How to Use Microsoft Copilot Studio (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

Yes, Copilot Studio allows you to set up agents to collaborate or hand off tasks to other agents as needed.

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a platform where you can build your own AI agents that can answer questions using your documents, automate repetitive tasks, and even respond to emails—all without needing to write any code.

Yes, you need a Microsoft work or school account. Copilot Studio does not work with personal Microsoft accounts.

Unlike ChatGPT, which is a general-purpose AI, Copilot Studio agents are task-specific. They are optimized to handle particular types of work and can be trained with your company's data for accurate, on-brand answers.

After signing in, click on 'Create Agent' (available in several places in the interface). You'll then describe what you want your agent to do using natural language or select a template.

You can add various sources of knowledge such as websites, files (Excel, Word, PDF, PowerPoint), SharePoint sites, Teams, and emails by uploading or linking them. Uploaded files need to be updated manually if their content changes.

You can instruct the agent not to make up information. Instead, it should direct users to a support email or other fallback guidance you provide.

Yes, you can set a custom name and upload or generate an image for your agent to give it a unique identity.

In the configuration section, you can adjust the agent's name, image, description, instructions, and knowledge sources to ensure it behaves as desired.

You can use Word documents, Excel files, PowerPoints, PDFs, websites, SharePoint, Teams, and emails as knowledge sources.

Agents can be enhanced with capabilities such as a code interpreter or image generator, though these can be left off for simple question-answering agents.

Suggested prompts are sample questions that help users know what kinds of queries they can ask the agent. These can be edited, deleted, or expanded.

You can interact with the agent, ask it questions, and see how it responds—checking for correctness, tone, and if it uses the right sources.

You can adjust sharing settings to allow specific users or everyone in your organization to access the agent via a link.

The advanced version of Copilot Studio supports connecting agents to external systems like Dataverse, Salesforce, ServiceNow, databases, and various APIs.

Tools let your agent perform actions beyond answering questions, such as sending emails or updating records. You can connect to over 1,500 different tools or call Power Automate Flows.

By adding an email tool (like Office 365 Outlook's 'Send an Email'), and updating the agent's instructions to include when and how to send emails as part of conversations.

Triggers allow an agent to activate automatically when something happens, such as receiving a new email or when a Microsoft Form is submitted. You can set filters for triggers to refine their behavior.

Agents can be made available in multiple channels such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, web apps, native apps, and third-party chat services like Slack or Facebook Messenger.

The Activity tab provides a history of interactions, showing what questions were asked, responses, and knowledge sources used. The Analytics tab gives trends in usage, trigger counts, and highlights where the agent couldn’t find answers.

No. If you upload a file, you need to re-upload it when its information changes. However, if you use a website or SharePoint file, the agent gets the latest information automatically.

Yes, Copilot Studio allows you to set up agents to collaborate or hand off tasks to other agents as needed.

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a platform where you can build your own AI agents that can answer questions using your documents, automate repetitive tasks, and even respond to emails—all without needing to write any code.