A SharePoint skill is a markdown file called SKILL.md that tells Copilot in SharePoint how to do one repeatable piece of work, and Copilot loads it automatically whenever a request matches. You write the process down once, save it on the site, and everyone with access gets the same steps and the same output every time, without anyone re-explaining the prompt.
Copilot can already summarise, compare and write reports. What it doesn’t know is how your team wants that done, which is why asking for a steering committee pack gets you a different structure every time. Skills are part of Copilot in SharePoint, which needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence and began rolling out to general availability on 30 September 2026. It was still called AI in SharePoint when I recorded the video above in April, and the setup has changed since.
How does a SharePoint skill work?
Think of a skill as your standard operating procedure for AI. It uses the same markdown format as Claude skills, but it lives on a SharePoint site under SharePoint permissions. Each site skill gets its own folder in the site’s Agent Assets library, at Agent Assets/Skills/<skill name>/SKILL.md. The file starts with a name and a description, which Copilot reads to decide when the skill fits a request, and the instructions sit underneath. The contract skill in the video has a purpose, numbered steps, column definitions for the output table and an example of the finished result.
Ask for the work in plain language and Copilot loads the matching skill, with a skill indicator card in the chat showing which one. In my August demo, a forward slash followed by the skill name ran it straight away, and typing /skills lists the built-in skills Microsoft maintains alongside the ones on the site.
Skills can call each other too. I chained a weekly sales review skill with a design system skill so every report came out on brand. A skill can’t connect to external systems or run custom code on its own; for data from another system you add a plugin, which I set up in connecting Xero to Copilot in SharePoint.
What does a skill look like in practice?
The video is built around contract comparison. A base contract goes to a client, comes back with amended clauses and deletions, and someone has to work out what changed and what it means for the business, then do it again next week for a different client.
My plain-language description covered four things: load the base contract from the Documents library every time, compare it with the returned contract, show the gaps in a table with a traffic light rating, and add an impact analysis. Copilot asked two questions before writing the file (should it prompt for the client’s file, and did I want a negotiation response or a priority ranking), and the ranking made it into the skill. Asked to “run a contract analysis” on a returned contract, the skill found 24 changes, each with a traffic light, the client’s change, the base term, the business impact and a priority, followed by an impact summary and an action plan. Anyone on the site gets that structure from the same request.
How do I build a SharePoint skill?
Copilot writes the SKILL.md file for you:
- Get the process right with prompts first. In my August demo I reconciled 100 supplier invoices against purchase orders across two Microsoft Lists, checked the result (66 matched, 34 exceptions) and improved the report over a few prompts before turning it into a skill.
- Open Copilot in SharePoint from a page or library on the site. The page can’t be in edit mode.
- Ask Copilot to create a skill. Describe the steps, inputs and output, and say whether it’s a site or personal skill. If you’ve just done the work in the chat, ask Copilot to turn what it built into a skill any user on the site can run.
- Answer its questions and review the draft. Read the steps, fix anything that’s off, then confirm the save.
- Run it again in a fresh chat. Use a different input and check the output landed where it should. Clicking the skill indicator opens the SKILL.md file if you need to change anything.
Site skill, personal skill or SHAREPOINT.md: what’s the difference?
| Where it’s saved | Who can use it | When Copilot loads it | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site skill | Agent Assets/Skills on the site |
Everyone with View access to the site | When a request on that site matches it |
| Personal skill | Your own OneDrive | Only you, across SharePoint sites | When your request matches it |
| Agent Builder skill | Inside a Copilot agent | People using that agent | When a request to the agent matches it |
| SHAREPOINT.md | Root of the Agent Assets library | Everyone on the site | At the start of every conversation on the site |
The other three have their own write-ups: personal skills in Copilot in SharePoint, adding skills to Copilot agents in Agent Builder and what SHAREPOINT.md is and what goes in it.
What’s changed since April?
In the video, a site collection admin had to activate Agent Assets under Site collection features before skills would work. You don’t need to now. Copilot creates the Agent Assets library when the first site skill is saved, and the library can’t be deleted. Creating a skill runs through a built-in Create skill capability, other built-in skills help check what you’ve written, and the PnP community runs a gallery of ready-made SharePoint skills.
When shouldn’t you write a skill?
I write a skill when the same process repeats, more than one person does it and the output needs to look the same each time. The contract comparison qualifies on every count. A question you’ll ask once doesn’t, and neither does a rule that should apply to everything on the site, like where generated reports get saved. That rule belongs in SHAREPOINT.md, where it loads every time, instead of being copied into every skill that produces a report.
I also wouldn’t write a skill for work that should happen as files arrive. If every uploaded invoice needs its date, supplier and total pulled out, put the instruction on the column with SharePoint autofill columns and nobody has to open a chat at all.
The bigger decision is who owns the skill. By default anyone with Edit permission on the site can create a site skill, and change the ones already there. If a skill runs a real business process like contract review, the person who owns that process should own the skill, and I’d break permission inheritance on the Agent Assets library so only the process owners can edit it. Skills never widen access either, so a skill that loads the base contract from the Documents library only works for people who can open that library.
My contract skill works because the base contract has one name, in one library, every time. If your libraries are full of near-identical folders and drafts, a skill can follow every step correctly and still pick up the wrong file. Sort out your SharePoint information architecture before AI and write the skill second.
Frequently asked questions
Can I download ready-made SharePoint skills? Yes. Download one from the PnP SharePoint skills gallery, extract it and upload the folder into the Skills folder of your site’s Agent Assets library. Give it a few minutes to be discovered, then start a new conversation. I tried one of Anthropic’s skills the same way in using a Claude skill inside SharePoint.
Can I edit a skill after Copilot creates it? Yes. Open its SKILL.md file in the Agent Assets library or ask Copilot to change it. If you edit by hand, keep the structure intact so Copilot can still read it, and use version history to roll back.
Can admins turn SharePoint skills off? There’s no separate admin switch for skills. They only work in Microsoft’s own Copilot in SharePoint experience, and site skill files follow normal SharePoint governance, so permissions, retention, sensitivity labels and auditing apply to them like any other file.
Do SharePoint skills cost extra? Creating and managing skills is included with the Microsoft 365 Copilot licence. Running skills inside scheduled AI automations is billed separately through Copilot Credits.
