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Microsoft SharePoint Blog
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Five things for IT administrators to know about SharePoint agent management

AdamHarmetz's avatar
AdamHarmetz
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Apr 08, 2025

Every day, customers add over two billion files to SharePoint and create two million new SharePoint sites. SharePoint agents unlock this vast knowledge by providing quick access to insights and knowledge, driving higher productivity and smarter business decisions.    

Even though it's only been a few months since general availability, it’s been amazing to talk to customers who are using agents in so many unique ways – from making safety information available quickly to front line workers to gaining new insights from digitized research records.  I was inspired by the creativity of our SharePoint community in the recent SharePoint Hackathon – be sure to check out the finalists in the “Most Creative Use of SharePoint Agents” category! 

Over the next several months, we’re excited to continue to invest in the user experience and response quality of SharePoint agents. Expect to see SharePoint agents in Copilot Chat, stronger integration with Teams, and deeper monitoring and analytics capabilities - all designed to help anyone get started quickly with AI on their content. 

With the growing usage of agents, robust governance is crucial to maintain data security, compliance, and optimal usage. SharePoint agents have built-in governance controls to help organizations manage their creation, access, and usage effectively. Read on to discover best practices in managing SharePoint agents and how effective governance can enhance your organization's efficiency. 

Need more guidance? Microsoft Learn has all the details on SharePoint agent governance. 
Short on time? Check out this short video outlining SharePoint agent governance. 

How are SharePoint agents governed?

SharePoint agents are represented as .agent files in each site's document library or the Copilots folder. As such, site permissions define who can access or edit .agents on a particular site. 

 The .agent file can be grounded to specific SharePoint sites, folders, and files and responds to inquiries based on the askers’ permissions.

Figure 1: A .agent is managed as a file with the ability to delete, copy, and control access

Site permissions can be used to control both access to the knowledge of the agent and the agent itself. Microsoft Purview provides a scaled lens to help look at .agent activity across a tenant and multiple sites. 

Where to implement controls 

Who takes the action 

Actions to be taken 

SharePoint admin center 

Admins 
  • Limit access to a site with overshared content and further control accidental content discovery. Find more details in this article. 

License service plans 

Admins 
  • Edit service plans under the Microsoft 365 Copilot license to enable or block certain users from using Copilot experiences in OneDrive and SharePoint.  

Site permissions 

Site owners 
  • Set permissions on the SharePoint site to indicate who can access or create files, including agents, using site permissions. 

Agent picker 

Site owners 
  • Designate specific agents on a site as ‘approved’ via the agent picker. Approved agents always appear in the top section of the agent picker. See how it’s done in this article. 

.agent file permissions 

Site members with edit permissions 
  • Set permissions on the .agent file to indicate who can access or edit the agent. 

 

How can admins monitor usage?

Administrators have a few ways to monitor the usage of the agents that are created by their site owners and site members.  

Site owners and site members can check file statistics on any .agent file they have permissions to view, including views and unique viewers. To find files for a specific agent, they can search using the agent's name (e.g. *.agent). They will only see the agents they have permission to view. Learn more about viewing agent usage with File Statistics. 

As a site owner, you can also view popular files used on your sites via the site usage analytics page, including popular agent files as well as other content. Learn how to access site usage analytics. 

SharePoint and global admins can get a summary of the number of agents on sites created in a specified time period through the Tenant-wide usage report available in SharePoint Advanced Management. These reports will soon be visualized on the Agent Insights reports, but you can get started now with the Start-SPOCopilotAgentInsightsReport and Get-SPOCopilotAgentInsightsReport cmdlets. 

Figure 2: Sample SharePoint agent report PowerShell output

Compliance and global admins can see agent usage details, including which users interacted with the agent, as well as where and when the interaction took place using Purview .agent audit log. Audit records also include references to files, sites, or other resources that Copilot and AI applications accessed to generate responses to user prompts.

Figure 3: Sample audit log on Purview.

It is our priority to deliver even richer analytics across Copilot Analytics dashboard (480726), Microsoft 365 Admin Center (480729), SharePoint Online (480725), and SharePoint Advanced Management (486861) in the coming months.

What are the options for managing costs of SharePoint agents?

SharePoint agents can be utilized under two billing models, offering flexibility for your organization: 

  • Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users: Creating, reasonable use, and sharing SharePoint agents are included as a feature within the Microsoft 365 Copilot license. 
  • Consumption-based pricing for non-Microsoft 365 Copilot users: For users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, consumption-based pricing enables the ability to only pay for the messages consumed. Starting April 1, 2025, the cost of an interaction with a SharePoint agent will be reduced and consume twelve (12) messages, so customers will be billed at $0.12 per interaction with SharePoint agents. Learn more about consumption-based pricing for SharePoint agents in this article. 

The two billing models are not mutually exclusive and can both be implemented in the same organization.  

Coming soon, for those leveraging the consumption-based option, organizations will be able to set up departmental billing and apply budget limits at a tenant level [Roadmap ID not yet available, check back here soon]. 

  • Departmental billing allows organizations to manage their costs effectively by providing the ability to create multiple billing policies that can be used for different departments. This enables better financial management and cost allocation across different areas within an organization.  
  • Budget allow organizations to set a maximum spending limit for the entire tenant, ensuring that the organization does not exceed its budget and avoids unexpected charges.  

In the meantime, learn more about monitoring consumption rates of SharePoint agents and creating budgets in Microsoft Cost Management in this article.  

More granular controls for SharePoint admins are being explored to provide greater flexibility at the site or department level for configuration based on specific use cases. Stay tuned to your message center for updates on future billing controls. 

How can admins disable SharePoint agents?

As an admin, you’re familiar with using Restricted Content Discovery to protect SharePoint sites that have the highest risk of oversharing or require accurate permissions. SharePoint agents follow this policy by removing the Copilot icon from the suite navigation bar and removing this site from being added as a knowledge source for all SharePoint agents. Users won’t have access to use the ready-made agent, create new agents on the site, or use that site’s content in any other SharePoint agent. 

Because SharePoint agents are a .agent file, removing a specific SharePoint agent is as simple as deleting the .agent file or changing its sharing permissions.  

Additionally, admins can use the SharePoint Online Management Shell command to manage trial access to SharePoint agents.

What enhancements are coming?

Right now, we’re focused on implementing more granular billing controls, advanced analytics, and further enhancing the collaboration experience with SharePoint agents. Here are some roadmap features to keep an eye out for: 

Monitoring and analytics  
  • Ability to view agent usage stats per site on source files citations (via SharePoint Online) - 480725
  • Ability to view agent usage statistics across all SharePoint sites (via Microsoft 365 Admin Center) - 480729
  • Ability to view agent insights for SharePoint Administrators (via SharePoint Advanced Management) - 486861
  • Ability to view agent analytics on Microsoft Viva Insights (Copilot Analytics Dashboard) - 480726 
Billing 
  • Ability to set up departmental billing and apply budget limits – [Roadmap ID not yet available, check back here soon] 
SharePoint agents in Teams  
  • Ability to use SharePoint agents in Teams mobile group chats and meetings – 481823
  • Ability to chat one-on-one with SharePoint agents in Teams chat - 481825
  • Ability to use SharePoint agents in Teams channels - 481822
  • Ability to add multiple SharePoint agents in Teams chats and meetings - 481826
  • Ability to access SharePoint agents from the Teams app store - 481824 
Other capabilities 
  • Ability to use SharePoint agents in Copilot Chat – [Roadmap ID not yet available, check back here soon]
  • Ability to manage SharePoint agents as shared apps in the Integrated apps section of the Microsoft 365 admin center - 487857 
  • Ability to for site page authors to add SharePoint agents using an agent web part, enabling end users to interact with SharePoint agents directly from the site pages - 481512
  • Ability to allow files from OneDrive as a grounding source - 480728 

In summary

In introducing SharePoint agents, we aimed to solve the most fundamental, age-old business challenge: Get the right information to the right people at the right time to make the greatest impact on the customer. To fully leverage the value of these agents, consistent content management processes are essential for maintaining policy, security, and compliance.  

As you implement the best practices outlined here, please share your questions and feedback. We’re listening and committed to continuous improvement.  

Stay tuned for the exciting features we have on our roadmap! I look forward to sharing more information in the coming weeks on additional capabilities to help your organization surface, share, and act on content. 

Don't forget, SharePoint agent promotion ends June 30, 2025

A SharePoint agent promotion is currently available, which provides any organization with at least 50 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses to receive 10,000 queries monthly for non-licensed users to consume.  To read more about our limited time promotion, please refer to this blog.  

Explore deeper with MS Learn

Optimizing content for Microsoft 365 Copilot and SharePoint agents 
Billing 
Governance controls 
Trial access 
Analytics 
Updated Apr 09, 2025
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2 Comments

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  • TobiasAT's avatar
    TobiasAT
    Steel Contributor
    May 12, 2025

    AdamHarmetz​ If a company uses PAYG for SharePoint Agents with no Microsoft 365 Copilot license (so the SAM add-on is missing), it cannot use your reports. 

    Error: The User does not have sufficient license privileges to run Copilot insights report

  • grant_jenkins's avatar
    grant_jenkins
    Steel Contributor
    May 08, 2025

    AdamHarmetz​  I'm providing some (lengthy) feedback on SharePoint Agents - hope you don't mind.

    Note that these are my thoughts on SharePoint Agents which may differ for others. I just wanted to share my experience to help to improve the overall agent experience.

     

    We’re excited about the possibilities SharePoint Agents bring to the table—especially the insights they can provide into our documents and sites. However, the current implementation raises several significant concerns that prevent us from enabling them across our organization.

    Below are the key issues we’ve encountered. Most of them have been raised since the early days of the private preview—not just by us, but by many others in the community.

    Lack of Tenant-Wide Disablement and Controlled Rollout

    We need the ability to disable SharePoint Agents at the tenant level and selectively enable them for specific users for testing. Currently, the only way we’ve achieved this is by requesting Microsoft to apply a backend configuration—an impractical and unsustainable workaround.

    There should be native, admin-level toggles to disable or restrict access for large feature rollouts, much like what we’re requesting for Site Themes (which currently cannot be disabled despite conflicting with our brand strategy).

    Although Microsoft suggests disabling access via Copilot licensing, doing so removes all Copilot functionality related to SharePoint—not just the agents. That’s too broad and makes the option unusable.

    No Site-Level Scope or Targeting

    There is no way to enable SharePoint Agents for specific sites only. If enabled, agents are activated across all SharePoint sites in the tenant. With over 100,000 sites in our environment, a blanket enablement is out of the question.

    Insufficient Permission Controls

    Currently, anyone with Edit rights can create agents, not just site owners. On some sites, that can mean hundreds (if not thousands) of users could start building agents with no training or oversight.

    We require:

    • Creation rights limited to site owners or those explicitly granted access to create agents.
    • Governance controls to ensure only trained individuals can build agents.

    Default Site Agent is Not Configurable

    Each site gets a default agent, but there’s no way to edit or customize it. There are many scenarios where an agent should only focus on specific site content, and this lack of flexibility limits its usefulness.

    Poor Visibility and Control of Agent Status

    When an agent is created—even just for testing—it automatically appears in the Recent section of the Copilot menu. Owners have no way to hide or remove it from there.

    Similarly, “Recommended agents” are surfaced without any clear controls available to site owners.

    Broken Approval Workflow

    The current approval mechanism is confusing and flawed:

    • When an agent is approved, it’s moved to the “Approved” folder in the Site Assets Library (Site Assets > Agents > Approved). This can:
      • Break inherited permissions
      • Remove existing metadata
      • Expose users to Site Assets (which we’d prefer to keep hidden)
      • Confuse users when they can’t find the agent file in the original location with no idea where it was moved to
    • There is no intuitive way to “un-approve” an agent other than manually moving it out of the Approved folder (you can’t un-approve from the UI).
    • Any user—even non-owners—can move an agent into the Approved folder and that alone marks it as approved. This is a serious governance issue. They can also move an agent out of the Approved folder which will un-approve it (remember – this is just someone with edit rights on the site – not just the owners).
    • Editing an approved agent does not revoke approval, meaning changes go live without re-validation.

    UI and Experience Challenges

    There’s no way to hide the “Agent” option under the New menu. Even if you untick it, it reappears automatically. Microsoft is pushing agent creation aggressively, placing entry points in multiple places with no way to reduce visibility or access.

    Why not limit agent creation to the SharePoint Agent panel instead of cluttering every interface? The more agents created by users – the more revenue for Microsoft – thoughts?

    Unscalable and Opaque Cost Model

    The Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) pricing is problematic:

    • It applies broadly across all agents and sites—there’s no scoping by site, agent, or workload.
    • Costs can add up quickly (there is no effective way to forecast this accurately).

    Limited Transparency into Agent Data Sources

    It’s unclear what content an agent is referencing. While they begin by drawing from a site or document library, they can be extended to pull data from other locations. Without proper governance, this becomes impossible to track—especially when users with Edit rights can build them freely.

    Complexity from Copilot Studio Integration

    Once an agent is extended with Copilot Studio, it falls under the Power Platform governance model, which adds another layer of complexity. The agent is no longer managed solely in SharePoint, creating a hybrid governance issue.

    What Microsoft Needs to Do

    To make SharePoint Agents viable for large-scale, enterprise deployment, we recommend the following actions:

    • Introduce a tenant-level toggle to disable/enable SharePoint Agents until we are ready.
    • Enable selective rollout to specific sites only.
    • Limit agent creation permissions to site owners or designated individuals.
    • Allow customization of the default Site Agent to restrict scope and relevance.
    • Fix the approval logic so only site owners can approve and can be un-approved via the UI.
    • Don’t move the agent when it’s approved. Instead, signify an un-approved vs. approved agent with the file icon (as an example).
    • Allow the site owner to manage both approved and recommended agents. If an agent shows as recommended (not sure what the algorithm is for determining this) the site owner should be able to mark it as not recommended.
    • Remove the “Agent” option from UI menus (Context menu and Toolbar).
    • Scope PAYG pricing by agent, site, or workload, and offer detailed cost tracking.
    • Align governance and licensing for Copilot Studio-integrated agents.