By Liza Tinker | Simply SharePoint | 27 September 2026
I have worked with SharePoint for more than 20 years. For much of that time, building a useful solution meant planning the structure, configuring lists and libraries, adding metadata, creating views and then finding a way to turn the information into something people could actually use.
That planning still matters. What has changed is how much of the building we can now do by describing the outcome we want.
Microsoft has announced that Copilot in SharePoint will begin rolling out to general availability on 30 September 2026. It is already available in preview for many licensed users, but general availability does not mean every tenant will receive it on the same day. This is more than a chat box that answers questions about files. Copilot can help create and organise SharePoint content, suggest metadata, set up simple rules and turn information into reports.
Here is what I think matters most for people who use SharePoint every day.
1. You can describe the library you need
Instead of starting with a blank document library, you can describe its purpose and optionally provide a sample document. Copilot can propose a library name, description and metadata columns, then configure columns that extract information from supported documents as they arrive. You review the proposed setup before creating it.
Imagine asking for a library to manage policies. You could start with the types of documents it will hold and ask Copilot to suggest fields that help people distinguish an approved policy from a draft. That is a useful starting point, especially for a site owner who knows the business need but does not build SharePoint libraries every week.
I would still review the structure before putting real content into it. Does the library have a clear purpose? Are the suggested terms ones people actually use? Who owns the documents? A generated column is only helpful if it reflects a decision the organisation has made.
2. Metadata can be populated from the content
Copilot can suggest autofill columns by looking at sample files and can populate supported column types from document content. That could make it much easier to move from a library of unlabelled files to one people can filter, report on and work with. You should review the extracted values, especially when they drive a business decision.
There is an important practical limit here: Microsoft’s current autofill guidance does not list Person or Group as a supported column type. So if, like me, you use a Document Owner person column, do not assume Copilot can automatically maintain that ownership field for you. Document Type and Status may be candidates for an AI-assisted approach, depending on your content and column design; accountability still needs a clear owner and a human process.
This is the distinction I want people to remember: AI can help apply labels, but you still have to decide what the labels mean.
3. A repeatable process can become a SharePoint skill
If your team follows the same review steps over and over, you can describe those steps and save them as a skill for people on the site to reuse. Think of a skill as a set of instructions for a repeatable SharePoint task: check the required details in a document, apply a standard review checklist or produce a consistent summary. The draft skill can be reviewed before it is saved.
For example, a policy team might define a skill that checks whether a document states its owner, approval date and next review date, then identifies anything missing. The team would need to test the results and decide who is responsible for correcting the document.
Skills do not give Copilot extra permissions, run custom code or connect to external systems on their own. They use the SharePoint capabilities and access available to the person running them. That makes them useful for consistent work, provided someone owns and maintains the instructions.
4. Reports are becoming much easier to create
This is the part that has genuinely surprised me. Copilot in SharePoint can create interactive reports from SharePoint content, and Microsoft has shown dashboards generated from SharePoint lists as HTML reports. Microsoft has also published guidance for creating HTML experiences that work within SharePoint’s sandbox.
Think of a project list with an owner, status and due date. Instead of exporting it and manually assembling a presentation, you can ask for a visual status report that groups the work and highlights what needs attention. The exact result depends on the source, your permissions and the available capability in your tenant, so check how the report refreshes and what it is actually showing before sharing it as a live dashboard.
The opportunity is exciting. The test is simple: can a reader trace a number or statement back to the right source, and can the business owner trust that source?
5. Simple library rules can be described in plain language
Copilot can help configure supported SharePoint rules from a request such as “email me when a contract is approved.” The current documented actions include email, move, copy and set value, with rules triggered by an item being created, modified or deleted. You review the proposed rule before applying it. This is useful for straightforward library processes; it is not a promise that every complex workflow can be built from one prompt.
What is included, and what may cost more?
Microsoft says everyday capabilities such as asking questions about content, creating and organising content, sharing reusable skills and AI-assisted metadata enrichment remain included with a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence. Supported rules that run on SharePoint’s workflow engine are also included. Large-scale, multistep work and some advanced features use Copilot Credits when usage-based billing is enabled. Microsoft specifically names image generation and editing, AI-generated site analytics and near-real-time metadata autofill among the advanced capabilities. Admins manage access through spending policies, and users are prompted before credits are consumed in Copilot in SharePoint.
Availability will also depend on your licence, tenant rollout, site settings and the permissions you already have. If the Copilot button appears but a task does not complete, I would check those factors and the service guidance before assuming the feature is fully ready in that tenant.
Where I would start
Pick one library with a real problem: policies people cannot identify as current, contracts that need consistent review, or project files that are difficult to report on. Then:
- Agree on the library’s purpose, its owner and who should have access.
- Choose a small number of useful columns. My usual starting questions are: what type of document is it, which business area does it belong to, what is its status and who owns it?
- Test Copilot’s suggested structure and autofill on a small, representative set of files. Check the values rather than accepting them blindly.
- Try one repeatable skill or one simple rule that solves a problem the team already has.
- Create a report from the resulting content and verify it against the source before sharing it.
My view: This is one of the biggest changes I have seen in SharePoint in two decades. We can get from an idea to a working solution far faster. But speed makes good information architecture more valuable. If three files all claim to be the final policy, nobody owns them and access has grown unchecked, a beautiful report will only make the confusion easier to present.
SharePoint is becoming much more than a place to store files. The most useful question now is: what do we want people and AI to be able to understand and do with the information?
If you are planning that foundation, my Metadata Planning Guide and other Simply SharePoint resources can help you make the structural decisions before you start automating them.
Product details and rollout status checked against Microsoft sources on 27 September 2026. Features may reach different tenants at different times.
