Have you ever wished that your users could ask a question and receive instant answers from your SharePoint list, such as “What training is available for the IT department?” or “When is the next finance workshop?”
Well, now you can make that happen with Copilot Studio.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to build a Copilot agent that connects directly to your SharePoint list and responds to user queries. Our knowledge base is a SharePoint List.
We will utilize Get Items to dynamically filter the data based on user input and return personalized answers directly within the chat interface.
SharePoint List as Knowledge
Before we can create the agent, we need a SharePoint list that stores the data. In this example, I made a list of training programs.
Create a New Copilot Agent
Once your SharePoint list is ready, let’s create a new Copilot agent in Copilot Studio that will use this list as a knowledge source.
- Go to Copilot Studio. Click Create -> + New agent. Or you can use your existing agent.
- Give your agent a meaningful name (Training Assistant). Add the description blank for now and click Create.
- Now, we will add a Get Items Action. To do this, click the Tools tab -> ‘+ Add a tool‘. In the search bar, type Get items. From the results, select Get items (SharePoint). This action allows you to retrieve list items from your SharePoint site.
- Once selected, you’ll see a new screen prompting you to choose how you want to proceed. At the bottom right, you’ll find three buttons:
- Add to agent – This adds the action to your agent without any configuration.
- Add and configure – This option adds the action and opens the configuration screen where you can input the required details, such as:
- Site Address
- List Name
- Cancel – Closes the pop-up without taking any action.
- In my case, click Add to agent. After that, we will add the site address and other required things.
- Then, select the Get items action. In the Inputs section, add the Site Address where you created the SharePoint list. Then, in the List Name, change ‘Dynamically fill with AI’ to ‘Custom value’ under ‘Fill using’, and select your SharePoint list, in my case, ‘Training Programs’.
- Click + Add input. From the options, choose Filter Query. Once added, click Customize. In the Description field, enter a helpful note about what this filter does. For example:
An ODATA filter query to restrict the entries returned (e.g. stringColumn eq 'string' OR numberColumn lt 123).
Use this field to filter SharePoint list items based on user input. For example, if a user selects "IT" as the department and "Online" as the training type, the bot should return only those items that match both values.
- After that, save the action by clicking the “Save” button on the top right side.
Test the Agent
Once done, click on Test, and you should see the output.
In my case, I am asking about “Give me details of Program ID TP-015“.
The Copilot responds with the full program information, including the name, department, training type, start date, and duration exactly as stored in the SharePoint list.
Next, I asked: “What IT trainings are available?“
The Copilot quickly responded by fetching and listing all training programs from the IT department in the SharePoint list.
Then I asked ‘IT department Duration less than 7’ (Here I know the department spelling is incorrect, but still Copilot Agent will understand)
If you want to make your agent live on a website, intranet, or Teams, check out this step-by-step guide: Publish Your Copilot Agent to a Live Website.
I hope this article has helped you learn how to create a Copilot agent that connects directly to a SharePoint list and provides intelligent answers to user queries. We covered configuring the Get items action, applying dynamic filters based on user input, and testing the agent using real-world training scenarios.
Moreover, you may like some more tutorials:
- Add Copilot to Power Apps
- Create a Subsite in SharePoint
- Microsoft Copilot in Power Automate
- Create an Agent Flow Using Designer in Copilot Studio
Hey! I’m Bijay Kumar, founder of SPGuides.com and a Microsoft Business Applications MVP (Power Automate, Power Apps). I launched this site in 2020 because I truly enjoy working with SharePoint, Power Platform, and SharePoint Framework (SPFx), and wanted to share that passion through step-by-step tutorials, guides, and training videos. My mission is to help you learn these technologies so you can utilize SharePoint, enhance productivity, and potentially build business solutions along the way.
