Create and delete Microsoft Copilot Studio bots

Important

Power Virtual Agents capabilities and features are now part of Microsoft Copilot Studio following significant investments in generative AI and enhanced integrations across Microsoft Copilot.

Some articles and screenshots may refer to Power Virtual Agents while we update documentation and training content.

To help get you started and tailor the bot to your specific needs, Microsoft Copilot Studio lets you create a bot using built-in content building blocks containing topics, trigger phrases, and pre-authored bot conversations.

Prerequisites

• Learn more about what you can do with Microsoft Copilot Studio.

Web app

You can only see bots in the version of Microsoft Copilot Studio where you created them.

This means if you create a bot with the Microsoft Copilot Studio app in Microsoft Teams, you will not see the bot in the web app of Microsoft Copilot Studio at https://web.powerva.microsoft.com.

Warning

New bots are configured with "No authentication" and without web channel security, and can be accessed by anyone with a link to it. Ensure you have the right authentication, access, and security configurations set for your particular usage.

Create a bot

Note

If this is your first time creating a bot in Microsoft Copilot Studio, please see Create your first bot

1. Go to the Microsoft Copilot Studio home page.

2. In the navigation menu select Create. You can also select Home then select Create a bot.

3. Choose the type of bot you want to create:

   • Use Build for production to create production bots that are intended to be deployed to your customers.

   • Use Try the unified canvas (preview) to test out the new authoring features in preview. These preview bots are supported in English only and aren't recommended for deploying for customer use.

   Important

   If you choose to create a preview bot, please refer to the preview documentation.

4. For Name your bot, enter a name for your bot.

5. For What language will your bot speak, select the language you want your bot to speak.

6. Select Create.

Delete a bot

You can delete bots to remove them from your environment.

1. Go to the Microsoft Copilot Studio home page.

2. In the navigation menu, select Chatbots. Select the bot you want to delete, then select Delete.

   

3. You'll be asked to confirm the deletion of the bot by typing the bot's name. Once you confirm, all bot content will be deleted after a few minutes.

If your license has expired, you can delete your bot(s) by selecting Permanently delete your bots.

Known issues with creating a bot

When you are creating your bot, you might encounter the following issues.

Insufficient permissions for the selected environment

In this case, you see this error: "You do not have permissions to any environments. Please get access from an administrator."

You will need to create a new environment. Use that environment to create your bot.

Teams

You can create chatbots in the Microsoft Copilot Studio app in Teams and then share them with other people in your team, company, or organization.

The very first step is to add the Microsoft Copilot Studio app. Then you can create bots.

Note

You can only see bots in the version of Microsoft Copilot Studio where you created them.

This means if you create a bot with the Microsoft Copilot Studio app in Microsoft Teams, you will not see the bot in the web app of Microsoft Copilot Studio at https://web.powerva.microsoft.com.

Add the Microsoft Copilot Studio app in Microsoft Teams

1. Select Apps at the bottom of the side pane in Microsoft Teams

   

2. In the search box, type power virtual agents and then select the tile that appears. Select Add for me in the description window that pops up. This adds the app to the side pane.

   

3. To make it easier to get back to, select and hold (or right-click) the Microsoft Copilot Studio icon and select Pin.

   

Create a bot

When you create a bot, it has to go into a team - everyone in that team will be able to see and use the bot (but you can share it with people in other teams later on). If you want other people to have access to edit the bot, you need to add them to your team.

All bots have to belong to a team. You can create a new team if necessary, before you add a bot to it.

Important

You can't create a bot in a hidden membership team (a team where members can't see the details of other members). If you try to do so, you'll see an error message, and you'll need to create your bot in another team that doesn't have the hiddenmembership setting.

The first time you create a bot in a team, it will take 1 to 10 minutes to build the necessary systems in the backend, but every bot after that will take much less time (around 1 or 2 minutes).

1. Select the Microsoft Copilot Studio icon to open the app.

2. You can create a new bot two ways:

   • Select Start now and then choose the team you want to use.
   • Go to the Chatbots tab, select the team you want to use, and then New chatbot.

   If this is the first time a bot is being created in your team, you'll see a notice explaining that it will take some time (this could take from 1 to 10 minutes):

   

   Note

   If you were just recently added to a team that already has a bot, you may still see this message as Microsoft Teams is still adding you to the team. You should wait 15 minutes and then create your bot. You should also wait for 15 minutes before finding the team in the Chatbots tab.

3. Select Create to begin the initial bot-building process for your team, which can take a few minutes.

   You can close the loading window, the bot creation process will continue in the background.

4. After the building process is finished, you can create a bot in your team. In the list of teams, select your team and then New chatbot to make your bot.

   

Delete a bot

You can delete bots to remove them from your team. In the navigation menu, under Settings, select Details. Then select Delete.

You'll be asked to confirm the deletion of the bot by entering the bot's name, after which all bot content is immediately deleted.