Why has the Copilot button disappeared from your Office applications?

As of April 15, 2026, many Microsoft 365 users using the Copilot Basic version or an unlicensed version lost access to this feature. So what do you do when the Copilot button disappears from your Office applications?

Version displaying Copilot buttons

In April of this year, Microsoft stepped up its efforts to encourage users to subscribe to the Copilot Premium plan. One consequence of this was the removal of the Copilot button from some versions of Office applications.

For basic Microsoft 365 users, Copilot is now limited to Copilot Chat for conversation and support within applications like SharePoint and Office, but lacks web access. Previously, this version displayed the Copilot button in Office, but it is no longer present.

In addition to version type, organization size also affects the display of the Copilot button. For businesses with more than 2,000 users, the Copilot button will no longer appear, and a higher-tier subscription will be required.

Users can still access Copilot via the web app, web browser, Edge toolbar, or Outlook. However, the Copilot feature integrated directly into Office applications is currently only available to Premium subscribers.

Fixing the missing Copilot button in Office applications.

Check your Office subscription package.

The quickest way to check if your license is still valid or has expired is to check your Microsoft account.

We log into Microsoft with our account , then click on our profile picture and select "View account" to see our account.

On the new interface, click on the Subscriptions section to check your current subscription. If it has expired , look to the side and select Resubscribe to renew.

Upgrade to the Premium version of Office 365

Open your Office 365 app, then click on Account. Next, click on Update License to upgrade to Premium Office 365 and make the Copilot button reappear.

Check your privacy settings in Office.

Privacy settings can also be the reason why the Copilot button doesn't appear in Office 365. To fix this, you need to adjust some settings in Office 365.

Click on the File tab, then select Account . In the new interface, select Manage Settings under Account Privacy . Now, check if the two settings "Turn on optional connected experiences" and "Experiences that analyze your content" are enabled .