Skip to main content
P
pclark
Rookie
August 27, 2026
Question

MS Copilot not seeing write tools

  • August 27, 2026
  • 5 replies
  • 36 views

Hello All,

I am just getting this connector setup and the searching appears to be working as expected. However, when we ask Copilot to compose a draft it tells us that the tool is not exposed to the current session. My scope on the connector was blank but then I updated to the feature:mcp but that didn’t change anything. I asked Copilot to show me the list of tools that it is seeing and this is what it returned. 
 

Conversation tools

_search_conversations
_read_conversation
_read_message
_list_drafts

People / metadata tools

_search_contacts
_read_contact
_list_inboxes
_list_channels
_list_tags
_list_teams
_list_teammates
_list_statuses
_search_accounts
_read_account
_get_my_identity

Notably missing from Copilot's exposed tool list:

create_draft
update_draft
send_message
reply_to_conversation
create_comment
any other write/update operation

 

I disconnect the session and re-connected. I can confirm that the permissions requested during the authorization show check marks for the read/write column. Is there another step that I am missing?

Thanks,
-Paul

5 replies

Javier - Developer Relations
Javier - Developer Relations
Community Manager
August 27, 2026

Hi ​@pclark 

Just to confirm:

  • Your Front OAuth developer app has all the read/write/send permissions enabled?
  • The OAuth authorization screen shows that you’re granting access to read/write/send?
  • Is there any setting in MS Copilot where you have to allow write/send actions explicitly? It’s curious that it only lists the read tools.
  • Have you tried using create_draft or another write tool? What does MS Copilot report?

 

Thanks for your answers!

Javier - Front Developer Relations
P
pclarkAuthor
Rookie
August 27, 2026

Hello Javier, 

Thanks for the quick response. Yes, permissions are enabled in the Front developer app. 
 

When I sign into the connector in Copilot, yes, I see the Front is requesting these actions checkboxes and I have approved them with the authorize button during sign in. 
 

I am not aware of an explicit option to allow those actions. Nothing from Copilot itself has suggested they need to be allowed either. 

When I use the variations of compose or create_draft this is what Copilot responds with. 
 

Thanks,
-Paul

Javier - Developer Relations
Javier - Developer Relations
Community Manager
August 27, 2026

Hey Paul, 

While I don’t have access to MS Copilot tools to test, I did a little research to see what might be going on this tool specifically. Take this with a grain of salt because I can’t test it directly, but based on some documentation, it might be what’s causing the problem.
 

If you added Front through the Sources menu in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, Researcher, or Copilot in Excel, that path uses what Microsoft calls a federated Copilot connector, and those are read-only by design. They can search and fetch, but they can't write back, so Copilot only picks up our retrieval tools and drops create_draft and the rest. The read and write permissions you saw on the authorization screen are Front's OAuth consent, which is separate from what Copilot decides to surface once connected.

 

For write tools, the path that works is Copilot Studio, where every tool the MCP server publishes gets added as an agent tool with its inputs and outputs intact. Two things to check there:

  • Generative orchestration has to be enabled, since MCP won't work without it
  • Copilot Studio only supports Streamable HTTP transport, which our server uses, so you're fine on that front

 

Could you confirm which of these you're working in? If you're already in Copilot Studio with orchestration on and create_draft still isn't showing up, let me know and I'll get our engineers to take a closer look, since that would point to something on the tool discovery side rather than your setup. But the Sources option seems like a read-only medium that would have to be confirmed with MS for further compatibility or workarounds.

Javier - Front Developer Relations
Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement