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Power Platform Community / Forums / Copilot Studio - General / Copilot Studio now ret...
Copilot Studio - General
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Copilot Studio now returning SharePoint download links instead of online preview links in citations

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Posted on by SZ-17100334-0
I’m using Copilot Studio and recently ran into an issue related to citation formatting when retrieving documents from a SharePoint site.
 
Issue:
The agent has started returning direct download links (physical file paths) in citations instead of the online preview/viewer links.
 
Example:
Direct link returned by the agent (not expected): https://#####.sharepoint.com/teams/.../Agenda%20-%20September%202025.docx
Expected online preview link: https://#####.sharepoint.com/:w:/r/teams/.../_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?action=default&sourcedoc={FILE_GUID}
 
This behavior seems to have started after a recent Copilot Studio update. Previously, the Knowledge Search feature consistently returned the correct online preview links.
 
What I’ve tried:
I attempted prompt engineering to force the agent to convert the citation to an online-viewer link, but the output remains the same.
 
Question:
Has anyone else encountered this issue? Is this a known update bug, or is there a recommended workaround to force Copilot Studio to return the online preview links again?
 
Much appreciated!
 
 
Categories:
General
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  • Suggested answer
    sannavajjala87 Profile Picture
    sannavajjala87 123 on at
    Copilot Studio now returning SharePoint download links instead of online preview links in citations

    Citation URLs aren’t guaranteed to use WOPI preview format; they depend on metadata returned by the knowledge source. Recent changes have caused inconsistencies.

    There's a possible workaround.

    AI Response Generated trigger: Intercept the final answer and rewrite citation URLs to the preview format:

    https://<tenant>.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc=<GUID>&file=<FileName>&action=default

    Use Graph API or file properties to resolve the GUID.

    Use PNP “Citations” topic sample: Lets you control link display and enforce viewer URLs.

    Swap citations pattern: Available in CopilotStudioSamples; replaces default links during response generation.

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