Before you turn on Copilot, run this guide. It reads everything — are you ready for that?
Your team just turned on Microsoft 365 Copilot. It is reading everything. Every duplicate, every ex-staff file, every 'Final_v3_FINAL.docx'. Every document shared with 'Anyone with the link'. Every sensitive file with no label. Are you ready for that? This guide gives you the complete readiness framework — permissions, content quality, metadata, sensitive content, and a 30-day plan — so Copilot works for you, not against you.
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Does this sound like you?
You've been told Copilot is coming and you have no idea if your SharePoint is ready
You're worried Copilot will surface sensitive files to people who shouldn't see them
You know your content is messy but don't know what 'messy' means for AI
IT has turned on Copilot and nobody has checked the permissions first
You've asked Copilot a question and got a confidently wrong answer
You don't know what Purview sensitivity labels are or whether you need them
The Promise
Understand exactly what Copilot reads — and what it can't see
Audit your content across the four risk categories (duplicates, permissions, old content, personal libraries)
Know which content quality standards matter most for AI accuracy
Understand metadata for AI — why it's Copilot's navigation system
Identify sensitive content and know what to do about it before Copilot goes live
Complete a 30-day readiness plan with a day-by-day task list
Score your organisation with the 'Are We Ready?' scorecard
What's Inside
The four sources Copilot draws from: SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Exchange. The critical point: Copilot respects permissions. What people can see, Copilot can see. What they can't see, Copilot can't see. Permissions are the first and most important readiness check.
The four types of mess that corrupt Copilot's answers: duplicates (which version is correct?), old content (is this still accurate?), poor naming (what is this file?), and no metadata (how does Copilot filter?). Real examples of bad vs good Copilot outputs.
Duplicates, Permissions, Old Content, and Personal Libraries — the four areas that will cause the most problems when Copilot goes live. A traffic light status grid for each category.
Ten content quality standards with a self-assessment format. From file naming to version control to document completeness — the standards that determine whether Copilot gives useful answers.
Why metadata is Copilot's navigation system. The three core columns (Document Type, Status, Department) and how they help Copilot filter, find, and summarise accurately. The metadata readiness check for every library.
The five governance gates that must pass before Copilot goes live: ownership, permissions, content lifecycle, sharing rules, and sensitive content. A checklist for each gate.
What Purview sensitivity labels are, when you need them, and how to identify sensitive content that needs labelling before Copilot reads it. The Sensitive Content Audit worksheet.
Week 1: Permissions audit. Week 2: Content quality and duplicates. Week 3: Metadata and structure. Week 4: Sensitive content and governance gates. Day-by-day with time estimates and priority ratings.
A 25-question readiness assessment across five categories, scored out of 50. Traffic light result: Green (Copilot Ready), Amber (Almost There), Red (Fix First). The Go-Live Decision Tree: five gates, each with a Yes/No branch.
Everything Included
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Copilot Readiness Note
This entire guide is about Copilot. The short version: Copilot reads everything your users can access. If your permissions are broken, Copilot will surface sensitive files to the wrong people. If your content is messy, Copilot will give confidently wrong answers. If you have no metadata, Copilot can't filter. This guide fixes all three — before they become problems.
FAQ
Yes — this is the guide to run before you turn it on. The best time to do a Copilot readiness check is before go-live, not after. If you're planning to roll out Copilot in the next 3–12 months, start this guide now.
Microsoft Purview is the compliance and information protection platform in Microsoft 365. Sensitivity labels (like 'Confidential' or 'Internal Only') are created in Purview and applied to files. Whether you need it depends on your organisation's compliance requirements. The guide explains what it is and when to ask IT to set it up.
Both. The guide is written for the person responsible for Copilot readiness — which might be an IT admin, a SharePoint manager, or a business owner who has been asked to 'get SharePoint ready for Copilot'. The language is plain English throughout.
Start now. The 30-day plan works whether Copilot is live or not. The most urgent steps are the permissions audit (Week 1) and the sensitive content audit (Week 4). Do those first.
A PDF slide deck (27 slides) plus four Excel workbooks. The workbooks are designed to be filled in as you work through the guide — audit first, plan second, fix third.
The Copilot Readiness Guide is the AI readiness layer that sits on top of everything else. Governance, metadata, cleanup, and sharing all feed into Copilot readiness. If you haven't done those yet, start with the Governance Starter Kit or the Cleanup Checklist first.
Get the Is Your SharePoint Ready for Copilot? checklist — 20 yes/no questions across permissions, content quality, metadata, and sensitive content. Find out your score in 5 minutes.
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What's Next on the Path?
Good naming is the foundation of everything — governance, metadata, Copilot, and findability. The Naming for Humans guide covers every naming decision you will ever face, with before-and-after examples and a two-week implementation plan.
See SharePoint Naming for Humans