SharePoint List as Knowledge Source

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Posted on by KW-27052020-0

I have an HR Agent that is using a SharePoint list as the knowledge source. My agent includes tools that query the SharePoint list, but I watched Reza Dorrani's video and it doesn't appear he uses tools. I tried without using tools and it wouldn't work at all.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

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Mohsin Ali 467 on at

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Hello @KW-27052020-0 - if you're referring to following video, then you're right that he actually using SharePoint lists as knowledge source rather a tool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WISe73gZsrQ

He has basically created a generative agent, which uses natural language instructions to guide how it responds to questions related to the provided list.

However, can you please let me know which issue you are facing?

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Sajeda_Sultana 229 on at

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Hi @KW-27052020-0,

Yes, SharePoint Lists can now be added directly as a knowledge source in Copilot Studio, so you don’t need to create a separate tool just to query the list.

Go to Knowledge → Add knowledge → SharePoint, then browse for your list or paste the specific SharePoint List URL. This creates a real-time connection to the list and respects the user’s SharePoint permissions.

Microsoft Learn: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/knowledge-add-sharepoint

✅ Solved your issue? Click Accept as Solution so others can find it easily!

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💬 Need more help? Tag me @Sajeda_Sultana

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sannavajjala87 981 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

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Hi,

If your SharePoint list is only being used as a knowledge source, you typically don't need tools. Copilot Studio can ground responses directly from the SharePoint content and answer questions based on that data.

Tools become useful when you need the agent to perform specific operations such as filtering records, looking up data dynamically, creating/updating items, or executing business logic that knowledge grounding alone cannot handle.

A common reason it doesn't work without tools is that the SharePoint list isn't being indexed as expected, the content isn't suitable for knowledge retrieval, or the agent instructions aren't guiding the model to use the knowledge source. I'd recommend first testing simple questions that match content in the list exactly and verifying the SharePoint source shows a healthy sync status.

So the key question is: are you trying to answer questions from the list, or query/filter records dynamically? If it's the latter, tools are the correct approach. If it's the former, knowledge alone should be sufficient once the SharePoint source is configured correctly.

Thanks & Regards,

Manoj Annavajjala

www.powerplatformengineer.com

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Mohsin Ali 467 on at

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Hello @KW-27052020-0 - Can you please confirm if the suggestions shared above really helped you to setup a generative agent? or if you have any further questions?

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KW-27052020-0 6 on at

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All,

The list contains questions and answers that are commonly asked to the HR Team. They would like for the Agent to use the answers that are provided in the list, but it seems to make up it's own answers after reading the top 100. The answers are accurate if the questions pertain to the top 100, but beyond that, it give random answers. It definitely seems more accurate if I export the list to excel and tell the agent to read the excel to get the answers.

sannavajjala87 it definitely doesn't seem like the list is being indexed, even after I made the answer column a single line of text and indexed that column along with the other single line text fields that are in the list (as recommended).

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Mohsin Ali 467 on at

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Hello @KW-27052020-0 - I that case, I would recommend creating a generative AI Orchestration for your agent response and with two settings turned off.

Please refer below detailed article about generative orchestration actually works and how it can be implemented.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/advanced-generative-actions

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