Forum Discussion

Zuhayr2026's avatar
Zuhayr2026
Occasional Reader
Jul 02, 2026

Does Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Builder support OCR and image analysis for SharePoint?

Hello everyone,

I am currently testing a Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Builder agent that is grounded on SharePoint document libraries.

During testing, I observed that the agent can successfully analyze and generate responses from text-based documents such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, CSV, and TXT files. However, when folders contain image-based files (JPG/PNG), the agent sometimes reports incomplete analysis or is unable to extract information from those files.

I would appreciate clarification on the following:

  1. Does Microsoft 365 Copilot Agent Builder officially support OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for JPG and PNG files stored in SharePoint?
  2. Can Agent Builder natively analyze image-based content, or is this capability only available through Copilot Studio with additional AI services?
  3. Are there any documented limitations regarding image processing compared to text-based document processing?
  4. Has anyone successfully implemented a SharePoint-grounded Agent Builder solution that can reliably analyze scanned images, photographs, or image-based documents?
  5. If OCR/image analysis is not currently supported, is there a recommended Microsoft solution or architecture for achieving this requirement?
accessibility
Copilot in Loop
Copilot in SharePoint
microsoft 365 copilot
security and compliance
tips and tricks
troubleshooting

2 Replies

  • Jamony's avatar
    Jamony
    MCT
    Jul 03, 2026

    Hi Zuhayr2026, I would not assume native OCR for JPG/PNG files grounded from SharePoint unless Microsoft documents that exact path for your tenant and agent type. In practice, I’d preprocess image files into text-searchable PDFs or extracted text, then store that alongside the source images. That gives the agent something reliable to ground on instead of depending on image interpretation.

  • CoralieSimonaire's avatar
    CoralieSimonaire
    Copper Contributor
    Jul 02, 2026

    Hello !

    The Microsoft 365 Semantic Index only indexes supported Microsoft 365 content types such as Word, PowerPoint, PDF, OneNote, and SharePoint pages. JPG and PNG files are not indexed in the same way. As a result, an agent cannot search or retrieve information contained solely within an image stored in a SharePoint library.

    Could Copilot Studio overcome this limitation? Not really.

    Copilot Studio can analyze an image when a user uploads it directly within a conversation. However, when the image is stored in a SharePoint library and used as a knowledge source, the limitation remains the same : the agent can only work with content that has been made searchable.

    Microsoft recommends several approaches:

    • SharePoint OCR (native OCR) Enable OCR on the library using SharePoint Premium (pay-as-you-go). The text extracted from images is indexed by SharePoint Search and becomes available to agents. This is the most straightforward option and does not require custom development

    Yu can read more here : https://learn.microsoft.com/fr-fr/microsoft-365/documentprocessing/ocr-overview?view=o365-worldwide&source=docs

    • AI Builder + Power Automate A Power Automate flow can be triggered when a new file is added to a library. AI Builder extracts the text from the image and stores it in SharePoint metadata. It is less suitable for very large volumes of documents...
    • Power Automate + Azure AI Document Intelligence Similar to the AI Builder approach, but better suited to large document volumes and more complex document structures but this option requires an Azure service.

    If the information exists only inside an image, that image must first be converted into searchable text through an OCR process, whether via SharePoint Premium OCR, AI Builder, Azure AI Document Intelligence, or another OCR solution. Only then can the agent access and use the information.

    I hope this helps clarify things.