IT Troubleshooting — Free AI Prompts for M365 Copilot

Write a blameless post-incident report for [INCIDENT]. Include: (1) Executive summary (2 sentences), (2) Timeline of events with timestamps, (3) Impact assessment (users, revenue, SLA), (4) Root cause analysis, (5) What went well in the response, (6) What could be improved, (7) Action items with owners and deadlines. Tone: factual, constructive, forward-looking.

Create a diagnostic decision tree for [ISSUE TYPE — network connectivity / application crash / login failure / slow performance / email delivery]. Structure as: If symptom A → check B → if yes → do C, if no → check D. Include: expected outcomes at each step, escalation triggers, and resolution confirmations. Write for a Level 1 support technician.

Help me diagnose email delivery failure. Scenario: [DESCRIBE — emails not received / going to spam / bouncing / delayed]. Check: (1) Message trace in Exchange Admin, (2) SPF/DKIM/DMARC alignment, (3) Transport rules that might redirect, (4) Recipient mailbox issues, (5) IP reputation, (6) Content filtering triggers. Provide step-by-step diagnosis with Exchange admin paths.

Write a self-help troubleshooting guide for [ISSUE] that a non-technical user can follow. Structure: (1) What you are experiencing (symptom description), (2) Try this first (easiest fix), (3) If that did not work, try this (next steps), (4) Still stuck? Contact IT (what info to provide). Use simple language, include where to click, and add helpful screenshots descriptions.

Write an escalation summary for [ISSUE] being escalated to [TEAM — Level 2 / vendor / engineering]. Include: (1) Issue description and business impact, (2) Users affected and timeline, (3) All troubleshooting steps attempted and results, (4) Relevant logs, error messages, or screenshots, (5) Current hypothesis, (6) Urgency and SLA deadline. Format for quick consumption.

Help me triage this IT incident: [DESCRIBE THE ISSUE]. (1) Classify severity (P1-P4) based on user impact, (2) Identify the most likely affected system or service, (3) List 5 diagnostic checks to run immediately, (4) Suggest the probable root cause, (5) Recommend whether to escalate or resolve at this level, (6) Draft a status update for affected users.

Create a known error database entry for [ISSUE]. Include: (1) Error title and ID, (2) Symptoms the user sees, (3) Affected systems and versions, (4) Root cause explanation, (5) Workaround steps, (6) Permanent fix status and ETA, (7) Related incidents. Format for searchability in a knowledge base.

Create a troubleshooting guide for login failures in [SYSTEM — M365 / VPN / application]. Cover: (1) Password issues (expired, locked, forgotten), (2) MFA problems (lost device, token expired), (3) Conditional Access blocks, (4) Account disabled, (5) SSO failures, (6) Browser and cache issues. For each: symptoms, diagnosis steps, resolution, and prevention.

Help me diagnose this network issue: [SYMPTOMS]. Walk through: (1) Client-side checks (IP, DNS, gateway), (2) Internal network checks (switches, VLAN, firewall rules), (3) External connectivity (ISP, DNS resolution, latency), (4) Application-specific checks, (5) Recent changes that might correlate. Provide commands to run at each step.

Guide for Outlook issues: not opening, not receiving email, calendar not syncing, missing shared mailbox, slow performance, missing folders. Try first, try next, contact IT.

Help me diagnose slow performance in [SYSTEM/APPLICATION]. Walk me through: (1) Quick checks (CPU, memory, disk, network baseline), (2) Identifying the bottleneck, (3) Correlation with recent changes or events, (4) User-side vs server-side diagnosis, (5) Top 5 most common causes for this type of slowness, (6) Recommended monitoring to set up. Environment: [DETAILS].

Conduct a root cause analysis for [INCIDENT DESCRIPTION]. Use the 5 Whys method: (1) State the problem, (2) Ask why 5 times drilling deeper each time, (3) Identify the true root cause, (4) Distinguish symptoms from causes, (5) Recommend corrective actions to prevent recurrence, (6) Assign owners and timelines. Keep blameless — focus on systems not people.

Guide for SharePoint issues: cannot access site, sync not working, file locked, version conflict, permission errors, search not finding docs. Symptoms, steps, prevention.

Create a troubleshooting guide for Teams audio: (1) Cannot hear others, (2) Others cannot hear me, (3) Echo, (4) Audio cutting out, (5) Wrong device. For each: ordered fix steps, settings locations, when to contact IT. Write for non-technical users.