Add knowledge sources to your declarative agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot

The Agent Builder feature in Microsoft 365 Copilot provides a simple interface for you to integrate knowledge sources to make your declarative agent more intelligent and context-aware. These knowledge sources ground your agent in enterprise data, public content, and user-specific information to enable them to deliver more accurate, relevant, and personalized responses.

You can add:

• Up to four public website URLs.
• SharePoint files, folders, or sites.
• Up to five Teams chat URLs.
• Embedded files uploaded from your device (on the Configure tab).
• Microsoft 365 Copilot connectors (if enabled by your organization's administrator).

This article describes the supported knowledge sources and the steps to configure them in Microsoft 365 Copilot. For general information about building agents with Microsoft 365 Copilot, see Build agents with Microsoft 365 Copilot.

For information about supported knowledge sources and licensing requirements, see Knowledge sources.

Add knowledge sources

If you use natural language to create your agent, Agent Builder adds knowledge sources for you based on your description. You can also add knowledge sources from the chat box:

1. In Microsoft 365 Copilot, choose New agent on the left pane, and provide a natural language description for your agent.

2. Choose the plus icon (+) in the chat box. Use one of the following methods to add knowledge sources:

   • Add work content - Select, search for, or upload files.
   • Upload images and files - Upload directly from your device.
   • Attach cloud files - Attach cloud files that you have access to.

If you're configuring your agent manually, to add knowledge sources to your agent:

1. In Microsoft 365 Copilot, choose New agent from the left pane, and choose Skip to configure.
2. In the Knowledge section, use one of the following methods to add knowledge sources:
   • Search bar - Type keywords to search for items. Use this option to add sources such as email and Teams messages.
   • Enter URL - Add a public website or SharePoint link (must be two levels deep and without query parameters).
   • Picker - Use the file picker UI to browse for and select SharePoint files or folders.
   • Upload - Upload files directly from your device.

Public websites

Add specific public websites as agent knowledge sources to make your agent context-aware. When you reference websites as knowledge sources, the following limits apply:

• Public website URLs must only be two levels. For example, https://example.org/a/b/c is an invalid URL because it's more than two levels.
• URLs can't contain query parameters. For example, https://example.org?test=1 is invalid.
• You can add up to four URLs.

To configure your agent to use any web data as knowledge:

• Use natural language to ask Agent Builder to prioritize your knowledge sources.
• On the Configure tab, under Knowledge, choose the toggle next to Search all websites.

SharePoint content

Reference specific SharePoint sites, files, and folders as agent knowledge sources. When you reference sources from SharePoint, consider the following limits:

• Select up to 100 SharePoint files for each agent.
• The agent respects existing permissions and sensitivity labels for files already uploaded to SharePoint.
• Although there isn't a direct file size limit on the knowledge files you select, the agent can only reason over specific file types.

Entering a URL for a SharePoint site, folder, or file

You can enter a URL for a SharePoint site, folder, or file, such as contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/policies. The agent searches the URL and subpaths. For example, a URL such as contoso.sharepoint.com/sites also includes subpaths like contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/policies. The agent uses relevant information to provide a targeted response.

After you provide the SharePoint URL, press Enter to add it as a knowledge source.

SharePoint file picker

You can also select files or folders from the SharePoint file picker by choosing the cloud icon in the Knowledge section. The left pane on the picker displays your recently accessed SharePoint sites. To view more SharePoint sites, select More places. If you recently created a site, it appears after several minutes.

After you select a site, you can select several files and folders. When you select files and folders, you add the SharePoint file or folder to the agent's knowledge sources. When the same site includes multiple folders, select the button next to the folder name to view other folders.

File readiness

When new files are uploaded to SharePoint, they can take up to several minutes to be ready for the agent to include in its response. You can still test your agent in the test pane if sources aren't ready. However, responses don't include information from the newly uploaded file until it's ready.

You can check the file readiness in the Knowledge section in the Configure tab; the file has the word "Preparing" next to it. When you rename or delete the underlying file uploaded to SharePoint, the agent picks up the changes. You can also select the reload button on top of the Knowledge section to manually reload the state.

Microsoft Teams data

You can ground your agent in Microsoft Teams data, including Teams chat messages and meeting information. To use all chat messages, meeting transcripts, and calendars that you have access to as knowledge, select My Teams chats and meetings.

You can also scope your agents to specific chats, including team channels, group chats, and meeting chats. Scoping knowledge to specific chats improves the accuracy and relevancy of agents' responses. To scope Teams knowledge to specific chats, on the Configure tab, in the Knowledge section, select the search bar. In the window that opens, choose the Chats tab, and select the specific chats to add. You can add up to five chats.

Outlook emails

You can ground your agent in Outlook email. To add email as a knowledge source, on the Configure tab, in the Knowledge section, select the search bar, and choose My emails.

Embedded file content

You can upload files directly from your device for your agent to use as knowledge. The files that you upload become embedded content in the agent. To upload files, drag and drop from your device into the Describe tab or the Configure tab. You can also choose the arrow icon on the Configure tab to upload files from your device. You can upload individual files from your device, but not file folders.

You can add up to 20 files as knowledge sources.

The Configure tab displays embedded files under Uploaded files. Files can take a few minutes to upload and appear gray until they're fully uploaded. The upload time can vary based on the file size and internet speed. For information about size limits for embedded files, see File size limits.

To remove a file you uploaded, choose the X next to the file, and choose Remove.

Files with any of the following characteristics aren't supported:

• Double key encryption.
• Sensitivity labels that have user-defined permissions. If you upload a file with user-defined permissions, agent creation fails.
• Sensitivity labels that have extract rights permission disabled. If you upload these files, agent creation fails. If an agent user doesn't have extract rights to an embedded file, the user can't access the agent.
• Files from another tenant that have encryption enabled.
• Password protection.

For details, see Unsupported sensitivity label scenarios.

For information about embedded file content indexing and retrieval, see Optimize content retrieval.

Sensitivity labels for agent embedded content

Apply a sensitivity label to the agent embedded content if you upload any files with a sensitivity label or if your tenant has a default sensitivity labeling policy. By applying a sensitivity label to the agent embedded content, you ensure the agent complies with your organization's Microsoft Purview policies.

The sensitivity label applied to the embedded content is the higher priority of the following labels:

• The highest priority sensitivity label applied to any embedded file.
• The default sensitivity label policy applied by the organization.

For example, if you embed a file with a General label and a file with a Confidential label in the agent, the Confidential sensitivity label is applied to the embedded content.

Only users who have extract right permissions to the sensitivity label applied to the embedded content can access and use the agent. The label doesn't appear on the Agent Store listing. Users who don't have extract right permissions to the embedded content can view the agent and the agent description, but they can't install and use the agent.

A sensitivity label is also applied to agent responses. This label is the higher priority of the following labels:

• The sensitivity label of the embedded content
• The sensitivity label of any other agent knowledge sources, such as SharePoint and OneDrive files.

Currently, you can't set a sensitivity label on an agent.

Unsupported sensitivity label scenarios

The following table lists sensitivity label scenarios that aren't currently supported, describes the behavior when a builder uploads the file to the agent, and provides the recommended action for the builder.

Sharing an agent with embedded files

When you share an agent with embedded files, you share the files with users when they acquire the agent. After users acquire the agent, they can get responses from Copilot based on those knowledge sources. You have the following options for sharing an agent with embedded files as knowledge:

• Anyone in your organization
• Specific users in your organization
• Only you

When you share the agent, the Share screen displays the sensitivity label if sensitivity labels are set on the embedded content.

File types and size limits

The following table lists the file types that you can add as knowledge to your agent and the embedded file size limits for each file type.

* Only supported for SharePoint in Microsoft 365.

People data

If you ground your agent in People data, it can deliver more personalized and context-aware responses. People data provides public information about individuals, such as name, position, skills, and organizational relationships. This information allows agents to look up user and colleague profiles, including reporting structure and contact details.

People data is enabled by default for agents created by users who have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. You can disable or re-enable this capability in the agent configuration UI. To disable or enable People data:

• On the Configure tab in Agent Builder in Microsoft 365 Copilot, select the toggle next to Reference people in organization to turn People data off or on.

This feature is available only to users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on license.

Copilot connectors

Copilot connectors allow agents to access and apply knowledge from external systems such as customer accounts, incident tickets, code repositories, and knowledge articles. Use Copilot connectors to integrate enterprise data into your agents, and empower them with domain-specific knowledge.

For more information about Copilot connectors, see Microsoft 365 Copilot connectors overview.

Scope Copilot connector data sources

To enhance the accuracy and relevance of agent responses, ground agents not only in broad organizational data but also in specific scoped data. To scope connector data in your agent to a specific attribute:

1. On the Configure tab, under Choose other data sources, select the connector for your data source.

2. On the card for that connector, add the connections that are relevant to your scenario.

3. Select the arrow to go back to the Knowledge section.

4. Expand the connector that you added and select the attribute that you want to scope the knowledge to (for example, project, space, folder), and search for or type the attribute name.

   Note

   If the attribute doesn't appear in the search results, it might be because:

   • Your administrator didn't configure the scoped content.
   • You don't have the required permissions to access the content.
   • The scope isn't valid for the selected connector.

5. Select the attribute from the list to add it.

6. Your agent's knowledge is now scoped to the data associated with the scoped attribute.

For example, when you use the Azure DevOps Work Items connector, you can scope the agent to a particular area path to ensure that the agent focuses only on the most pertinent work items.

To scope the Azure DevOps Work Items area path:

1. Under Choose other data sources, select Azure DevOps Work Items.
2. Select Add next to the connections that are relevant to your tasks.
3. Select the arrow to return to the Knowledge section.
4. Select Select an area path and search for or type the area path name.
5. Select the area path to add it.

The following table lists the Copilot connectors that support scoping and the attributes that you can use to scope the data.

For more information about the available Copilot connectors, see the Connectors gallery.

Prioritize your knowledge sources over general knowledge

You can configure your agent to prioritize the knowledge sources you provide—such as SharePoint content or embedded files—when it responds to queries that require knowledge-based searches. Knowledge-based searches are user requests to look up specific information; for example:

• Who is the current company CEO?
• When is the next business conference?
• What's the most recent update related to a feature?

Some user requests don't require knowledge-based searches; the agent can respond based on general AI knowledge. For example:

• Translate this phrase into Spanish: "Hello, how are you?"
• What is 1+1?

When you enable this feature, the agent answers simple questions that don't require searching by using its general knowledge. It uses your knowledge sources only to answer search-based questions. If the agent can't find relevant information in the knowledge sources you provide, it responds with a fallback message that states it can't find the information.

To configure your agent to prioritize your knowledge sources, on the Configure tab, select the toggle next to Only use specified sources.

Related content

• Overview of Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Build agents with Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Build an agent from a template
• Share and manage agents