Forum Discussion
Copilot Agent inside SharePoint site is not able to answer questions regarding the custom columns
I have a SharePoint online document library named Test. and it has those 3 custom columns inside a custom content type:-
now using a username named Mohannad , i uploaded 2 documents, and for one document i defined a user named "Test User" as the "MC / Project Lead (Use)", as follow:-
but when i asked the agent this question, about who is the Project Lead , i did not get the "Test User", instead i get the user Mohanand:-
also when i ask the agent about the project team, i got this answer:-
so how i can modify this behavior?
Second question. when Copilot said that the document is authored by Mohannd, how it get the Author info? based on the created by field inside SharePoint? and can we create a custom column , so the copilot reads the author from it instead of relying on any built-in field?
9 Replies
Unfortunately, Copilot will look at the content in the document, but not the metadata columns. It likes headers and headings. And it will always know the account that created the file and the account that last modified the file. Maybe try to add your metadata as document properties inside your Word doc.
Kelly_EdingerThanks for the reply. not sure what you mean by "try to add metadata as document properties"? are not SharePoint custom columns mapped automatically inside office documents? i were able to fix this by creating a power automate flow to get those custom metadata, but i am open to other suggestions..
Power Automate is a great solution. I was referring to an old school approach of using Document Properties in the Word document - overkill at this point since you got it working.
If I follow correctly, this might be the issue? I'm having the same problem. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/extensibility/known-issues
MichaelPBoisvertthanks for the reply... since i asked the question, i were able to fix this by creating a power automate flow to get those custom metadata, but i am open to other suggestions..
1. Create an automated process
Log in to Power Automate
Select ‘Automate Cloud Flow’ → Create from blank
2. Set up triggers
Trigger: Periodic execution (e.g. 8:00 every day)
3. Add action steps
Get list items:
Connect to SharePoint → ‘Get Items’
Set filter query (e.g. status field = pending)
4. Conditional judgement:
If Current date >= Target date field -3 days
Send Email:
Using the Office 365 Outlook Connector
Configure recipients, subject and dynamic content (e.g. project title)
5. Create Workflow
Open SharePoint Designer → Select Target List
New List Workflow
6.Setup Logic
When item is created/modified:
If Status = Pending and Target Date - 3 days <= Today
then send an email reminder
7. Configure email content
Use the ‘Send Mail’ action
Insert dynamic fields (e.g. [%CurrentItem:Title%])
8. Use JavaScript extension
javascript
// Add script to the list form
function checkReminder(){
const dueDate = getFieldValue(‘DueDate’); const status = getFieldValue(‘Status’);
const status = getFieldValue(‘Status’); if(status == ‘Pending’ && is= ‘Pending’); if(status == ‘Pending’)
if(status == ‘Pending’ && is3DaysBefore(dueDate)){
sendEmail(
‘email address removed for privacy reasons’.
`Reminder: ${getFieldValue(‘Title’)} is expiring`
);
}
}But why i need to trigger it periodically execution (e.g. 8:00 every day)??
1. Check permissions
Make sure your account has read permissions to SharePoint content.
Path: SharePoint Site → Settings → Site Permissions → Check your account permissions.
2. Wait for content to be indexed
Newly uploaded documents may take 24-48 hours to be retrieved by the system.
You can speed it up manually: go to Document Library → Settings → Advanced Settings → Make sure ‘Allow Web Crawling’ is turned on.
3. Verify the file format
Copilot currently supports:
Office files (Word/Excel/PPT)
Standard PDF (not scanned) is not supported:
Images, scanned PDFs (need to be converted with an OCR tool first)
4. Confirm that Copilot is enabled
Contact your company IT administrator to check:
Whether a Copilot licence is assigned
Whether Copilot for SharePoint is activated or notJaydenLewisyes i am using Word documents and they are indexed and i waiting for more than 1 week, but still copilot is not able to answer questions about custom columns
