How to Use SharePoint Agents to Chat with Your SharePoint Data
SharePoint Agents are AI-powered assistants that help you search and interact with SharePoint data through natural language chat. Each SharePoint site comes with a built-in agent that can answer questions based on the pages, documents, and data stored in that site.
What You Can Do with SharePoint Agents
- 🔍 Search SharePoint pages and documents using chat
- 📄 Get answers with citations to verify sources
- 🛠 Customize agents to search specific folders, or files
- 🚀 Enhance capabilities using Copilot Studio for advanced capabilities
How to Use the Default SharePoint Agent
Every SharePoint site has a built-in agent you can access in just a few clicks.
Steps to Use It:
1️⃣ Open a SharePoint site
2️⃣ Click the Copilot button in the top-right corner
3️⃣ Type a question like “Where can I find the latest HR policy?”
4️⃣ The agent searches pages and documents for the best answer
5️⃣ Click cited sources to verify information
Creating a Custom SharePoint Agent
Want more control over where the agent searches? You can create your own agent and set custom rules.
Steps to Create a Custom Agent:
1️⃣ Open a document library in SharePoint
2️⃣ Click “Create an Agent” in the toolbar
3️⃣ Choose the scope:
- 📂 Entire document library
- 📄 Specific folder or file
4️⃣ Click Create Agent, and it’s ready to go!
Now, the agent will only return results from your selected content. Perfect for HR documents, onboarding materials, or product manuals!
Customizing Your Agent
To make your agent even more useful, you can:
🎨 Rename & Brand It – Give it a unique name & logo
📍 Refine Search Scope – Limit results to specific files or SharePoint sites
📝 Set Instructions – Guide the agent’s behavior & tone
💬 Add Starter Prompts – Help users ask the right questions
Need more flexibility? Copilot Studio lets you integrate SharePoint Agents with external data sources, workflows, and automation.
Managing & Sharing Your Agent
Once you’ve created an agent, you can:
✅ Share it with others via SharePoint or Teams Chat
✅ Set it as the default site agent for everyone
✅ Track usage and improve responses over time
💡 Tip: If you want your custom agent to replace the default one, open Copilot settings, select your agent, and set it as “Approved” → “Default”.
Limitations
While SharePoint Agents are powerful, they do have some current limitations:
🚫 Max 20 data sources per agent (files, folders, or sites)
🚫 No support for SharePoint lists yet
🚫 Doesn’t search images, videos, or OneNote files
Learn More: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-started-with-sharepoint-agents-69e2faf9-2c1e-4baa-8305-23e625021bcf
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