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Create and edit topics with Copilot Studio

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Important

Power Virtual Agents capabilities and features are now part of Microsoft Copilot Studio following significant investments in generative AI and enhanced integrations across Microsoft Copilot.

Some articles and screenshots may refer to Power Virtual Agents while we update documentation and training content.

Normally, you can manually create and edit topics, but Copilot Studio lets you create and iterate on topics with a description. By describing what you want and having AI build it for you, time is saved in creating and updating copilot topics.

AI understands what you want to do, then automatically creates a topic with different node types and conversational responses.

The AI-based copilot authoring overview shows how this capability works. You can also use copilot authoring with Generative answers to boost conversations.

Prerequisites

Use Copilot Studio to create a topic

You can create a new topic from a description on the Topics page in your copilot.

  1. Select + Add > Topic > Create from description.

    Screenshot of the Copilot Studio navigation pane with Topics and the New topics button highlighted.

  2. In the Create from description with Copilot window, add a name in the Name your topic field.

  3. In the Create a topic to... field, describe the topic you want to create in simple, plain English. You can include questions you want the copilot to ask, messages it should show, and details of the behavior you want the copilot to take.

    Screenshot of the Describe it to build it pop-up window.

    You can select any of the examples to automatically insert them into the Create a topic to... field. Select View more examples to generate new suggestions.

  4. Select Create.

    The authoring canvas generates and opens a new topic. The topic includes trigger phrases, and one or more nodes, based on your description.

Tip

For more information on editing topics manually, see Create and edit topics in your Copilot Studio copilot.

Use Copilot to edit a topic

You can make changes to any topic using the power of natural language understanding (NLU).

  1. From the Topics page in your copilot, select the topic you want to modify, and then select Copilot at the top of the page.

    Screenshot of the Canvas page of a topic highlighting the Copilot button.

    Tip

    When describing a task for your copilot, there's no need to mention canvas elements. For example, adding ask the user their full name to a question node, you don't have to direct the AI with ask the user their full name in the question node.

  2. In the Edit with Copilot panel, in the What do you want to do? field, describe what you'd like to change.

    Screenshot of the Copilot Studio authoring window showing the What do you want to do box where you can add a description of your change or addition to a topic.

    Use simple, plain English to direct the AI, like in these examples:

    • add a question to ask the user for their date of birth
    • add 2 message variations to all questions in the topic
    • summarize the information collected from the user in an Adaptive Card

  3. Select Update.

    You can continue to edit topics or describe more changes.

    If you don't like the changes, select the Undo icon ( ) and select Undo to go back one action or select Undo to last save to go back to the last save point.

    Screenshot of the location of the Copilot Studio undo button.

    You can update your description under the What you asked for label on the Edit with Copilot pane.

Tip

To give feedback on the AI, select the "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" icon at the bottom of the Edit with Copilot panel.
Screenshot of the location of the thumbs up or down buttons. Select the thumbs down icon to see the Send feedback pane and add detailed feedback. We'll use this feedback to improve the quality of the AI.

Screenshot of the Send feedback pane.

What's supported

Topic node support

Copilot can create Message, Question, and Condition nodes when building and iterating on topics. Other node types aren't currently supported.

There are some limitations on how Copilot Studio works with nodes:

  • Copilot understands the required properties on Message, Question, and Condition nodes, such as text to prompt the user or the appropriate output variables. However, Copilot doesn't understand advanced properties of these nodes, such as the reprompt and interruption settings on a Question node.

    • You can still manually edit these properties.

  • Condition nodes created by Copilot Studio that branch a topic from a multiple choice question show errors in the generated conditions.