7.2.2. Resolving Issues with Suggestions and Exclusions

💡 First Principle: When Copilot misbehaves, reason from bounded, not broken: walk the configuration causes (exclusions, policy, plan, support, context) before concluding the tool is failing. Most "it's not working" reports resolve at a setting.

A practical troubleshooting order for common complaints:

Common, exam-relevant causes:

• Authentication / plan / policy — not signed in, no eligible seat, or an org policy disabling the feature.
• Content exclusions — the file is intentionally excluded, so no suggestions appear (this is correct behavior, not a fault).
• Editor/surface/file-type support — the feature isn't supported in that editor or for that file type.
• Insufficient context — too little open context for a useful suggestion; opening relevant files helps.
• Only after the above — consider an actual service issue.

✅ Best Practice: When exclusions "aren't working," first confirm the path/pattern actually matches the file and that the editor supports exclusions — coverage varies, and a near-miss pattern is a common cause.

⚠️ Exam Trap: Jumping to "the service is down" is the wrong first move. The expected troubleshooting path checks auth, exclusions, policy, support, and context before assuming an outage.

Reflection Question: A developer says "Copilot suddenly stopped suggesting in one folder." What's your ordered checklist, and why is "excluded folder" a likely and correct explanation rather than a bug?