Compare available knowledge sources
Choosing the right knowledge source for each kind of question is the first step toward answers that people can trust. In this unit, you compare the knowledge source types available to an agent powered by the GitHub Copilot harness and learn how to check whether a specific source fits a question.
How the agent uses knowledge
A knowledge source is content you make available to the agent at design time, so every user gets the same grounding. A file that an employee brings into a single conversation is an attachment, and it doesn't become part of the agent's knowledge.
When a user asks a question, the agent's orchestration runtime follows this pattern:
- It evaluates whether the question needs knowledge sources.
- It determines which configured sources are relevant to the question and searches them.
- It retrieves content from those sources and uses the content to form a response.
- It might include citations that show where the information came from.
The agent's instructions also affect how it interprets and presents the content it retrieves. Adding a source makes its content available, but the runtime still decides for each question whether to search it.
Scope and titles affect how the agent searches a SharePoint source. A SharePoint knowledge source can cover a site, a document library, or specific files, and the agent searches the content in that scope. The agent uses the document title as one signal when it selects content. A title that uses the words employees use in their questions makes a document easier to find. For example, in your help agent, a policy file titled Document1 is harder to find than one titled Remote work policy. Owners can review the Title column in the library and rename generic titles, and the agent picks up updated titles automatically.
Learn more about how the agent uses knowledge.
Compare knowledge source types
The following table compares the source types you're most likely to consider. For each type, it lists the information the type provides and a question that helps you decide whether it fits.
| Source type | Information it provides | Selection question |
|---|---|---|
| SharePoint | Internal documents, policies, and team content in sites, libraries, or files | Which site, library, or files hold the authoritative version? |
| Dataverse (if available) | Structured business data that the agent queries from tables | Do the table's records carry their business meaning? |
| Copilot connectors (if available) | Data from other services, indexed for Microsoft 365 Copilot | Does an available connector bring in the content that holds the answer? |
| Uploaded files | Specific PDF, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents that you want the agent to reference directly | Is this particular file the version every user should get? |
| Public websites | Publicly accessible content, such as product documentation, FAQs, and reference material | Is the public version the one your users should rely on? |
For example, your help agent's three kinds of questions map to the first three rows. Policy questions go to the SharePoint library where approved policies are published. Questions about which laptop models employees can order go to a Dataverse table of purchasing records. Questions about known-issue fixes go to the support team's work-tracking service, which the agent reaches through a Copilot connector.
Uploaded files and public websites fill narrower roles. An uploaded file fits when you want the agent to reference one specific document. A public website fits public reference material, but internal policies don't live there.
The Add knowledge dialog groups sources into Featured and Advanced tabs and also includes an area for uploading files. These tabs can include more source types than the table shows. The dialog's contents vary by environment and licensing, which is why the table marks Dataverse and Copilot connectors as if available. A connector-based suggestion also appears only when its connector is installed and consented to. Before you plan around a source type, confirm that it appears in the environment where you build the agent.
For the full list, see Available knowledge sources for agents.
Check a candidate source for fit
The source type tells you what a source can hold. To decide whether a specific source fits a question, ask four questions:
- Who owns the authoritative version? Pick the source your organization treats as the official home of the answer. If another copy of a policy exists elsewhere and the two copies differ, it's hard to check whether the agent's answer is right.
- How current must the answer be, and how do updates reach the agent? When an owner updates a document in SharePoint, the change reaches the agent automatically. You update the knowledge source configuration only when its location or connection settings change. An uploaded file is a copy, so it doesn't change when the owner edits the original.
- What scope contains the answer without extra noise? Choose the smallest site, library, table, or set of files that holds the answer. For policy questions, the library where owners publish approved policies is a tighter fit than the entire intranet site that contains it.
- Is the record's meaning clear from the data? A Dataverse table might store a status as a code, such as
3, that only the table's owners know how to read. If the data doesn't say what the code means, the agent might not be able to explain it. The agent also uses the table's metadata and column descriptions when it searches the table, so clear column names and descriptions help it find the right records.
Also consider whether the question needs knowledge at all. Knowledge gives the agent content to ground its answers. When a question needs live data about the person asking, or asks the agent to take an action, a tool is often the better fit. For example, the list of approved laptop models works as knowledge because it's the same for every employee. The status of one employee's purchase request is a better fit for a tool.
How the sources you add shape grounding
Agents powered by the GitHub Copilot harness don't have a setting that turns general knowledge on or off. You shape grounding through the specific sources you add, and you test the agent to confirm which content each answer uses.
The public websites source includes one setting that affects scope directly. Under Public websites, the Search all websites setting controls web search. When web search is on, the agent can supplement its responses with information from the web. When web search is off, the agent uses only the websites you configure. For an internal help agent, consider whether web results help employees with questions about internal policy and approved laptop models.
Reflect: Pick a question your agent's users ask where the answer exists in more than one system. Which system owns the authoritative version, and what does that owner's update process mean for how current the agent's answer is?
Your source choices are a starting point. Testing in Preview shows which source the agent uses for each question and whether the answer matches the content you intended.