# How to Turn Existing Documents into a SharePoint Knowledge Base with Copilot > Copilot in SharePoint can plan and build an interlinked knowledge base from your Word documents, then refresh it when a source changes. Steps and what to check. - URL: https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-knowledge-base-from-documents/ - Author: Daniel Anderson, Microsoft MVP (https://www.danielanderson.io/) - Published: 2026-10-17 - Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYLMopaKU7w ## Key takeaways - Copilot in SharePoint can analyse a folder of existing documents, propose a knowledge base structure and build interlinked KB pages from them using its built-in Knowledge Base skill. - Asking Copilot to plan first and wait for your review lets you approve the structure before any pages are built. In my demo, the credit approval appeared at the build step. - In my demo, Copilot organised 30 documents by topic and task instead of copying the HR, IT and onboarding folders, and every page linked back to its source Word document. - KB pages don't update when their source documents change. You ask Copilot to refresh the knowledge base, and each refresh uses Copilot credits. - Knowledge bases are in Frontier preview, and KB pages don't inherit the permissions or sensitivity labels of their source documents. To turn existing documents into a SharePoint knowledge base, select the folders in Copilot in SharePoint, ask it to analyse the files and propose a structure, review the plan, then ask it to build. Copilot creates interlinked knowledge base pages organised by topic, each one linked back to the document it came from, and you ask it to refresh those pages whenever a source changes. Most organisations already have this knowledge sitting in policies, procedures and handbooks, filed in folders that make sense to the people who wrote them. My demo library held 30 Word documents in three folders: HR, IT and onboarding. In Microsoft's early internal testing, agents grounded on a knowledge base responded up to 4x faster and were 30% more token-efficient ([Microsoft's announcement](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/SPBlog/introducing-a-team-knowledge-base-curated-by-copilot-and-agents/4564203)). If you'd rather start with a blank knowledge base or import markdown, I cover that in [how to create a knowledge base in SharePoint](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-knowledge-base-getting-started/). ## Before you start - **Frontier preview access.** The option may not be in your tenant yet, and menus will likely change before general availability. - **Copilot credits.** Building, adding sources, updating pages and health checks all use credits. Copilot asks you to approve them first, and `/cost` shows what a task used. - **Permission to create content on the site**, and access to every document you want to use as a source. - **Documents you're happy for the whole audience to read.** KB pages don't carry over the permissions or sensitivity labels of their source files. ## How do you build a knowledge base from existing documents? 1. **Select the source folders.** In the document library, select the folders you want to use, then open Copilot in SharePoint. I selected all three folders. 2. **Ask for a plan first.** My prompt was roughly: "Can you please create a new HR knowledge base using the files in these folders? Can you analyse the files and come up with the optimal structure for our knowledge base? Make sure we've got interlinking. First let's plan it, then I'd like to review it, and then we'll build it." Copilot uses its built-in Knowledge Base skill and may ask you questions before it gets to a plan. 3. **Review the proposed structure.** Copilot reviewed all 30 documents (12 HR, 10 IT, eight onboarding, all current) and proposed a task-based structure with routes for employees and managers, plus navigation and interlinking. Change anything you don't like here, before a page exists. 4. **Ask Copilot to build it and approve the credits.** Copilot showed a prompt saying the task uses advanced capabilities that need credits. Once approved, it created the landing page first. 5. **Build the remaining sections.** Copilot worked section by section, starting with onboarding and transitions. You can kick off the next section while you review the last one. 6. **Approve navigation changes.** Partway through, Copilot asked to reorganise pages to improve the navigation, with a **Select the update below** prompt. While Copilot works, the knowledge base shows an **AI is updating** banner and changes are temporarily unavailable. 7. **Check the pages and their properties.** Refresh the knowledge base once the banner has gone. Open a page's properties to check the tags, description and type, and the source link to the Word document the content came from. Mine finished with four sections of five, six, five and five pages. Copilot grouped the content around topics like onboarding and transitions, employee benefits, and technology and access, and dropped the HR, IT and onboarding folder split, which suits someone looking for an answer far better. Each section has a hub page, and pages cross-link to related guidance across sections. ## How do you add a new document to the knowledge base? Select the document and ask Copilot where it belongs before it adds it. With a responsible AI use document selected, Copilot read the knowledge base structure, worked out the document covered approved tools, and created a responsible AI use page under technology and access. It also offered to add a training reference to the onboarding guidance, and when I said yes it updated the mandatory training page, with citations back to the source. ## How do you refresh pages when a source document changes? KB pages don't update on their own when a source changes, so the refresh is a request. In my demo I added two sections to the employee handbook (made up for the video), then asked Copilot: "Can you update the HR knowledge base with the new information that's just been updated in the employee handbook?" It updated the handbook guidance, employee handbook and workplace standards pages, rebuilt the navigation, and reported the three pages verified with no issues. ## Keep the Word documents as the source and give the knowledge base an owner The build took minutes in my demo, so I'd put the planning time into keeping the knowledge base right once people rely on it. I'd treat the Word documents as the source of truth and the knowledge base as the readable layer on top. Policy owners keep editing the policy, and the knowledge base gets refreshed from it. During preview, Microsoft says updates from Copilot can reverse edits people have made to KB pages or recreate pages that were deleted. I haven't tested how often that happens, so for now I'd keep hand edits on KB pages to a minimum and review the affected pages after every refresh. Then decide who triggers the refresh. Until someone runs the update, the knowledge base keeps quoting the old leave policy. I'd name an owner for each section, make "refresh the knowledge base" the last step of the policy approval process, and have the owner check the pages Copilot touched. Clean the library before you point Copilot at it. My 30 documents were all current, but a real HR library usually has superseded versions and drafts next to the live ones, so move those into an archive folder before you select anything. Finally, leave manager-only HR documents out, because anyone who can read the knowledge base reads what Copilot takes from them. The access side is in [the getting started article](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-knowledge-base-getting-started/), and the wider planning is in [information architecture before AI](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-information-architecture-before-ai/). ## What to watch for - **File limits per request.** Microsoft recommends adding no more than 10 files at a time as sources, because bigger batches can be slow or not finish. - **Leaving the session.** Copilot stops if you leave Copilot in SharePoint before an action finishes, and long updates may ask you to continue more than once. - **One update at a time.** Only one Copilot update can run on a knowledge base at once, so wait for a colleague's update to finish before starting yours. ## Frequently asked questions **Does a Copilot health check confirm the knowledge base is accurate?** No. A health check finds broken links, KB pages that aren't in the navigation and incomplete source references, and it uses Copilot credits. It doesn't verify whether the content is correct, so a person still needs to review the pages. **What happens to KB pages when I delete a source document?** Nothing, automatically. Removing a source doesn't remove the guidance Copilot took from it, so review the pages that used it and ask Copilot for a targeted update. **Can Copilot build a knowledge base from email and meetings as well as documents?** Yes. Microsoft lists files and lists in OneDrive and SharePoint, emails and meetings as sources, as long as you can access them and have approval to reuse them for the knowledge base's audience. My demo used Word documents only. **Will people find the original documents as well as the KB pages in search?** They can. Search results can include source content as well as KB pages, so check which one you've opened before you rely on it. The source link in each page's properties takes you to the document it came from.