Co-pilot not searching sharepoint site I have given users access too

Copilot behavior is tied directly to what SharePoint search can see and to the tenant’s discovery settings, so what is being observed is expected in some configurations.

Key points from the documented behavior:

1. SharePoint search and permissions
   • Search (and therefore Copilot grounded on SharePoint) only returns content that users have permission to view. Two users can run the same query and see different results because of different permissions.
   • If content is brand new, it might not be indexed yet; until it is, neither SharePoint search nor Copilot will use it.
   • Only major versions of documents are searchable; minor versions are not.
2. Restricted Content Discovery (site-level)
   • If Restricted Content Discovery is enabled on a site, that site’s files are hidden from organization-wide search and Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat, unless a user had a recent interaction with them.
   • This matches the behavior described: users mainly see files they have “touched or interacted with.”
   • Restricted Content Discovery does not change permissions; users can still open files if they have access, but those files won’t appear in broad search/Copilot results unless recently used.
3. Restricted SharePoint Search (tenant-level)
   • If Restricted SharePoint Search is enabled, organization-wide search and Copilot are limited to an “allowed list” of sites, plus users’ frequently visited sites and recently accessed files.
   • This also leads to Copilot focusing on content users have recently interacted with, even if they technically have access to more content.
4. Impact on Copilot
   • Copilot’s ability to answer questions about a “large data dump” on a SharePoint site depends on:
     • The site being included in normal tenant-wide discovery (not restricted by Restricted Content Discovery or Restricted SharePoint Search).
     • The content being indexed and searchable in SharePoint.
   • If either Restricted Content Discovery (on that site) or Restricted SharePoint Search (tenant-wide) is enabled, Copilot will have less content to ground on and will tend to use only recently accessed files.
5. What to check/adjust
   • In SharePoint admin:
     • Confirm that Restricted Content Discovery is not enabled on the specific site that hosts the data dump, if the goal is broad discovery via Copilot.
   • At tenant level:
     • Check whether Restricted SharePoint Search is enabled and, if so, whether the data-dump site is on the allowed list. If not, Copilot will largely rely on users’ recently accessed content.
   • On the site itself:
     • Ensure content has had time to be indexed and that no site/library settings are excluding it from search. If search results are missing, follow the guidance in Search results missing in SharePoint Online and related admin steps such as reindexing.

In summary, the behavior is consistent with the documented “restricted discovery” features and standard SharePoint search rules: Copilot can only use what SharePoint search exposes, and tenant/site restrictions can cause it to focus on files users have recently interacted with, even when they technically have broader access.

References:

• Not getting the search results you’re looking for in SharePoint?
• Generative answers pointing to SharePoint sources don't return results
• Restricted SharePoint Search
• Restrict discovery of SharePoint sites and content