Add file and website knowledge

  • 3 minutes

Knowledge sources provide information that an agent can reference when responding. In the new Copilot Studio experience, you add and manage knowledge for an agent from the Build tab.

Choose a source for the information

Files and public websites are useful starting points for an information agent:

  • Files provide a controlled snapshot of policies, guides, product details, or other reference material. Use files when the source content is supplied and reviewed as a document.
  • Public websites provide content from an accessible web address. Use a website when the authoritative information is maintained online and its pages can be indexed.

The Microsoft Copilot harness also supports sources such as SharePoint, Dataverse, and Copilot connectors. Availability depends on your environment and licensing. These sources can require additional permission, data-model, and retrieval considerations. Azure AI Search isn't supported as a knowledge source for this harness. For available source types, see Available knowledge sources for agents.

Prepare knowledge for retrieval

The quality of a knowledge response depends on the source material. Before adding a source:

  • Confirm that it is authoritative and current.
  • Use descriptive headings and direct language in documents.
  • Remove contradictory or obsolete versions of the same policy.
  • Keep related terms consistent across sources.
  • Identify information that the agent must not expose.

A knowledge source should contain facts and reference content. Put behavioral rules, such as tone and escalation requirements, in the agent instructions instead of relying on a source document to control behavior.

Add and verify knowledge

From the Build tab, open the Knowledge component. You can upload a file or select Public websites and provide a web address. Complete the source-specific settings, and then save or add the source.

When you configure Public websites, review Search all websites. Leave this setting off when the agent should search only the websites you explicitly configure. Turning it on lets the agent supplement its responses with information from the wider web, but changes how configured website sources work:

  • Existing website sources remain saved but aren't used until you turn web search off.
  • You can't add a specific public website or Bing Custom Search configuration while web search is on.
  • Your administrator can disable web search for your environment.

Agents powered by the Microsoft Copilot harness don't have a general-knowledge on/off setting. Turning off web search doesn't disable the model's general training knowledge. Use instructions to require answers from approved sources, and test that the agent follows those instructions.

After the source is ready, test questions that it should answer. Review the response for accuracy, completeness, and source use. Also ask a question that the source doesn't answer. The agent should follow its instructions for missing information instead of filling the gap with an unsupported claim.

Uploaded files become knowledge available to the agent. Don't assume that the original document's user permissions carry over to the uploaded copy. Upload only information appropriate for everyone in the agent's intended audience.

For connected sources such as SharePoint, access depends on the source's permissions and the configured authentication method. Verify the source-specific access behavior with representative user accounts instead of assuming that all knowledge sources enforce permissions in the same way.

For more information, see Add knowledge sources to an agent and Manage knowledge sources in an agent.

Note

We recognize that different people like to learn in different ways. You can choose to complete this module in video-based format or you can read the content as text and images. The text contains greater detail than the videos, so in some cases you might want to refer to it as supplemental material to the video presentation.