When the brief comes back empty

You open Coco and the brief is empty. Usually this is good news — there genuinely was not much that needed you. But occasionally it points at something to fix. Here is how to read it.

It might just be a quiet day

Coco only surfaces what needs you. On a slow morning — a weekend, a holiday, a day where nothing landed that is time-sensitive — an empty or near-empty brief is the honest answer. Coco would rather show you nothing than pad the brief with noise to look busy. If a quick glance at your inbox confirms there is nothing pressing, the empty brief is correct.

It might be the first-run curve

If you just started, Coco is cautious by design and the earliest briefs are thin. This evens out over the first 48 hours as it learns your people and topics.

It might be a sync that has not run

If your inbox clearly has things that should have surfaced and the brief is still empty, the daily sync may not have completed. Check when Coco last synced — if it is stale, that is the likeliest cause. See when the daily sync hangs for how to nudge it.

It might be a disconnected account

If Coco lost its connection to your Google account — a revoked permission, an expired sign-in — it cannot read new mail and the brief will go empty. You will usually be prompted to sign in again. If sign-in itself is failing, see common Google sign-in errors.

How to tell which it is

• Inbox quiet too? The empty brief is right. Nothing to do.
• Inbox has obvious items the brief skipped? Check the last sync time and the account connection.
• Brand new account? Give it a day or two.

If you have ruled all of that out and the brief is still wrongly empty, contact support and we will look at it with you.