Create a New Agent Using Microsoft Copilot Studio [Step-By-Step]

A few weeks ago, we created an Employee Leave Request app for a client. Later, they wanted to add a assistant so employees could ask questions about their leaves and get quick answers.

For example, if I submitted a leave request in the SharePoint list and want to check its status, I can ask the chatbot, “What is my current leave status?” The chatbot then retrieves the information from SharePoint and displays the answer.

To achieve this, I suggested to my client that we could build a Copilot agent using the Microsoft Copilot Studio, which can understand our needs and provide the results.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how you can create a new agent using Microsoft Copilot Studio step by step. Additionally, we will discuss the points below:

• Add a Trigger to the newly created Agent
• Change your Agent’s introduction message
• Integrate the SharePoint Connector with the Copilot agent
• Publish your agent in Copilot Studio
• Share your new agent with others in Copilot Studio
• Edit and delete the agent in Copilot Studio

Create a New Agent Using Microsoft Copilot Studio

When you create an agent, you can explain in your own words what you want it to do, or you can set up those details step by step.

You can also build your agent using information from any public website as a knowledge source.

Let’s follow the instructions below to create a new agent in Copilot Studio.

1. Sign in to Copilot Studio or create an account. You may need to complete a security verification puzzle. If you don’t have a Microsoft Copilot Studio account or license, you’ll be asked to create one; otherwise, your existing account will be used automatically.
2. Click Get Started.

3. Select your country or region and turn on “I will receive information, tips, and offers about Microsoft Copilot Studio.” Then, click Get Started.

After a few seconds, the Copilot Studio Agent window will open with two panes, as shown in the image below.

4. Enter a brief description of the agent you want, like “Create a bot for Employee Leave Request Management.” You can write up to 2,000 characters.

5. If needed, enter a different agent name, such as “Employee Leave Request,” and click the Send icon.

6. Next, you’ll be asked, “What specific actions or behaviors should your agent have?” Enter the actions or instructions for your agent and click Send.

7. If you want to switch to another language, such as en-AU or en-GB, click “Edit language” and choose your preferred option. When you’re finished, click Create.

8. Your new agent will be ready soon. The Copilot agent window will open, showing a left navigation menu, a center details pane, and a right-side conversation pane where you can chat with Copilot.

9. To test your agent, type your question in the description box on the right and click Send. For example, ask, “How do I submit a new leave request?” The agent will then give you the step-by-step instructions to follow, as shown below.

10. Similarly, if I ask, “Can you tell me my current leave balance?”, the agent won’t give the right answer because it can’t access personal data or specific tables. To solve this, we can create a SharePoint list with the needed columns and link it to Copilot Studio to get the information.

Let’s follow the topic below to know how to link or add a trigger point to this new agent in Copilot Studio.

Add a Trigger to New Copilot Agent

Here, I will add a trigger that makes the agent start working. For example, when a new leave is submitted in the SharePoint list, the action will begin automatically. Then, when a user asks the chatbot about leave, it will provide the correct answers using data from the SharePoint list.

Set up a SharePoint List (With Various Columns)

Create a SharePoint list, i.e., Employee Leave Summary, with various columns below:

Column	Data type
Full Name	Single line of text
Email Address	Single line of text
Department	Choice [IT, HR, FINANCE]
Manager	Person
Leave Request Status	Choice [Pending, Approved, Rejected]
Total Leave Balances	Number

1. Go to the Copilot Studio Agent window and click Overview -> Add trigger.

2. Next, you need to add a trigger. For example, When an item is created (SharePoint).

3. Enter a trigger name, sign in to Microsoft Copilot Studio and SharePoint (if not), then click Next.

4. In the Add trigger window, enter the Site Address (Required), List Name (Required), and Limit columns by view (Optional). Add any extra instructions for the agent when this trigger is activated, then click Create trigger.

Now it’s time to test the trigger. Click Close.

5. Now, return to the SharePoint list and add, save a new item with all the details below.

6. Next, return to the Copilot Studio agent and ask, “Can you tell me my current leave balance?” It still won’t provide the correct answer.

7. To do this, click the three horizontal dots (…) from Test your agent → select Test trigger → choose When an item is created.

8. Select Start testing.

9. Test the agent:

• Check Leave Balances: The chatbot will fetch the leave balance from the SharePoint list and show the expected result (e.g., 12 days) in the chat.

• Check Leave Request Status: Similarly, if you ask, “What is the status of my leave request?“, the chatbot will respond with the leave status, such as “Pending,” as shown below.

NOTE:

Ensure that the information you ask the chatbot for is available in the SharePoint list; if not, the chatbot won’t be able to give you the correct answer.

Change Your Agent’s Introduction

We can create a friendly welcome message for our Copilot agent. This message informs users about the agent’s capabilities and invites them to begin chatting.

1. In the Test your agent chat, select your agent’s intro message. The Conversation Start topic opens, highlighting the Message node for the intro.

NOTE:

If the introductory message doesn’t appear in the test panel, click the Refresh icon at the top to restart the conversation.

2. Remove the message using the Trash icon. To add a new introductory message, expand + Add -> Message variation. You can add any of the content like a file, image, video, etc.

3. Provide the text or message in the message box and click Save.

4. To test the agent, select the Refresh icon in the Test your agent chat panel. You can view the updated introduction message as shown below.

Add/Integrate SharePoint Connection With Copilot Agent

Sometimes, our data is stored in various locations, such as SharePoint, Dataverse, or SQL. When we ask the chatbot a question, it may not provide the correct answer because it can’t access our specific database. Instead, Copilot creates a response on its own, which may be an apology or a message asking you to contact your administrator.

To retrieve data from any data source, we need to add or integrate the specific data source connection with the Microsoft Copilot Agent. For example, let’s see how to connect the SharePoint datasource connector step by step:

1. Create a SharePoint library named “Project Documents” and upload various files (PDF, doc, xlsx, etc.) to it.

2. Go back to the Copilot agent window -> Click Knowledge tab -> + Add knowledge.

3. On the Add knowledge page, select SharePoint.

4. Provide the specific SharePoint list or library URL and click ‘Add‘. Additionally, you can browse the items.

You can view the SharePoint link, Name, and Description (modify if required). Click ‘Add‘.

5. After a while, the SharePoint connection will be connected and ready to use.

To test the agent, ask the chatbot a question about Expense Claims, like “Need information about Expense Claim Form.” It will show suggestions, explanations, and documents related to your query, all taken directly from the SharePoint library.

Clicking any of the files will open them in a new tab or window.

Publish your agent in Copilot Studio

To publish your Copilot Studio Agent, click Publish at the top of the page, then confirm by clicking Publish again in the confirmation message.

If the publish is successful, a green banner will appear at the top. Click Close. Remember, others won’t see your changes or updates until you publish the agent.

Share an agent with other users in Copilot Studio

1. To share the Copilot agent with other users (within the organization), select horizontal ellipses (…) -> Share.

2. In the left search box, enter a name, security group, or email address. Provide the permissions for this agent, either Editor or Viewer. Enable this option, “Send an email invitation to new users,” which is optional. Click Share.

3. You will see a success message at the top of the page saying, “All permission changes were saved successfully.”

Edit & Delete Agent in Copilot Studio

If you want to edit any of the agent’s details, such as name, description, icon, etc., you can modify them easily by using the Edit option. Similarly, you can delete any unnecessary agents from the Copilot studio.

Edit Copilot Agent

1. Go to the Overview tab and click on the Edit button in the top right corner.

2. You can modify any aspect of the template, such as the agent name, icon, description, general instructions, tools, triggers, topics, prompts, and more. Click on Save.

3. For example, I changed the agent name and icon. After saving it, the update appeared as below.

Delete Copilot Agent

To remove any unwanted or unused agent from the Microsoft Copilot Agent, use the Delete option.

1. Go to Agents (from left nav) -> Select three-dot ellipses (…) of specific bot -> Click Delete.

2. A pop-up box will appear, asking you to enter the agent’s name to delete all data associated with that agent permanently. Click Delete agent.

After a while, the specific agent will be permanently removed from the Copilot studio.

Additionally, you may like some more articles:

• Publish an Agent to a Live or Demo Website in Copilot Studio
• What is Microsoft Power Pages
• Export Dataverse Table to Excel
• Patch Dataverse Number Field in Power Apps
• Detect Text in Dataverse Using AI Builder

I hope this article helped you understand how to create a new agent using Microsoft Copilot Studio. We covered important steps, including adding a trigger, changing the introduction message, connecting to SharePoint, publishing your agent, sharing it with others, and how to edit or delete your agent.

With these simple steps, you can build and manage your own smart agent easily. Give it a try and see how it can make your work easier!