If Copilot is missing while composing an email in Outlook, check these supported causes and fixes:
- In new Outlook and Outlook on the web, make sure the message is not using Plain Text. Draft with Copilot does not support plain text messages. Go to Settings > Mail > Compose and reply and set the format to HTML.
- In a new message, look for the Copilot entry points in the compose window:
- Copilot icon in the toolbar above the message body
- Draft with Copilot text in the message area
- Help me write or Help me reply in chat-enabled compose experiences
- If Copilot is unavailable in Outlook, check whether Connected Experiences is turned off in Outlook privacy settings. Copilot in Outlook requires Connected Experiences to be enabled.
- If this is classic Outlook for Windows, there is a known issue where Copilot buttons and entry points can be missing, unavailable, or grayed out after updating to build 20026.20182 and higher. In that case, the current workaround is to use new Outlook or Outlook on the web.
- If Copilot works in other Microsoft 365 apps but not in Outlook, and Outlook is using a different mailbox type, re-adding the account using the exact @outlook.com alias that works in Outlook on the web can help ensure the account is connected as Outlook.com/Exchange instead of IMAP or POP. In classic Outlook, the account type can be checked in File > Account Settings.
If the missing feature is specifically Rewrite, open a new message and first confirm that Copilot is available in the compose area. If the compose window has no Copilot entry point at all, the issue is with Copilot availability in Outlook rather than the rewrite command itself.