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Add SharePoint as a knowledge source

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SharePoint as a knowledge source for generative answers works 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.

Supported file types

SharePoint sites containing the following file types are supported as knowledge sources:

  • Word documents (DOC/DOCX)
  • PowerPoint (PPT/PPTX)
  • PDF files

Adding a SharePoint knowledge source

To add SharePoint as a knowledge source, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the agent.

  2. Select Add knowledge from either the Overview or Knowledge pages, or the Properties of a generative answers node.

  3. Select SharePoint.

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

  5. Add a name (by default, the file's name is used).

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

  7. Select Add to finish adding the knowledge source.

Known issues

  • For better search results from SharePoint and support of files up to 200 MB in size, use a Microsoft 365 Copilot license in the same tenant as your agent, and turn on Enhanced search results.
  • For makers without the Microsoft 365 Copilot license in the same tenant as their agent, due to memory limitations, generative answers can only use SharePoint files that are under 7 MB. If a file is larger than 7 MB, consider splitting it into multiple smaller files. For more information, see File size support.
  • We recommend omitting https:// from the URL. Recognized SharePoint URLs are from the sharepoint.com domain.
  • Modern pages are supported. However, modern pages containing SPFx components aren't supported.
  • SharePoint sites with an accordion navigation menu or a custom CSS aren't used to generate answers.
  • Classic ASPX pages on SharePoint aren't used to generate answers.
  • If you want to use a dynamic SharePoint URL using a Power Fx formula, you must use the Classic data option, which is available from the generative answers node properties. For more information on how to use SharePoint content with a generative answers node in a topic, see Use SharePoint content for generative answers.