We have been experiencing the following issue since last week, and it is impacting our business operations. Does anyone know the cause of this issue or a possible solution? Issue Description Documents that were previously available as knowledge sources can no longer be referenced by our Copilot agent. Even when specifying a SharePoint folder or an individual file directly as a knowledge source, the agent does not recognize the file content and generates responses using only the LLM's pre-trained general knowledge. This issue is occurring not only with existing agents that were previously able to access the knowledge source, but also with newly created agents. Questions Were there any updates, configuration changes, or service changes introduced last week that could cause this behavior? Is there an alternative method for enabling Copilot to access SharePoint documents and generate responses based on their content, other than using Knowledge Sources? Is it possible to contact Microsoft Support directly regarding this issue? If so, what is the recommended process for opening a support case? Thank you in advance for any information or guidance.

No documented service change from “last week” is provided here. The documented causes for SharePoint knowledge sources suddenly returning no results are configuration, permission, indexing, protection, filtering, licensing, or known product limitations. Most likely causes to check first: Search/indexing issue in SharePoint Copilot Studio uses SharePoint search results and only the top three results to generate a response. If the document no longer appears in SharePoint search, the agent returns no response from that content. Verify by searching SharePoint for a unique keyword from the target file. If it does not appear, wait for indexing or have a SharePoint admin run Site Information > View all site settings > Search and offline availability > Re-index site . Permissions issue Copilot Studio respects Microsoft 365 security trimming. If the signed-in user lacks at least read access to the site or file, the system silently behaves as if the document does not exist. Verify by opening the exact SharePoint document as the affected user. Also test the same query with the same user account in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. If that also fails, it points to permissions or indexing. App registration or agent authentication misconfiguration For admin-configured SharePoint knowledge sources, the app registration must include Sites.Read.All and Files.Read.All , and those scopes must also be present in the agent authentication settings together with profile and openid . Missing scopes or missing consent can cause no results with no explicit error. If Restricted SharePoint Search is enabled in the tenant, SharePoint as a knowledge source is blocked unless the sites are added to the allowed list. Generative answers from SharePoint sources are also not available to guest users in SSO-enabled apps. Protected files Files protected by encrypting sensitivity labels, DKE, or passwords can appear Ready and still return “no response.” Verify whether the affected files are encrypted or password-protected. If policy allows, remove protection or publish an unprotected copy in an accessible SharePoint location. Filters excluding the content Agent-level filters in Knowledge > source > Edit > Advanced settings can exclude expected files. Topic-level Create generative answers nodes can also exclude the SharePoint source if Search only selected sources is enabled and the source is not selected. File size / tenant setup Without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license in the same tenant as the agent, SharePoint generative answers can process files only up to 7 MB , and Tenant graph grounding with semantic search must be off. With a Microsoft 365 Copilot license in the same tenant, the limit is 200 MB , and Tenant graph grounding with semantic search must be on. A known issue also states that SharePoint and OneDrive grounding requires an active Copilot license for the signed-in user, and the agent connection must use User authentication ; service principals are not supported for SharePoint grounding scenarios. Unsupported or problematic content Only supported formats are used. Only modern SharePoint pages are supported; classic .aspx pages are not used for answers, and modern pages with SPFx components are not supported. A known issue exists where SharePoint files with null characters in the file name return no results. About an alternative to SharePoint knowledge sources: A documented alternative is to upload files directly to Copilot Studio knowledge, which supports files up to 512 MB . For larger or more complex SharePoint scenarios, documented alternatives include Microsoft 365 Semantic Indexing or connect your data to Azure OpenAI for Generative answers . Recommended troubleshooting order for the current symptom: Confirm the affected file appears in SharePoint search. Confirm the affected user can open the exact file directly. Check whether the file is encrypted, DKE-protected, or password-protected. Review agent-level filters and topic-level selected-source settings. Validate app registration scopes and consent: Sites.Read.All , Files.Read.All , plus agent auth scopes profile and openid . Confirm Restricted SharePoint Search is not blocking the site. Confirm licensing, file size, and that the connection uses User authentication . If the source path was renamed, regenerate the SharePoint source link and update the knowledge source. No supported Microsoft Support case process is provided here. SharePoint knowledge sources don't return results in Copilot Studio Known issues

Copilot Studio Cannot Use SharePoint Documents as Knowledge Sources

yym 45

We have been experiencing the following issue since last week, and it is impacting our business operations.

Does anyone know the cause of this issue or a possible solution?

Issue Description

Documents that were previously available as knowledge sources can no longer be referenced by our Copilot agent.
Even when specifying a SharePoint folder or an individual file directly as a knowledge source, the agent does not recognize the file content and generates responses using only the LLM's pre-trained general knowledge.
This issue is occurring not only with existing agents that were previously able to access the knowledge source, but also with newly created agents.

Questions

Were there any updates, configuration changes, or service changes introduced last week that could cause this behavior?
Is there an alternative method for enabling Copilot to access SharePoint documents and generate responses based on their content, other than using Knowledge Sources?
Is it possible to contact Microsoft Support directly regarding this issue? If so, what is the recommended process for opening a support case?

Thank you in advance for any information or guidance.

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Answer accepted by question author

Sayali-MSFT 6,476 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello @yym ,
Based on the behavior described, this does not appear to be an expected agent configuration issue, especially since:

Previously working agents can no longer access the same SharePoint knowledge sources.
The issue is occurring with both existing and newly created agents.
Responses are being generated from the LLM's general knowledge rather than the configured knowledge sources.

At this time, there are no publicly documented service changes or platform updates that would be expected to disable access to SharePoint knowledge sources across multiple agents. The behavior may indicate an issue with knowledge source indexing, SharePoint access permissions, or a service-side problem affecting knowledge retrieval.

As a troubleshooting step, verify that the SharePoint files and folders remain accessible, the agent still has permission to the content, and try removing and re-adding the knowledge source to force reindexing. You can also test with a newly uploaded document in a different SharePoint location to determine whether the issue is specific to certain content or more broadly affecting knowledge ingestion.

If SharePoint Knowledge Sources are not functioning, alternatives include using Microsoft Graph-based retrieval, Azure AI Search, or custom retrieval approaches through actions and flows, although these require additional implementation effort.

yym 45 Reputation points

2026-08-19T10:26:19.0433333+00:00

Hello Sayali-MSFT,

Thank you very much for your comment and for taking the time to look into this issue.

I understand that, at this point, there do not appear to be any recent updates that are directly related to this behavior.

As part of our troubleshooting efforts, we have already tried removing and reconnecting the knowledge source, changing the SharePoint storage location and sharing scope, and testing with different file formats. Unfortunately, in all cases, the LLM was still unable to reference the knowledge content.

Since similar cases have been reported by other users in community forums, it seems possible that this issue may be related to the knowledge source functionality itself or to the internal logic of Copilot Studio or another Microsoft 365 service involved in the retrieval process.

For the time being, we are investigating alternative approaches, including the possibility of accessing SharePoint content through tools and integrations instead of relying on knowledge sources.

If you come across any additional information or updates regarding this issue, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share them.

Thank you again for your response and assistance.
Nelson Atwell 0 Reputation points

2026-08-26T10:16:40.4133333+00:00

I'm having the same issue today. It's been going on for about a week. It's made my agents useless.

Answer accepted by question author

AlexCodex 100

Hi yym,

Since the issue is affecting both existing and newly created Copilot agents, it would be worth checking whether this is a service-side issue before changing the agent configuration extensively.

A few things can help narrow it down:

Check the SharePoint permissions Confirm that the account or users running the agent still have access to the affected SharePoint files and folders.

Test with a small, simple document Add a single known-good SharePoint document as a knowledge source and test with a question whose answer is clearly contained in that document. This can help distinguish an indexing/retrieval problem from a broader agent configuration issue.

Check the knowledge-source status Look for any indexing, synchronization, authentication, or permission warnings associated with the SharePoint knowledge source.

Check Microsoft service health If multiple agents started exhibiting the same behavior around the same time, checking the Microsoft 365 admin center's Service health dashboard would be useful. A service incident affecting Copilot or SharePoint could explain why both existing and newly created agents are affected.

Consider an alternative integration temporarily If the business requirement is urgent, a Power Automate flow or another supported Microsoft integration can sometimes retrieve specific SharePoint content and pass the relevant information to the agent, depending on the scenario and licensing.

For a production-impacting issue that persists after checking permissions and service health, opening a Microsoft support request would be appropriate. The exact support options depend on the organization's Microsoft 365 subscription and administrator permissions.

I would avoid deleting and recreating the SharePoint content or making large configuration changes until it is clear whether the problem is caused by the tenant configuration or a Microsoft service issue.

yym 45 Reputation points

2026-08-19T10:15:53.4633333+00:00

Hi AlexCodex,

Thank you very much for your comment and suggestions.

We have confirmed that the SharePoint permissions are configured correctly.
We also tested with other simple files to rule out issues related to file size or complexity, but the result was the same.
Based on our testing, the issue does not appear to be related to the size or complexity of the files themselves.

Rather, it seems that the LLM is unable to access or process the content of the files, even though the files can be located successfully.
In addition, all knowledge source statuses are shown as healthy and ready, with no errors reported.

Unfortunately, I do not have permission to check the Microsoft service health status directly.
Therefore, I will escalate this issue to our internal IT team and ask them to investigate whether there are any service-related issues or changes on the Microsoft side.

Thank you also for your advice regarding alternative approaches.

We will explore using tools and integrations as a workaround and evaluate whether that approach can meet our requirements.

I appreciate your help and guidance.

Answer recommended by moderator

yym 45

Dear all,

I am pleased to inform you that this issue has now been resolved.

Based on updates posted in a QA thread raised by another user, it appears that the Microsoft team identified and addressed an internal issue on their side, which has resulted in the resolution of this matter.

Thank you to everyone who provided comments, assistance, and support throughout the investigation and resolution process. Your help is greatly appreciated.

SP 0 Reputation points

2026-08-25T12:48:18.3433333+00:00

Hi @yym ,
Could you please share the link to that QA thread?
Kind regards
yym 45 Reputation points

2026-08-25T23:41:42.4133333+00:00

Hi SP,

The link to the Q&A that I reviewed is below.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5974158/

best regards,

yym

1 additional answer

AI answer

2026-08-19T01:53:36.1433333+00:00
No documented service change from “last week” is provided here. The documented causes for SharePoint knowledge sources suddenly returning no results are configuration, permission, indexing, protection, filtering, licensing, or known product limitations.

Most likely causes to check first:

Search/indexing issue in SharePoint

Copilot Studio uses SharePoint search results and only the top three results to generate a response.

If the document no longer appears in SharePoint search, the agent returns no response from that content.

Verify by searching SharePoint for a unique keyword from the target file.

If it does not appear, wait for indexing or have a SharePoint admin run Site Information > View all site settings > Search and offline availability > Re-index site.

Permissions issue

Copilot Studio respects Microsoft 365 security trimming.

If the signed-in user lacks at least read access to the site or file, the system silently behaves as if the document does not exist.

Verify by opening the exact SharePoint document as the affected user.

Also test the same query with the same user account in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. If that also fails, it points to permissions or indexing.

App registration or agent authentication misconfiguration

For admin-configured SharePoint knowledge sources, the app registration must include Sites.Read.All and Files.Read.All, and those scopes must also be present in the agent authentication settings together with profile and openid.

Missing scopes or missing consent can cause no results with no explicit error.

If Restricted SharePoint Search is enabled in the tenant, SharePoint as a knowledge source is blocked unless the sites are added to the allowed list.

Generative answers from SharePoint sources are also not available to guest users in SSO-enabled apps.

Protected files

Files protected by encrypting sensitivity labels, DKE, or passwords can appear Ready and still return “no response.”

Verify whether the affected files are encrypted or password-protected.

If policy allows, remove protection or publish an unprotected copy in an accessible SharePoint location.

Filters excluding the content

Agent-level filters in Knowledge > source > Edit > Advanced settings can exclude expected files.

Topic-level Create generative answers nodes can also exclude the SharePoint source if Search only selected sources is enabled and the source is not selected.

File size / tenant setup

Without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license in the same tenant as the agent, SharePoint generative answers can process files only up to 7 MB, and Tenant graph grounding with semantic search must be off.

With a Microsoft 365 Copilot license in the same tenant, the limit is 200 MB, and Tenant graph grounding with semantic search must be on.

A known issue also states that SharePoint and OneDrive grounding requires an active Copilot license for the signed-in user, and the agent connection must use User authentication; service principals are not supported for SharePoint grounding scenarios.

Unsupported or problematic content

Only supported formats are used.

Only modern SharePoint pages are supported; classic .aspx pages are not used for answers, and modern pages with SPFx components are not supported.

A known issue exists where SharePoint files with null characters in the file name return no results.

About an alternative to SharePoint knowledge sources:

A documented alternative is to upload files directly to Copilot Studio knowledge, which supports files up to 512 MB.

For larger or more complex SharePoint scenarios, documented alternatives include Microsoft 365 Semantic Indexing or connect your data to Azure OpenAI for Generative answers.

Recommended troubleshooting order for the current symptom:

Confirm the affected file appears in SharePoint search.

Confirm the affected user can open the exact file directly.

Check whether the file is encrypted, DKE-protected, or password-protected.

Review agent-level filters and topic-level selected-source settings.

Validate app registration scopes and consent: Sites.Read.All, Files.Read.All, plus agent auth scopes profile and openid.

Confirm Restricted SharePoint Search is not blocking the site.

Confirm licensing, file size, and that the connection uses User authentication.

If the source path was renamed, regenerate the SharePoint source link and update the knowledge source.

No supported Microsoft Support case process is provided here.

SharePoint knowledge sources don't return results in Copilot Studio

Known issues
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