Shantha Kumar T
Enhance SharePoint responses in Copilot Studio
In Copilot Studio, how to enhance the semantic feature to improve the user experience and get the relevance of search results.
Recently (January 2025) Microsoft introduced the enhanced search capabilities feature to the copilot Studio. Enables the semantic search by using the semantic index for copilot feature to get better results instead of getting traditional (keyword based) results.
What is Semantic Search?
Semantic search improves search results by understanding the meaning behind user queries instead of just matching keywords. It uses AI and Semantic Indexing to provide more relevant answers.
Semantic Indexing
Organizing Content by meaning:
- Uses machine learning to intercept user queries accurately.
- Recognize user context and intent.
- Then groups information based on concepts not just exact keywords.
Capture Synonymous & Related Terms:
- It connects similar terms to get better results, even if we use different words.
Deliver relevant Answers:
- Helps deliver more meaningful search results that match user needs.
For example, searching for 'data security' might also return documents related to 'Cyber Security' or 'Protecting information'
Semantic search in Copilot Studio can leverage information from SharePoint and other Microsoft Graph Connectors,
- Enhances user experiences by providing relevant answers with the help of understanding the context and meaning of user queries.
- Ensuring that search results are available in the organization’s existing knowledge base.
- Ensuring that sensitive information remains secure while still providing relevant results, based on the user’s permissions.
How to enable Enhanced Search results
This is a premium feature available for tenants having Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Follow the steps below to enable / disable this feature for the Copilot Studio Agent.
- Open the agent in Copilot Studio
- Navigate to Settings.
- Click on Generative AI Settings from the left navigation in settings page
- Toggle to enable the Enhanced search results under Premium features.
- Click on the Save button to update the settings.
We should have another requirement to be full fill to avail this feature in an agent. By enabling the Authentication to use Microsoft Authentication. Follow the steps below to enable this option.
- Open the same agent in Copilot Studio
- Navigate to Settings.
- Click on Security settings from the left navigation in settings page.
- Under Authentication, select Authenticate with Microsoft option.
- Clicking the Save button will open a Save this configuration popup.
- Click Save button in the popup to update the settings.
How to Validate
Connect to SharePoint or other supported knowledge sources like Azure AI Search to leverage Enhanced Search Capabilities.
After connecting to the knowledge sources and saving it. Click on Test button to open a Test your agent panel and search with keywords, we want to search, Now, we’ll get the better results, earlier than that.
Note: If the Enhanced search results option is not available. Check that you have the necessary permission and that you have the Microsoft 365 Copilot license enabled for your user account within the tenant.
By following the above steps, we can successfully enable the Enhance search option in Copilot Studio and improve the relevance of our search result.
