Copilot and Work IQ Rest APIs cannot summarize SharePoint documents that have been previously deleted

Pete Heidler 20 Reputation points
2026-07-01T22:29:20.98+00:00

When using the Copilot and Work IQ APIs, documents that are present in the recycle bin (but have been reuploaded) cannot be read by agents.

Sample request:

POST https://workiq.svc.cloud.microsoft/rest/conversations/719f67c8-f418-40e0-89c8-31d1684af2a0/chat

Body:

{
  "message": {
    "text": "Summarize this document for me."
  },
  "locationHint": {
    "timeZone": "America/New_York"
  },
  "contextualResources": {
    "files": [
      {
        "uri": "document_uri"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Sample response:

{"@odata.context":"https://prod-s01-000-nam-centralus.substrate.cosmic.office.net/api/beta/copilot/conversations('719f67c8-f418-40e0-89c8-31d1684af2a0')/microsoft.graph.copilot.chat/$metadata#microsoft.graph.copilotConversation/$entity","id":"719f67c8-f418-40e0-89c8-31d1684af2a0","agentId":null,"createdDateTime":"2026-07-01T22:22:27.2033985Z","displayName":"Summarize this document for me.","state":"active","turnCount":1,"messages":[{"@odata.type":"#microsoft.graph.copilotConversationResponseMessage","id":"64cbf583-1c05-41fa-8fe2-0b441da3a27a","text":"Summarize this document for me.","createdDateTime":"2026-07-01T22:22:27.2049464Z","adaptiveCards":[],"attributions":[],"sensitivityLabel":{"sensitivityLabelId":null,"displayName":null,"tooltip":null,"priority":null,"color":null},"references":{}},{"@odata.type":"#microsoft.graph.copilotConversationResponseMessage","id":"c4a8ee53-515e-406c-b649-34861e46c4ae","text":"It looks like the document session has **expired**, so I\u2019m no longer able to access the contents of [document name](document_link?EntityRepresentationId=340f3002-a605-4378-8014-fce654d9f64f) to generate a summary right now.\n\n### What you can do next\n- **Re\u2011upload the PDF** so I can process it again, or  \n- Tell me a **specific section/page range** you want summarized (if you reattach it), which can also speed things up for large files.\n\nAs soon as you upload it again, I\u2019ll give you a clear, structured summary (key points, sections, and main takeaways).","createdDateTime":"2026-07-01T22:22:34.4130293Z","adaptiveCards":[],"attributions":[],"sensitivityLabel":{"sensitivityLabelId":null,"displayName":null,"tooltip":null,"priority":null,"color":null},"references":{"4fb2d4":{"@odata.type":"#microsoft.graph.copilotConversationReference","targetLink":"document_link","isCitedInResponse":false}}}]}

As soon as the document is cleared from the recycle bin, the response returns a summary as expected.

Microsoft 365 and Office | SharePoint | Development
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  1. Hin-V 16,830 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-07-01T23:13:28.4366667+00:00

    Hi @Pete Heidler

    Thanks for sharing this detailed insight and the investigation results. 

    Based on your description, this behavior does not appear to be a prompt, permissions, or request-format issue. The fact that summarization consistently succeeds after the recycled item is permanently removed suggests the problem is more likely occurring within the document retrieval layer rather than the summarization pipeline itself. 

    From what I understand, the behavior could be related to a stale document reference, cached entity mapping, or an indexing inconsistency between the active SharePoint document and its recycled copy. The document session expired message, combined with the presence of a previously generated EntityRepresentationId, may indicate that Work IQ/Copilot is resolving the request against an outdated document entity rather than the newly uploaded file. This would help explain why permanently purging the recycled item restores normal functionality. 

    image

    Currently, I have not found any public documentation explicitly stating that Copilot or Work IQ retrieves content from SharePoint Recycle Bin items, nor have I found any documentation identifying this behavior as a known product limitation. To further investigate this behavior, I recommend engaging with [GitHub Community Forum] for a deeper technical dive or to connect with individuals who have relevant experience and expertise. Some approaches may behave differently or be restricted depending on your specific environment and configuration. These forums include many experienced developers and Microsoft specialists who can assist with troubleshooting and guidance.   

    Apologies for redirecting you to the related development team support. As moderators in this community, we do not have access to your specific tenant configuration, and my testing environment is limited. Therefore, my guidance is based on available Microsoft documentation and resources. That said, I’ll do my best to provide additional insight where possible. 

    If you have any additional concerns, feel free to comment below. I would be more than happy to assist.    

    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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