SharePoint Skills: Teach AI in SharePoint to Work the Same Way Your Team Does
- Colin McCall, HBS Modern Workplace Analyst II
- Read time: 3 mins.
Your best processes should NOT live in one person’s head. It is far from ideal to hope the right person is available at any given time to get something done.
SharePoint Skills give these processes a permanent home. Describe a repeatable workflow in plain language, let AI in SharePoint draft it, review it once, and from that, anyone on the site can run it on demand with your standards already baked in without code or re-explaining.
Lines of code
Stored as Markdown
Permission levels
Reusable across prompts
What Is a SharePoint Skill?
A SharePoint skill is a saved, multi-step workflow that lives on a SharePoint site and runs through AI in SharePoint. You describe the process in plain language, the agent drafts it, you review and approve, and it is ready to reuse. Skills can encode your organization’s specific rules—document standards, review checklists, naming conventions—so AI in SharePoint performs tasks consistently instead of relying on whoever wrote the best prompt that day.
AI in SharePoint can load the right skill automatically based on your request, or you can invoke one by name. Either way, the workflow runs with your standards applied every time.
Note: This is part of the preview version of AI in SharePoint (previously referred to as the Knowledge Agent).
What SharePoint Skills Can and Can’t Do
Skills chain the built-in capabilities of AI in SharePoint into a repeatable sequence, operating inside clear boundaries that protect your data and access controls.
Can Do
- Understand and summarize content
- Organize files and folders
- Interact with SharePoint lists
- Chain these steps into a consistent, repeatable sequence
Can’t do
- Connect to external systems outside SharePoint
- Execute custom code
- Expand a user’s existing access—skills can only perform actions the running user already has permission to take
Where SharePoint Skills Live
Skills are stored as Markdown (.md) files in the Agent Assets library, which is a product-managed library created automatically on the site. You can create and manage skills entirely through chat, or open the underlying file directly if you need to review or audit the definition. Keep the file format intact so AI in SharePoint continues to interpret the skill correctly.
Skill files are stored at: /Agent Assets/Skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md
How to Create a SharePoint Skill
Open the chat panel. Launch AI in SharePoint from a site page or document library. Make sure the page is not in edit mode.
Describe the workflow. Tell the agent to create a skill. Explain the repeatable process you want, including any rules, checks, or standards it should apply.
Review the draft. Check the skill definition the agent returns, and ask it to adjust the steps, inputs, or outputs as needed.
Confirm and save. Approve the skill, and it's ready to reuse across future prompts.
"Create a skill that reviews documents submitted to the Intake folder, checks that each one includes a project code and a department name in the metadata, flags anything missing, and posts a summary to the Project Status list."
How to Run a SharePoint Skill
Select your files (optional). In the document library, pick the files for the skill to work on. Recommended when testing a skill for the first time.
Prompt it. Give an instruction that matches the skill's purpose. AI in SharePoint loads the right skill automatically, or invoke it by name: "Run [skill name] on the selected documents."
Confirm it loaded Look for the skill indicator card in the chat, and provide any extra details the agent asks for.
Governance and Permissions
Skills are native to AI in SharePoint, so there’s no button to click to enable them. Governance runs through the SharePoint permissions and controls you’re already managing.
| Aspect | What to Know |
|---|---|
| Admin toggle | None. Skills are native to AI in SharePoint with no separate on/off control. |
| Scope | By default, skills are available only within the first-party AI in SharePoint experience on the site where they were created. |
| The Agent Assets library | Created and managed by the product. It cannot be deleted. |
| File governance | Apply standard SharePoint controls to skill files: permissions, retention policies, sensitivity labels, and auditing. |
| Who can create | Any user with Edit permission on the site. |
| Who can run | Any user with View permission. For tighter control, break permission inheritance on the Agent Assets library. |
SharePoint Skills Availability and How You Can Get It
Skills are part of AI in SharePoint, which requires a site—or the full tenant—to be explicitly opted in to the preview. Sites that are not opted in do not receive the capability.
Copilot in SharePoint is rolling out as an opt-out preview for users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. That rollout brings AI capabilities to pages, libraries, and lists automatically unless the tenant or site opts out.
Note on Availability
These capabilities are in active preview. Feature names, admin paths, and exact behavior may change as Microsoft updates the experience. Confirm the current state for your tenant, and start with a pilot site before rolling out broadly.
Ready to Put SharePoint Skills to Work?
The HBS Modern Workplace team stands ready to help you opt in the right sites, set governance for the Agent Assets library, and build skills around your team’s real workflows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a SharePoint Skill?
Do SharePoint Skills require a Microsoft 365 Copilot license?
Yes. Skills are part of AI in SharePoint, which is available to users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Copilot in SharePoint is rolling out as an opt-out preview starting mid-June 2026 for licensed users.
Can a SharePoint Skill access data in other systems?
No. In the current release, skills operate only within SharePoint. They cannot connect to external systems or execute custom code.
Can a skill give a user access to content they could not see before?
No. A skill can only take actions the running user already has permission to perform. It cannot expand access.
How do I limit who can run a skill on my site?
Where are skill files stored?
Skills are stored as Markdown files in the Agent Assets library on the site, at /Agent Assets/Skills/<skill-name>/
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