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Microsoft 365 Copilot App randomly showing “A file was shared with you” notifications for old Teams/shared files

Adrian 0 Reputation points
2026-05-28T15:17:13.8+00:00

Hello,

we are currently seeing unexpected behavior with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app in our environment and would like to understand whether this is expected behavior, a known issue, or if Microsoft has documented it somewhere.

Environment

Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Free version of Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot app installed on Windows devices

Teams + SharePoint/OneDrive environment

Issue

Random users are receiving Windows notifications from the Microsoft 365 Copilot app stating that “a file was shared with you”.

However:

The files were often shared days or even weeks ago

In some cases, the original sender confirms they did not recently share the file again

The notification appears completely unprompted

The issue affects different users randomly

When clicking the notification:

The Microsoft 365 Copilot app opens automatically

Copilot inserts a pre-generated prompt such as:

“List important points from

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams for business | Other
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  1. Hendrix-C 17,145 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-28T17:32:56.5433333+00:00

    Hi @Adrian,

    For your concern, I have researched through Microsoft product help and other official information sources but as of today, there is no Microsoft help article/documentation or announcement found that clearly addresses or explains this issue. I have also checked the Microsoft Service Health status and there is no ongoing incident/degradation with Copilot or OneDrive/SharePoint at the moment.

    The prompt "List important things from" that you mentioned is likely related to new Microsoft 365 Copilot feature: file preview experience in OneDrive/SharePoint which has been rolling out just recently since late April 2026. For more details about this rollout, you can refer to this article: Microsoft 365 Copilot: Discover Copilot actions in OneDrive/SharePoint file preview - M365 Admin

    (This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.)

    However, since the notification behavior are inconsistently affecting different random users and completely unprompted without any clear documentation addressing it, I'm really sorry that I couldn't provide any further details or insights into this behavior or the problem causing it.

    Therefore, for you to have the best possible assistance, I suggest contacting your IT department and ask them to create a support ticket directly to Microsoft from Microsoft 365 Admin Center > Support > Help & Support. This route ensures that you can contact a Microsoft support engineer who can initiate a remote session to investigate backend configurations, run advanced diagnostic tools, and, if necessary, escalate the case to specialized teams with access to internal systems and logs. These backend resources are essential for resolving issues that go beyond what’s visible in the user interface.

    As community moderators, I'm here to guide you, but due to privacy and security limitations, I don’t have access to the backend tools required for a full resolution. For this reason, contacting Microsoft Support via the Admin Center is the most secure and efficient way forward. Please know that even though I can't directly intervene, directing you to the correct, specialized support is the most effective help I can provide from my position.

    I truly hope you get your issue resolved swiftly. If you have any questions or need any further clarification, please leave a comment here and I will be happy to continue to help you.  

    Thank you for your patience and understanding. Hope to hear from you soon.

    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.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-05-28T15:17:34.83+00:00

    The provided context does not describe or document any behavior where the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows sends delayed “A file was shared with you” notifications, auto-opens the Copilot app, and injects prompts like “List important points from <filename>.pdf” for previously shared Teams/SharePoint/OneDrive files. It also does not document any policy or setting to control or disable such Copilot-generated share notifications independently of Teams/SharePoint notifications.

    The context does state the following relevant points about Microsoft 365 Copilot behavior and data access:

    1. Copilot only works over data the user already has access to
      • Microsoft 365 Copilot “accesses and reasons over the data you already have permission to see within your Microsoft 365 environment,” including Microsoft Graph content such as emails, chats, files in OneDrive and SharePoint, and Teams content. It “only returns information that the user already has access to—respecting existing permissions and security boundaries.”
      • Copilot operates within the existing Microsoft 365 trust boundary, and “your data stays your data.” It does not use tenant data to train models for other customers and honors existing security, compliance, and privacy controls.
    2. SharePoint/OneDrive governance and what Copilot can surface
      • Copilot responses are constrained by SharePoint and OneDrive governance and sharing settings. Tenant-level sharing policies and access controls directly affect what content Copilot can surface in responses.
      • Features like Restricted Content Discovery and Restricted SharePoint Search allow administrators to limit which SharePoint sites and content can appear in organization-wide search and Copilot experiences. However, these features govern search and Copilot grounding scope, not notification behavior.
    3. No documented feature for Copilot-generated “file shared with you” notifications
      • The release notes and feature descriptions in the context (for Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, Copilot in OneDrive, Copilot in apps, and extensibility/agents) do not mention:
        • Copilot sending its own “file was shared with you” notifications for older sharing events.
        • Copilot proactively generating prompts like “Summarize this file” or “List important points” and pushing them as Windows notifications tied to historical Teams/SharePoint shares.
        • Any admin control or policy to disable such Copilot-specific notifications.
    4. Copilot is not described as reprocessing content autonomously outside user-permission scope
      • Copilot can reason over Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive content the user has access to, but always within existing permissions and governance. The context does not describe Copilot independently re-sharing or re-notifying about files, nor changing how sharing notifications are delivered.

    Because the context does not document this notification pattern, it does not provide:

    • A product explanation for why Copilot would generate delayed “file shared with you” notifications.
    • A trigger model for these notifications.
    • Confirmation that this is expected behavior, a feature, or a known bug.
    • A tenant-wide or policy-based method to disable this specific Copilot notification behavior.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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