It is estimated that more than 2 billion pieces of content are created daily in Microsoft SharePoint company, and all are ready for sharing and use. However, finding specific information quickly can be a problem. But now, SharePoint and OneDrive have a new Copilot that is tailored, which helps you and your team find the information you need by basing its responses on your content.
Setting up a Copilot is quite simple and can be done right where your data is as if creating a new folder – but it is so much more powerful. Once implemented, this Copilot works as an assistant for your team, department, or even the whole company, increasing the availability of the required data.
A Glimpse of SharePoint Copilot
SharePoint Copilot is one of the significant enhancements of SharePoint customization services that was designed to extract data safely and effectively from different documents like PDF, Word, and PowerPoint, which are located in SharePoint document libraries.
Each SharePoint site is capable of hosting a Copilot and improving users’ usage of site content. Here are some of the key features and capabilities of this Copilot:
- This Copilot can be used with other Microsoft 365 applications and is adaptable depending on the site requirements.
- Site owners can change the Copilot’s content, persona, and action or choose a Copilot made in Microsoft Copilot Studio or Visual Studio as the default for their site.
For instance, a marketing team that is using SharePoint Online to store all the materials related to a product launch such as demo videos, spec sheets, and press releases. The site-specific Copilot can give accurate responses to key questions like the ultimate decision on a product release date if this information is the most up-to-date and relevant within the user’s access rights.
4 Steps on How to Create SharePoint Copilot
Creating a SharePoint Copilot is straightforward and accessible to anyone with editing permissions on the site—no coding skills necessary. Here’s what you need to get started:
1. Set Up Your Environment
Before you begin creating the Copilot, it’s essential to ensure that your environment is properly set up:
- SharePoint Site: Make sure you have a SharePoint site and a document library with the files you are going to use.
- Account Creation: Sign up for the Microsoft Copilot Studio. It can be a work or personal account.
2. Configure Access and Permissions
After setting up your environment, you need to configure the necessary access and permissions to enable your Copilot to function correctly:
- Azure Application: Create an Azure application that will allow Copilot access to your SharePoint Document Library. This step needs the Global Administrator role.
- Microsoft Graph Permissions: Get consent for delegated Microsoft Graph permissions to read the site and the files, which requires a Global Administrator.
3. Create Your Copilot
Once you have all the prerequisites in place, you can go ahead and build your Copilot. The process is user-friendly and doesn’t require any technical expertise:
- Initiate Creation: Copilot can be created by anyone with edit permission starting from the site member to the admin just by choosing the “Create a Copilot” option on the SharePoint site.
- Content Selection: Select the specific folders or files that you wish the Copilot to be able to open. These selected items will be used by the Copilot to generate responses and make sure that they are relevant and correct.
4. Customize and Use Your Copilot
After the creation of your Copilot, you can immediately begin to use it. You also have the option to customize it further:
- Immediate Use: Once the Copilot is created, it can be used right away.
- Customization Options: If needed, one can make minor changes such as modifying its identity, selection of the source, and behavior from the GUI.
- Default Setup Modifications: It has a name for the folder, branding, description, and other parameters set by default but can be easily changed by the user.
Advanced Customizations and Workflow Automation
For deeper customizations or to automate specific workflows, you can use additional tools and features within SharePoint Implementation:
➢ Copilot Studio
Go to SharePoint and open Copilot Studio to customize the site further with more options.
➢ Enhanced Collaboration
Apart from easing the handling of information, this process also improves the work of the team. For example, you have a team of 20 people from the marketing and engineering departments who are in charge of a product launch campaign.
When the Copilot is set to a document library containing the latest project files, the team will be able to remain on the same page and focused on core tasks instead of looking for information. This newly created custom Copilot is capable of responding to questions, providing a brief overview of the information, or finding the documents so that your team can focus on more valuable tasks.
The Sharing of Custom Copilot with Your Team
Custom Copilot are not only for personal use but are built to be used with your team, so everyone gets better access to the authorities, and the learning process becomes more team-based. Here’s how you can integrate and share custom Copilot within your team:
➢ Integration with SharePoint
When integrating custom Copilot into SharePoint, several mechanisms ensure they are aligned with the site’s content and accessible to the team:
- Automatic Scoping: Custom Copilot added to a SharePoint application are in-scope by default, meaning that they are designed to work with the site’s content.
- Sidebar Interaction: Users can communicate with the Copilot via a chat interface located on the side of the screen, so they can ask questions and get the information they need as soon as they enter the site, if they are part of a team.
➢ Sharing Mechanisms
There are several methods available to share these Copilot with your team, making them easily accessible for collaborative work:
- Link Sharing: Like any other content on SharePoint, you can share your custom Copilot by choosing “Share” and then “Copy link” to send the link through email or “Invite” to send an email invitation to the team members.
- Microsoft Teams Integration: To achieve a more connected experience, the same link can be shared in the Microsoft Teams conversation. This positions the Copilot directly within the team’s active channel, thus making it easily retrievable for immediate use.
➢ Practical Example in Use
It is possible to significantly improve the effectiveness of work during the implementation of projects through the exchange of custom Copilot. For example, in a situation such as a product release, it is possible to share the custom Copilot in a core team’s Microsoft Teams group conversation. The Copilot can be directly requested by the team members for specific information like a contact list; thus, all the members are informed immediately and effectively.
➢ Security and Permissions
SharePoint user rights control the use of custom Copilot, so there is no possibility to get unauthorized access or share information with people who should not have it.
➢ Broader Integration
Beyond SharePoint, custom Copilot can be integrated into other Microsoft 365 applications, making them a versatile tool for your organization.
Custom and shared Copilot will also appear in your Microsoft Copilot panel in the recently used extensions, making it easy to switch between them in different projects and tasks.
Conclusion
For those who require more specific results, Copilot Studio enables the inclusion of more data sources apart from the SharePoint solution, which makes Copilot even more valuable. This tool not only makes information readily available but also fosters communication and propels business advancement through the massive volume of content in SharePoint and OneDrive.