Use SharePoint content for generative answers

Generative answers nodes using SharePoint as a knowledge source at the topic level work by pairing your agent with a SharePoint URL, such as contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/policies. When a user asks a question and the agent doesn't have a topic to use for an answer, the agent searches the URL and all subpaths. For example, a URL such as contoso.sharepoint.com/sites also includes subpaths like contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/policies. Generative answers summarize this content into a targeted response.

When you publish your agent, the calls using generative answers are made on behalf of the user chatting with the agent, using the authentication settings configured in the agent. By default, agents created in Copilot Studio and in Microsoft Teams are configured with the Authenticate with Microsoft authentication option, which works in environments such as Microsoft Teams, Power Apps, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Use SharePoint in a generative answers node

1. In a topic, add a generative answers node.

2. In the relevant topic's generative answers node, open the Data source configuration pane from one of two places:

   1. On the Create generative answers node, select Edit under Data sources.

      

   2. Alternatively, in the Create generative answers node select the three dots (…), then select Properties and select Data source.

3. Under Knowledge sources, select Add knowledge. Ensure that Search only selected sources is turned on.

4. In the Featured section, select SharePoint.

   

5. Provide the SharePoint URL. Separate multiple URLs with manual line breaks (use Shift + Enter).

   Note

   For a list of limits and supported SharePoint functionality, see SharePoint web app limits.

6. Add a name and a description. The description should be as detailed as possible, especially if generative AI is enabled, as the description aids generative orchestration.

7. Select Save at the top to save your topic changes.

8. Test your agent with phrases that you expect to return content.

   Note

   If the user account you used to sign in to copilotstudio.microsoft.com doesn't have access to the SharePoint site, you don't get content or you might see a system error.

Use variables as URLs

Use variables in public website or SharePoint knowledge source URLs to dynamically control the scope of content your agent uses.

Instead of creating multiple knowledge sources for different scenarios, define a single knowledge source and insert a variable into the URL. At runtime, Copilot Studio resolves the variable and uses the resulting URL for grounding.

Variable support

When you add or edit a public website or SharePoint knowledge source URL, you can insert a variable into the URL field.

Use a variable to:

• Append a path to a base URL

  https://www.contoso.com/{variable}

• Replace the entire URL

  {variable}

At runtime, the variable resolves to a string value. The knowledge source is scoped to the resolved URL.

Create and set a variable

To use a variable in a public website or SharePoint knowledge source:

1. Create a string variable with Global scope.

2. Set the variable value using one of the following options:

   • Topic inputs
   • User profile properties, such as language
   • Environment variables
   • Agent flows or connectors

3. Insert the variable into the URL field by selecting {x} (Insert variable).

4. Test the agent to confirm the variable resolves to the expected URL.

Example: Scope by product

You can scope knowledge to different product areas based on the user's query.

1. Use a topic input to capture the product name as a variable named Product.

2. Add a Set variable value node after the Trigger node, and create a new variable named ProductTable.

3. Use a Power Fx formula to define and map the product names to URL paths.

    Table(
        { Product: "Copilot", Path: "microsoft-365-copilot" },
        { Product: "Teams", Path: "microsoft-teams" },
        { Product: "Surface", Path: "surface" }
    )
   

4. Add another Set variable value node and use it to create a new string type global variable named GlobalProductURL.

5. In the To value setting, select Formula and use a Power Fx function to perform a lookup into the table based on the value of Product input variable, Topic.Product, as follows:

   LookUp(Topic.ProductTable, Product = Topic.Product, Path)

6. Use the variable in the knowledge source URL:

   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/{GlobalProductURL}

The agent queries only the scoped section of the website at runtime.

Common scenarios

Use variables in public website knowledge sources for:

• Product-based routing: Scope queries to specific product documentation.

• Region or language filtering: Map User.Language to localized URLs (for example, en-us, it-it).

• Environment-specific URLs: Switch between development, test, and production sites.

Considerations

• Public website knowledge sources use Bing search and rely on indexed content.
• URL depth limits still apply when you use variables.
• Variables change the target URL only. They don't affect how content is indexed or retrieved.

Advanced authentication scenarios

By default, Copilot Studio preconfigures agents to authenticate users using Microsoft authentication to access SharePoint sources when they're connecting to an agent through Microsoft Teams, Power Apps, or Microsoft 365 Copilot. However, if you need to manually configure authentication, the following steps are required for generative answers to work with SharePoint data sources.

• Generative answers from SharePoint sources aren't available to guest users in SSO-enabled apps.

• To authenticate your agent, see Authentication.

• For instructions on how to create the needed Microsoft Entra ID application registration, see Configure user authentication with Microsoft Entra ID. When creating this registration you or your admin must specify the Sites.Read.All and Files.Read.All scopes in the Microsoft Entra ID app registration.

• Selecting No authentication specifies that your agent doesn't retrieve information from SharePoint.

• When you configure authentication, scopes control user access. Specify Sites.Read.All and Files.Read.All in the scopes field near the existing profile and openid values in Copilot Studio. These scopes don't give users increased permissions when using the agent, but allow their permissible content from the SharePoint site as configured for generative answers.

• SharePoint supports the Authenticate manually setting with the following authentication service providers:

  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • Microsoft Entra ID V2 with federated credentials
  • Microsoft Entra ID V2 with certificates
  • Microsoft Entra ID V2 with client secrets

• SharePoint doesn't support manual authentication using Generic OAuth.

• This configuration only applies to generative answers, and doesn't apply to Power Platform Connectors.