Excel file from the provided SharePoint URL, but I couldn’t retrieve any data from it with my current access

Question

I want my Copilot studio agent to acces and excel file on our company sharepoint. I keep getting this message from Copilot: "I can’t access the contents of that SharePoint file from here, so I don’t have visibility into the company names. This is likely a permissions or link-scope issue.

Ways to proceed:

• Share a version of the file here (or a CSV extract), or switch the link to “Anyone with the link can view.”
• Grant this assistant/app read access to the SharePoint site/library containing the file.
• Paste the first 20–30 rows (or just the “Company/Company Name” column) and I’ll return the first five immediately.".

For Sharepoint and for Copilot studio I use the same Microsoft login. In the Link setting the line works for all people in our company, they all have edit rights. The files are also linked in the Knowledge section of the agent.

Which part am I missing in this issue?

Answer 1

Hello Robi @ TP,
Copilot Studio agents cannot access SharePoint file contents simply because a file is linked in the Knowledge section or shared company-wide. Knowledge sources are only indexed for retrieval and do not provide runtime access unless a SharePoint or OneDrive connector is configured. The Copilot agent runs under its own service principal, not the user’s identity, so it requires explicit read permissions to the SharePoint site or library. Without this setup, the agent can only give retrieval-based responses and cannot parse or extract dynamic data from the file. To resolve this, add and authenticate the appropriate connector, grant the agent access in SharePoint, and republish the agent.

Checklist to resolve:

• Add SharePoint connector in Copilot Studio.
• Authenticate with your Microsoft account.
• Grant the Copilot app/service principal access to the SharePoint site.
• Re-publish the agent after adding the connector.

Answer 2

I checked all of these possible solutions but non of them works.