Copy an agent to Copilot Studio

This article explains how to use the Copy to Copilot Studio feature in Microsoft 365 Copilot to copy an agent built in Copilot to Copilot Studio. When you copy your agent to Copilot Studio, you can take advantage of advanced lifecycle management, analytics, and governance controls.

Why use Copilot Studio?

Users can build AI agents for Microsoft 365 by using the following tools:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot: The Agent Builder feature in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app is ideal for quick, lightweight agent creation within the Microsoft 365 environment. Agent Builder is designed for users who want to add conversational capabilities to enhance productivity.

• Copilot Studio: A dedicated, standalone application that offers advanced capabilities for building, customizing, and managing agents at scale. Copilot Studio provides richer configuration options, integration with enterprise systems, and governance features that are suitable for complex scenarios or organizational deployments.

For more information and a comparison of each tool, see Choose between Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio.

Copying an agent to Copilot Studio unlocks advanced capabilities beyond what's available in Microsoft 365 Copilot, including:

• Enhanced lifecycle management: Gain full control over the agent's lifecycle, including versioning, staged deployments, rollback options, and structured release processes. This control ensures better stability and predictability as your agent evolves.

• Usage monitoring and analytics: Access detailed insights into agent performance, user engagement, and query trends. Built-in dashboards and reporting tools help you identify optimization opportunities and measure return on investment.

• Governance controls: Apply enterprise-grade governance policies such as role-based access, data policies, and compliance checks. These controls help maintain security and consistency across large-scale deployments.

Beyond the core benefits, Copilot Studio provides:

• Advanced customization: Extended agent capabilities with richer prompts, conditional logic, and integration with external APIs or enterprise systems.

• Environment management: Support for multiple environments (development, test, production) to streamline testing and controlled rollouts.

• Connector and data integration: Broader integration options with Microsoft 365 services and Copilot connectors, providing deeper data access and richer responses.

• Audit and compliance features: Built-in audit trails and compliance reporting to meet organizational and regulatory requirements.

For example, agents copied to Copilot Studio can be published to the Teams app store for admin review and organization-wide pinning. Admins can also apply data policies and advanced connector policies from the Power Platform admin center.

Copy your agent

If you start building an agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot and want to add more capabilities that are only available in Copilot Studio, use the Copy to Copilot Studio button in the More options (…) menu. This option copies your agent to Copilot Studio so you don't need to recreate it.

The following agent configurations are copied to Copilot Studio:

• Static text fields for the agent's definition
• Name
• Description
• Instructions
• Suggested prompts
• Agent icon
• SharePoint files, folders, and sites added as knowledge
• Websites added as knowledge

The following table lists the configurations that aren't copied and how to handle them.

After you copy your agent:

• The original agent built in Microsoft 365 Copilot remains available.
• Copilot Studio creates a snapshot of the agent and uses it to define the agent in Copilot Studio. Save the agent to ensure that the data is stored.
• Updates to the original agent don't affect the copied version.
• If another copy operation is underway, wait a few seconds before you start a new copy for the same agent. Every copy operation creates a new agent in Copilot Studio.
• If this is the first time you created an agent in Copilot Studio, the Create Agents screen appears after the first-run experience.
• The original agent remains accessible through Microsoft 365, while the copy becomes a Copilot Studio agent that you can publish to multiple channels.
• Test your agent in Copilot Studio before you publish it. After you publish, decide whether to delete the original agent and communicate migration steps to users you shared the agent with.

Licensing requirements

To copy an agent to Copilot Studio, you must have a Copilot Studio license or Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Check your eligibility in Copilot Studio or ask your admin.

If you don't have a Copilot Studio license, you might be eligible for a Copilot Studio trial, depending on the admin settings in your organization. Admins can block unauthorized sign-ups. Trial licenses allow for testing agents but not publishing agents outside personal use.

Copilot Studio environment requirements

Copilot Studio uses the concept of a Power Platform environment to store, manage, and share your organization's business data. When you copy an agent, select the environment in which to store the agent definition. The copy operation starts after you select an environment.

For you to copy an agent to Copilot Studio:

• The environment must have applicable Dataverse data store.
• The environment must be located in a supported data location.
• You must have the appropriate security roles in the environment.

After you select an environment, the system checks for sharing limits placed on the environment.

The following policies and limits are set up in the Power Platform admin center:

• Data policies
• Connector policies
• Sharing limits

Environment routing

Admins can turn on Environment routing to help makers select environments. When environment routing is turned on, the routed environment is preselected.

Environment troubleshooting

The following table lists common errors that can occur when you select an environment and describes the resolutions.

Admin management and data storage

Admins manage Agent Builder in Microsoft 365 Copilot through the Microsoft 365 admin center. Copilot Studio is managed through the Power Platform admin center.

Agents copied to Copilot Studio are stored in Microsoft Dataverse and managed via a Power Platform solution. Admins can set up security roles for custom environments.

Related content

• Choose between Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio
• Build agents with Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Build agents with Copilot Studio