hello Nunes, Michael

      Thank you for sharing the screenshots.

      Have you had a chance to try the suggestions in my previous reply? Since Copilot in the sidebar is still working, you can use it as a temporary workaround to draft or rewrite your emails.

      You may also want to check whether this issue occurs with all new emails or only with a specific one.

      Additionally, you could try switching to the New Outlook or Outlook on the web to see if the rewrite feature works there. After that, switch back to Classic Outlook to check if the feature is restored.

      Finally, it might be helpful to check with your colleagues or IT admin to see if any similar issues have been reported within your organization.

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