Microsoft Still Hasn’t Fixed Classic Outlook Copilot Bug, but There’s a Workaround

Microsoft says it is still investigating a known issue that causes Copilot and Copilot Chat buttons to disappear from Classic Outlook for Windows.

The company confirmed the problem on its support page, following its earlier acknowledgement that Copilot can go missing in Classic Outlook.

The issue affects users with both Basic and Premium licenses and can appear after upgrading Classic Outlook for Windows to build 20026.20182 or later.

Copilot can disappear from several areas in Classic Outlook

Affected users may notice that the Copilot button above the ribbon disappears completely.

The Copilot icon can also vanish from the left app bar or More Apps section. In some cases, Copilot still appears under Add Apps, but selecting Open does nothing.

Users who try to add the Copilot command manually through ribbon customization may also find that the option appears grayed out or unavailable.

Microsoft has identified a possible cause

According to Microsoft, affected Outlook installations may fail to locate the PR_PROFILE_USER_SMTP_EMAIL_ADDRESS_W MAPI property in the null profile section.

This issue prevents the Outlook Copilot component from correctly persisting Copilot-related settings.

As a result, the Copilot entry point may fail to appear in Outlook’s navigation pane, leaving users without access to Copilot or Copilot Chat from the usual locations.

Microsoft has not yet announced a permanent fix and says it continues to investigate the problem.

Microsoft recommends a temporary workaround

For now, Microsoft recommends enabling Show Apps in Outlook.

Classic Outlook users can go to File > Options > Advanced > Outlook panes and enable Show Apps in Outlook.

If that does not restore Copilot, Microsoft also suggests creating a new Outlook profile.

Affected users can alternatively switch to New Outlook or Outlook Web Access, as Microsoft says those versions do not experience the same issue.

Classic Outlook has also seen several other changes recently. Microsoft backed down on its planned Classic Outlook people card downgrade, while the company’s upcoming Outlook meeting ownership transfer feature will leave Classic Outlook behind.

Via BleepingComputer