Agent Revolution — User Guide

Hands-on exercises to explore Copilot Chat agents, build your own custom agents, and leverage premium capabilities like Researcher and Analyst.

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Module 1 · Copilot Chat Agents

Built-in & Custom Agents

~20 min

Explore built-in and custom agents in Copilot Chat. These exercises progress from using starter prompts to building your own agent from scratch using natural language.

Exercise 1.1 Prompt Coach — Improve Your Prompts ▼

Prompt Coach helps you write better prompts, generate alternatives, and get feedback on how to improve them. Try the exercises below in the immersive agent experience.

  1. 1 Open the Prompt Coach agent from the agents list in Copilot Chat.
  2. 2 Try the starter prompt: “Show me 3 good prompt examples.”
  3. 3 Try the starter prompt: “Help me generate a prompt to be used in Copilot.” Then use the follow-up prompts below to refine it iteratively.
Starting Prompt
I want to get a summary of what's new regarding how AI is being actively leveraged by Retail and Consumer Goods organizations.
Follow-up
Change the timeframe to the last 2 months
Follow-up
Add a requirement to cite all sources
Follow-up
Show me two alternative versions of this prompt
  1. 4 Now try: “Analyze my prompt and provide feedback on how I could improve it.” Then enter the prompt below for analysis.
Prompt to Analyze
Generate 3-4 creative campaign slogans.
💡 Tip
Notice how Prompt Coach helps you add specificity — audience, timeframe, sources, and format — to transform a vague prompt into a highly targeted one.
Exercise 1.2 Idea Coach — Brainstorming Partner ▼

Use Idea Coach as a brainstorming and thought-partner by @mentioning it in-context from Copilot Chat.

  1. 1 Start in Copilot Chat with the prompt below.
Initial Prompt (Copilot Chat)
Can you draft an email to my manager about a new idea I'd like to pitch?
  1. 2 Type @Idea Coach to bring it into the conversation, then work through the following sequence.
@Idea Coach
Help me brainstorm about a specific topic
Follow-up
I'd like to brainstorm ideas on how we can encourage retail and consumer goods customers to use Copilot agents to streamline business workflows
Follow-up
Let's focus on training and onboarding users
Follow-up
I'd prefer live instructor-led, webinar-style sessions
Follow-up
Can you design a detailed agenda for a 1 hour webinar?
💡 Tip
The @mention pattern lets you bring specialized agents into any ongoing conversation without leaving your current chat context.
Agent Mode Build a Custom Agent in Copilot Chat ▼

Create your own agent using only natural language. No code required — just describe what you want and Copilot builds it.

  1. 1 Open the agent builder and enter the description below in the Describe tab.
Agent Description
Create an agent to monitor public notices for consumer-based product recalls and summarizes "What do I need to know today?" for store ops and merchandising teams.
📝 Note
A preview of the agent appears immediately in the right-hand test pane.
  1. 2 Give the agent a name:
Name
Please name it "Total Recall"
  1. 3 Refine the agent’s scope and behavior:
Scope & Focus
The agent should report on and surface recent consumer-based product recalls within the last 30 days. Please provide details on the recall reasons and recommended actions consumers should take. And please focus on recalls affecting the NW US area.
Source Guidance
Primarily use reputable websites like FDA, USDA, and CPSC but also information provided by affected retailers as well. Do NOT infer anything beyond published notices.
📝 Reference
FDA = Food and Drug Administration · USDA = United States Department of Agriculture · CPSC = Consumer Product Safety Commission
  1. 4 Test the agent in the test pane, then add a requirement to cite sources:
Additional Requirement
Add a requirement to cite all sources
  1. 5 Switch to the “Configure” tab to review your agent’s settings:
📝 Available Configuration Options
Knowledge Sources:
• Add Specific Websites
• Search All Websites
• Only Use Specified Sources

Capabilities:
• Create documents, chats and code (Code interpreter)
• Create images
• Suggested prompts
  1. 6 Click Create to publish your agent, then explore the Share options to make it available to your team.
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Module 2 · Premium

Premium Agent Capabilities

~15 min

With an M365 Copilot license, you gain access to powerful agents like Researcher and Analyst, plus expanded knowledge sources and grounding options when building custom agents.

Premium Researcher — Deep Research & White Papers ▼

Researcher performs deep, multi-source research and produces comprehensive documents. Try the prompt below to generate a white paper.

Try This Prompt
Build a white paper to help "early majority" companies create a plan to scale adoption of generative AI in the workplace via Microsoft 365 Copilot. This white paper should be written in a way that's easily digestible and practical for IT as well as business leaders. It should identify and address their fears and concerns, talk through ROI and ways to rationalize investments, tactical programmatic approaches, and should give very specific examples that can act as the art of the possible. Use technical press, recent academic research, analysts reports, and thought leadership written by industry leaders and management consulting firms.
Follow-up
Focus on large retail and consumer goods organizations.
💡 Tip
Researcher can take several minutes for complex topics. It searches multiple sources, synthesizes findings, and produces a structured document with citations.
Premium Analyst — Data-Driven Insights ▼

The Analyst agent provides data-driven analysis, generates visualizations, and surfaces key insights from your data. Explore the agent to see its analytical capabilities in action.

📝 Note
Analyst requires an M365 Copilot license. Ask the agent to analyze datasets, create charts, or identify trends in your data.
Agent Mode Build a Custom Agent with Premium Sources ▼

With a Copilot license, custom agents can be grounded on SharePoint, Teams, emails, and more — not just web sources. Follow along to build an IT policy assistant.

  1. 1 Open the agent builder. In the Describe tab, enter:
Agent Description
Create an agent that provides information on IT policy
  1. 2 When asked for a name:
Name
How about Jarvis?
  1. 3 Provide the purpose:
Purpose
Agent should provide information on published IT policies and procedures.
  1. 4 Switch to the “Configure” tab. Notice the expanded knowledge sources available with a premium license:
📝 Premium Knowledge Sources
Source Types:
• Files · Sites · Chats
• Upload vs. Attach Cloud Files
• SharePoint files, folders and sites
• Teams chats and meetings
• Emails

Grounding Options:
• Search All Websites
• Only use specified sources
• Reference People in Organization
• Add Copilot Connector Data Sources

Capabilities:
• Create documents, chats and code
• Create images · Suggested prompts
  1. 5 Add instructions to keep the agent focused:
Instructions
Do NOT infer anything beyond the published policies.
  1. 6 Add your SharePoint site or document library as a knowledge source.
  2. 7 Enable “Only use specified sources” to ensure the agent only references your approved content.
💡 Tip
Combining “Only use specified sources” with specific SharePoint libraries ensures your agent gives answers grounded strictly in your organization’s published policies — no hallucination from web sources.