Creating simple Copilot agents

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Explaining the two different types of Copilot Studio agent Part two of a three-part series of blogs
Copilot allows you to create chat bots called "agents", but these can be either simple conversational tools or sophisticated bots depending on which type of Copilot agent you're talking about! The two types of Copilot agent that you can create Creating simple Copilot agents (this blog) Creating Copilot Studio agents (chatbots or virtual agents)

Explaining the two different types of Copilot Studio agent

Part two of a three-part series of blogs

Copilot allows you to create chat bots called "agents", but these can be either simple conversational tools or sophisticated bots depending on which type of Copilot agent you're talking about!

The two types of Copilot agent that you can create
Creating simple Copilot agents (this blog)
Creating Copilot Studio agents (chatbots or virtual agents)

Posted by Andy Brown on 02 September 2025

In this blog

Starting to create a simple agent
Configuring your agent
Adding knowledge
Finishing your initial creation
Testing your agent
Fine-tuning your agent

An agent in the Copilot world is any AI tool authorised to act on your behalf. In Copilot 365 you can create simple agents which are very similar to the custom GPTs that you can create within ChatGPT.

I've used the term "simple agent" below to distinguish the agents you create in M365 Copilot from the more sophisticated bots that you can create in Copilot Studio. Do Microsoft have an employee whose job it is solely to think up confusing names?

Starting to create a simple agent

You can create a new "simple" agent from the standard Copilot 365 screen:

The start of your agent's life begins with this button.

Configuring your agent

You can then say what you want your agent to do:

Here we've said that we want our agent to recommend the right training course for actual or potential clients, using simple English.

Adding knowledge

One of the most important parts of creating an agent is to say what it should know:

Here we've said that the agent should get its knowledge by default from our website.

Finishing your initial creation

You can then click on the Create button at the top right of your screen (not shown here) to create the first draft of your agent. After a short pause you'll see something like this:

The agent - as you might expect - sits in the Microsoft cloud.

You can click on the link shown above to change who will be able to see and use your agent:

I've chosen not to let anyone else in Wise Owl see my agent for now.

Testing your agent

You can now choose to go to your agent to use it:

Here I've asked my agent to recommend a training course. It should give preference to those listed on our website.

After a short period of time I got a suitable response - here's the beginning:

I suspect the slightly odd language used shows my agent trying to add the light humour I requested, but the answer given is comprehensive and accurate enough.

Fine-tuning your agent

If you're not happy with your agent, you can change it:

Click on the 3 dots next to your agent's name and choose to edit it.

The trick now is to make tweaks on the left-hand side and then test out the results on the right, until you're happy your agent is behaving as it should:

You can make changes on the left, and then test them out on the right.

When you've finished you can click on the Update button at the top right of the screen (not shown above) to save your changes.

Parts of this blog
The two types of Copilot agent that you can create Creating simple Copilot agents (this blog) Creating Copilot Studio agents (chatbots or virtual agents)

Some other pages relevant to these blogs include:

Training classes in AI (Artificial Intelligence)

You can also book hourly online consultancy for your time zone with one of our 7 expert trainers!

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Starting to create a simple agent

Configuring your agent

Adding knowledge

Finishing your initial creation

Testing your agent

Fine-tuning your agent

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