Use lesson topics in Copilot Studio

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.

Copilot Studio includes sample topics with every new copilot. These samples range from simple to complex scenarios that use conditional branching, variables, and custom entities.

The topics are functional but aren't designed for production use. These examples help you learn how to create content for your copilots.

Prerequisites

• An existing copilot, or if you need to create one, see Quickstart: Create and deploy a Copilot Studio copilot.
• If you're using a bot that has classic added to the name, you can upgrade your bot to see the latest versions of the sample topics. All bots made in the Teams app are classic bots.

Web app

Use sample topics to understand how topics work

1. Open your copilot, or create one, and go to the Topics & Plugins page.

2. Review the copilot's details for name and description. The copilot derives topic phrases from the description (if any). In this case, trigger phrases were added manually to the Trigger node.

   

3. To view the copilot's conversation flow, select each topic from the Topics & Plugins page to open it.

   The flow includes the copilot's comments, expected user responses, decision points, and entity references used in each topic. This sample flow is for Lesson 3.

   

Available sample topics

Each sample lesson topic is designed to teach you how to create basic and advanced copilot conversations. We recommend that you start with Lesson 1 and work through each topic in order.

Lesson 1 - A simple topic

This sample template is a topic that responds to a question about store hours.

Lesson 2 - A simple topic with a condition and a variable

This sample shows you how to create a question that asks customers which store they're interested in and keeps the response in a variable. The condition uses the variable to determine which store's hours to return.

Lesson 3 - A topic with a condition, variables, and a prebuilt entity

This sample asks customers to enter a shipping state. The copilot uses the prebuilt State entity to recognize the US state in the user's response, and stores it in the State variable.

A condition uses the State variable to determine which shipping message to send to the user. Another condition uses the customer's response to a multiple-choice question, stored in the variable Item, to determine which product to order.

Teams

Use sample topics to understand how topics work - Teams

1. Go to the Topics page.

2. Select Lesson 1 and work through to Lesson 4. Review the title and description on the Details pane to see what trigger phrases are being used.

   

3. To see the bot's flow, select each topic. The flow includes the copilot's comments, expected user responses, decision points, and entity references. This sample is for Lesson 2.

   

Important

You see these lessons when you create a new bot. If you have previously created a bot and don't see them, try creating a new bot and then going to the Topics page.

Available sample topics - Teams

Each lesson is designed to teach you how to use the authoring canvas to create basic and advanced bot conversations.

You should start with Lesson 1 and work through each lesson in order.

Lesson 1 - A simple topic - Teams

This lesson shows you how to create a simple topic with one conditional branch.

Lesson 2 - A simple topic with a condition and variable - Teams

This lesson shows you how to create a simple topic with a a variable and conditions.

A variable is a name for an item that is used later in the topic flow. In this example, pva_StoreLocation is the variable to store the user's response when you ask for their preferred store location.

Lesson 3 - A topic with a conditions, variables, and a prebuilt entity - Teams

This lesson shows you how to create a simple topic with one conditional branch, a variable, and an entity.

When you use entities in your topic, the bot can identify key information from what the user types and automatically stores that information in your variables.

For example, if you type "I want to buy a red car," the bot doesn't need to ask which color car, because the bot recognizes the Color entity in what you typed. The bot then skips the question where you asked for color.

In this lesson, the bot uses the State entity and recognizes any US state the user enters.

Lesson 4 - A topic with conditions, variables, and a custom entity - Teams

This lesson shows a topic with a conditional branch, a variable, and a custom entity.

You can see the bot bypass a follow-up question. For example, try testing with the phrase "I want a business laptop" in the testing pane.