Copilot in Edge - tries to "read" the codes

Question

Copilot in Edge - tries to "read" the codes

Camilla Steinsvik 0

Hi

I am using Copilot to help me with at Javascript project for a tiny app. But every time Copilot writes a bit of code for me, Edge tries to "read" it, and ends up with a dummy picrure, and something like "can't show content".

How can I get the code in the Copilot window without this happening? (This is a relativly new problem, last weeks or so.)

I have tried asking for plain text.

0 comments

1 answer

Your answer

Answer 1

Hendrix-V 19,300 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Camilla Steinsvik,

Thank you for reporting this. Based on your description, Copilot is generating the code correctly, but the content appears to be getting opened or rendered in an unexpected format within Edge rather than remaining as a standard code block in the chat window. The thread indicates this behavior started recently and may be related to how the content is being displayed in the browser.

A few quick checks that may help:

Open Copilot in an InPrivate window and test whether the issue persists.
Temporarily disable browser extensions, especially those related to accessibility, page translation, or content formatting.
Make sure Microsoft Edge is fully updated to the latest version.
Try the same prompt in another browser or in the Copilot web experience to see if the behavior is specific to Edge.

If the issue continues, it may be helpful to capture a screenshot or screen recording showing what happens when the code is generated and submit feedback through Edge or Copilot. This can help provide additional details for further investigation.

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators, contributors including external Microsoft employees cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas.

Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thanks for your effort.

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.

Camilla Steinsvik 0 Reputation points

2026-09-18T09:04:29.25+00:00

Thank you very much for your reply.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to resolve the issue yet.

I also tried using the standalone Copilot app, thinking that might avoid the problem, but I experienced exactly the same behavior there. Copilot initially generates the code correctly, but after a second or so, it appears to try to "read" or "run" the code itself. At that point, a pink exclamation mark appears, along with a message saying that the content cannot be shown.

What confuses me is that this happens even with very simple code snippets. I do not understand why Copilot would need to process the code further after it has already generated it, nor why that process fails.

If I am very, very explicit and instruct Copilot not to use formatted code blocks, it will sometimes display the code as plain text instead. However, I have not been able to identify any pattern as to why it sometimes works and sometimes fails.

One detail that may be important: the code is usually displayed correctly for a brief moment before the error appears. It seems that Copilot successfully generates and displays the response initially, but then performs some additional processing which fails and replaces the content with a "Content cannot be shown" message. This makes me think the issue may be related to how code blocks are rendered rather than the content itself.

This behavior seems to originate from the Copilot app itself rather than from the generated content. Is there a way to disable this code interpretation or rendering feature? If not, could you explain why Copilot is attempting to process the code in this way and why it results in a "Content cannot be shown" error?

Any additional guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Hendrix-V 19,300 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-19T02:02:01.33+00:00
Hi Camilla Steinsvik,

Based on what you've described, the code itself is likely being generated successfully, and the issue appears to occur during the way the response is subsequently processed or displayed within the Copilot experience.

At this time, there is no documented setting that allows code rendering or code-block processing to be disabled in Copilot. However, a few additional checks may help narrow down the cause:

Ask Copilot to return the code as plain text only, without Markdown formatting or code blocks.

Start a new conversation and test with a simple prompt such as "Output Hello World in JavaScript."

Capture a screenshot or short recording showing the code appearing normally and then being replaced by the error message.

If the issue continues, submitting feedback from within Copilot along with a screenshot or recording would be valuable, especially because the sequence you described helps distinguish a display or rendering issue from a code-generation issue.