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Short answer: Copilot Notebooks availability depends on your account and license. Eligible Copilot Chat notebooks support up to 50 references, while Microsoft Copilot can use up to 300 references for grounding. Both can work with supported documents and media, but Microsoft Copilot plans may also support URLs, Teams content, meeting materials, OneNote notebooks, and SharePoint or OneDrive files when your permissions and plan allow it. Copilot does not automatically search everything in your Microsoft 365 account; it grounds responses in references attached to the notebook that you can access.
What Microsoft Copilot Notebooks does
A Copilot Notebook is a bounded workspace for asking questions about a selected collection of sources. You add references, and Copilot uses those references to draft answers, summaries, study material and other supported outputs. The notebook is therefore different from a general chat prompt: its answers are grounded in the material associated with that notebook rather than an unrestricted scan of your account.
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Microsoft’s documentation describes the feature as available to Microsoft Copilot and eligible Copilot Chat users. Availability can vary by subscription, account type and rollout stage, so seeing Copilot in your organization does not guarantee that every notebook capability is enabled.
Who can create and use a notebook?
Work and school accounts
For an organization or school account, creating a notebook requires an eligible Copilot entitlement and a SharePoint or OneDrive service plan. The service plan requirement matters even when your organization has enabled Copilot Chat: without the underlying SharePoint or OneDrive service, notebook creation may not be available.
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Microsoft’s September 2026 getting-started instructions say to open the Microsoft Copilot app at m365.cloud.microsoft, choose Notebooks in the left navigation, and use the app launcher if Notebooks is not visible. You can also open notebooks in OneNote. Some controls are being released gradually, so an account that meets the licensing requirement may still receive the interface later than another account.
Personal Microsoft accounts
Microsoft lists subscribers to Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, Premium and Pro as eligible contexts for Copilot Notebooks. The exact features available to each subscription can differ. In particular, Microsoft’s sharing guidance says notebook sharing is unavailable for Personal, Family, Premium and Pro plans, even though those plans can be eligible for using notebooks themselves.
License, feature and rollout checks
Before troubleshooting a missing button, check three things:
- Whether you are signed in with the intended personal, work or school account.
- Whether that account has the required Copilot entitlement and, for work or school, a SharePoint or OneDrive service plan.
- Whether your tenant or subscription has received the feature in the current rollout.
Microsoft’s licensing matrix also differentiates capabilities such as suggested references, Researcher or Deep Research, one-shot Office document creation, generated study materials, Audio Overviews and Live Capture. Eligibility for a notebook does not imply that every item in that list is included.
Copilot Chat versus Microsoft Copilot: source limits and access
The largest practical difference is the number and type of references that can be used for grounding.
Rank #2
| Area | Copilot Chat | Microsoft Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| References per notebook | Up to 50; all 50 can be used | Up to 300 used for grounding |
| Standard documents and media | Supported | Supported |
| External URLs | Supported as a standard reference in Microsoft’s reference guidance | Supported, subject to the plan and access checks |
| Teams chats and meeting materials | Not supported in the licensing comparison | Supported for eligible plans, subject to permissions and rollout |
| SharePoint and OneDrive content | Not listed as an internal premium source in the licensing comparison | Supported for eligible plans, subject to permissions |
| Work or school creation requirement | Eligible Copilot Chat license plus a SharePoint or OneDrive service plan | Microsoft Copilot license plus a SharePoint or OneDrive service plan |
Microsoft’s “Add references” guidance explains an important distinction: Microsoft Copilot users may add more than 300 references, but only the first 300 are used for grounding. Copilot Chat users can add up to 50, and those 50 are used. Treat the limit as a grounding limit, not as a guarantee that every item in a very large collection will influence an answer.
Which files and sources are supported?
Common files
Microsoft lists these file types among the supported references:
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.docx - PowerPoint presentations:
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.xlsx - PDF files:
.pdf - Loop components or pages:
.loop - Page files:
.page - Plain text:
.txt - Rich Text Format:
.rtf - OneNote pages
Microsoft’s licensing table also identifies image files such as .jpeg and .png, and video files such as .mp4. Whether a particular media type is available in your notebook depends on the license and the feature rollout, so do not assume that a supported extension alone enables every media workflow.
URLs and standard references
External URLs are described as standard references in Microsoft’s reference and sharing guidance. Add a URL when the notebook needs a specific web page rather than expecting Copilot to search the open web on its own. The page still has to be reachable under the account and feature conditions Microsoft applies.
Premium work sources
For Microsoft Copilot users on eligible work plans, Microsoft identifies additional sources that can include Teams chats, meeting materials, OneNote notebooks and content stored in SharePoint or OneDrive. These are permission-sensitive: the fact that an item exists in an organization does not make it available to every notebook user.
How grounding and permissions work
Microsoft Support states: “Copilot doesn’t access your entire OneDrive, email, Teams chats, or the web, and only uses the references you’ve added to the notebook to generate responses.” In practical terms, Copilot uses references attached to the notebook and only those references the signed-in user is allowed to access.
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Adding a shared location
When you add a shared SharePoint location rather than one named file, Microsoft says Copilot may select up to 300 relevant files for grounding. Selection is relevance-based, so the result is not necessarily every file in that location. If a particular document must be considered, add that file directly instead of relying on the shared-location selection.
Permission changes after adding a reference
Access is evaluated when Copilot uses the notebook. If a file owner removes your permission, moves the file or changes its sharing scope, the reference may stop producing content even though it remains listed in the notebook. Conversely, granting access later can make the file usable without rebuilding the notebook.
How to open and create a notebook
The labels can vary slightly as Microsoft rolls out updates, but the documented work-or-school path is:
- Sign in to the Microsoft Copilot app with the account that has your Copilot entitlement.
- Open
m365.cloud.microsoft. - In the left navigation, select Notebooks. If it is missing, open the app launcher and look for Notebooks there.
- Create a notebook and give it a clear purpose, such as a project name, course or policy set.
- Choose Add references, then select the supported files, pages, URLs or eligible work sources you need.
- Confirm that each reference is visible and accessible before asking questions about it.
OneNote can also open notebooks. If the Notebooks entry is absent in both places, verify the license and SharePoint or OneDrive service-plan requirements with your administrator, then allow for staged rollout.
Sharing a notebook without breaking file access
Sharing a notebook can expose more than the notebook shell because recipients may also need access to the linked files. Microsoft’s sharing guidance says the owner must have permission to share each file. If that permission is missing, an invitee may receive the notebook invitation but still have to request access to one or more references.
Microsoft also says invited members currently receive editing access rather than a read-only role. Review the references before sharing, especially when a notebook combines material from multiple sites or folders. Remove sensitive references or adjust file-level permissions first; notebook membership alone is not a substitute for document permissions.
For Personal, Family, Premium and Pro plans, Microsoft’s sharing guide states that notebook sharing is unavailable. Those users should treat a notebook as an individual workspace unless Microsoft changes that plan behavior.
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Important limitations
- No universal file-size figure: Microsoft’s reviewed guidance does not publish one maximum file size that applies to every source type and license. Do not infer a single size limit from the 50- or 300-reference limits.
- No image creation or data visualizations: Microsoft’s “How Microsoft Copilot Notebooks works” documentation says notebooks cannot create images or data visualizations. A notebook may accept certain image references where the license supports them, but that is different from generating a new chart or picture.
- Grounding is selective: A 300-reference capacity does not mean every page, row or passage from 300 files will appear in every response. Copilot selects material relevant to the question.
- Feature rollout is uneven: Suggested references, study materials, Audio Overviews, Live Capture and other capabilities can depend on subscription and rollout status.
- Permissions remain decisive: Copilot cannot use a linked item the signed-in user cannot access, even when another notebook member can.
Planning a notebook around the source limit
If you use Copilot Chat
Keep the notebook focused enough to stay within 50 references. Group source files by one project, course module or policy area, and remove duplicates. If a question depends on a specific document, add that document directly rather than filling the notebook with loosely related material.
If you use Microsoft Copilot
You have a larger grounding allowance of up to 300 references, but relevance still matters. Use folders or clearly named files, add high-priority documents individually, and treat a shared location as a convenience rather than a guarantee that every file will be selected.
When the collection is larger than the limit
Split the material into several notebooks with distinct scopes. For example, create separate notebooks for product requirements, customer research and implementation guidance instead of placing all three collections in one notebook. This reduces irrelevant matches and makes it easier to identify which permissions or references produced an answer.
Troubleshooting checklist
Notebooks does not appear
- Confirm that you are using the account associated with the eligible Copilot license.
- For work or school, confirm that a SharePoint or OneDrive service plan is assigned.
- Check the app launcher at
m365.cloud.microsoft. - Ask whether the feature is still in staged rollout for your tenant or subscription.
A file cannot be added
- Check that the extension is one of the supported types for your license.
- Verify that you can open the file directly with the same signed-in account.
- If it is in a shared location, ask the owner to grant the required permission.
- Add the specific file instead of the parent location when the document is essential.
The answer ignores an expected document
- Make sure the document is actually listed as a notebook reference.
- For Microsoft Copilot, check whether the notebook contains more than 300 references; only the first 300 are used for grounding.
- For a shared SharePoint location, remember that Copilot chooses a relevance-based subset of up to 300 files.
- Ask a narrower question that names the document or topic you need.
A shared notebook opens but files are unavailable
Request access to the linked files or have the owner share them explicitly. Notebook membership does not automatically grant document-level permission, and Microsoft currently describes notebook invitations as editable rather than read-only.
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Bottom line for choosing a license
Choose based on the sources you need, not just the notebook label. Copilot Chat is the smaller, 50-reference option with standard documents, media and URLs. Microsoft Copilot raises grounding capacity to 300 and can add premium work sources such as Teams, meetings, OneNote and SharePoint or OneDrive content when the plan, permissions and rollout support them. In every case, add the references deliberately, verify access, and treat the published limits as grounding limits rather than a promise that every item will influence every response.
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