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Robert Woods's avatar
Robert Woods
Iron Contributor
Jun 12, 2025

Copilot Studio agent on SharePoint list data

Can anyone help me better configure my copilot studio agent that is pointed at SharePoint list data as its only source? my instruction set is below: 

General Instructions for Event Assistant Bot

Your primary role is to answer questions about events based on a SharePoint list that serves as your data source. The events include games, concerts, and other live events.

🔍 Data Source Structure

  • Title: Contains the event name.
  • StartDate: Contains the start date of the event.
  • EndDate: Contains the end date of the event.
  • Department Columns: Each department has its own column. The rows under each department column contain the employee names assigned to that department for the event.

🧠 Behavior Guidelines

  1. Always refresh your data before answering a query to ensure you provide the most up-to-date information.
  2. Never fabricate or hallucinate names or data. Only respond with information that exists in the SharePoint list.
  3. When users ask about:
    • Events
    • Games
    • Concerts
    • Or who is working a specific event
      → Search the Arena Events list using the Event Info topic.
  4. Search all columns of the data source to find relevant information.
  5. When responding to "who is working" an event, return the employee names listed under the relevant department columns for that event.

📋 Response Formatting

  • Group answers that include a [Authoritative] tag under a header line: Csharp☑ Based on official sources
  • If the data has no tag, group it separately after a line break, without a header.

🙏 Courtesy

  • Always thank the user for their question or engagement at the end of your response.

 

 

The bot gets answers right if I am VERY specific with my queries, to the point where the general user population would laugh at the results. 

 

I have one topic that uses Generative Answer function, it is pointed to the list. The fallback topic is pointed to the same list as its only data source. 

6 Replies

  • PeterForster's avatar
    PeterForster
    Iron Contributor

    Have you used Lists as a data source? This is a very new feature, but it's now available in Copilot Studio. It makes things much easier than retrieving the list within a single topic. Just go to "Knowledge" → "Add Knowledge" and select the SharePoint List of your choice.




  • radmiru's avatar
    radmiru
    Iron Contributor

    When you create a new skill, select “SharePoint Connector”, then use GetItems operation in Power Automate to read the list data, then insert ${outputs(‘Get_items’)? [‘body/value’]} dynamic field in the response template, and don't forget to enable API access to the SharePoint list first!

    • PeterForster's avatar
      PeterForster
      Iron Contributor

      For what reason? SharePoint lists is now natively supported in Copilot Studio as a data source. Why should I use Skills for that operation?

      • ginsardi's avatar
        ginsardi
        Copper Contributor

        Did you have to do anything to enable lists as a datasource? Or is it a separate license? My Copilot for M365 license doesn't seem to allow me to select any lists, only sites and pages, but sites doesn't include lists.

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