copilot is editing my word document, but leaving out almost all of the info that was on the original document

Welcome Jeremy White,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum. I am sorry to hear about your issue when using Copilot in Word and the app, where Copilot reads the information in your document incorrectly. 

Base from my knowledge, these prompts like "reformat this document" lead to de novo generation, where Copilot prioritizes a "professional layout" over data extraction, ignoring specifics like prices or units unless explicitly listed first. Inconsistent AI interpretation of document context, especially for sales-generated sheets with mixed formatting, causes duplication, misplacement, or total overwrites. 

You can try some step below to troubleshoot the issue:  

Option 1: Repair and Reset (Word and App) 

• Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps > click the three dots and select Advanced options > scroll down and choose Repair (if the problem still persists, select Reset)

Option 2: Update Microsoft 365

• Make sure your Copilot app is updated to the latest version. Sometimes, fully updating can improve performance. 

Option 3: Try using Copilot in a browser 

Option 4: Using Draft with Copilot in Word 

• Highlight a specific section in Word
• Click the Copilot icon that appears next to the selected area and choose “Make changes” 
• In the Draft with Copilot dialog box, enter a prompt describing the changes you want to make (e.g., “Convert this list into a professional paragraph”) 
• Click Generate to let Copilot create new content 

Note: When you select only a specific section (e.g., a table or a text block) instead of the entire document, Copilot focuses on that area and is less likely to overwrite the entire content. 

You can get detailed information in this link: Revamp and refine selected text using Draft with Copilot in Word 

Option 5: Try using other prompts

Break the task into steps: 

• Step 1: “List all products with their exact descriptions, prices, and units from this section.” 
• Step 2: “Format this table professionally, keeping all numbers unchanged.” 
• Add: “Do not delete, summarize, merge cells, or rewrite data.” 

Emphasize data preservation in the prompt: “Retain all numerical values, product names, and units exactly as in the original.” 

I really hope that the information I gave above was helpful to you. Please feel free to reply below and let me know if you have further concern on this matter.  

P/S: If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".     

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.