Your SharePoint Skills Are Probably Invisible! Here’s How to Fix It

SharePoint skills are one of the best things Copilot brought to SharePoint. They’re also one of the easiest to forget exist.

Here’s the problem: a skill only runs if you know its name. You open the chat, you type “run the skill…” and then you sit there trying to remember what you called it six weeks ago. I build these things and I still can’t remember the names. So most of the time the skill just sits there, unused, doing nothing for anyone.

There’s now a fix, and it takes about two minutes. A recent update lets you run a Copilot skill from a button on a SharePoint page. One click, without names to remember this post shows you how to build it, and the one licensing gotcha that will trip you up if you don’t know about it.

The short version

To make a SharePoint skill discoverable, add the Button web part to a page, choose the new Open Copilot in SharePoint action, and write a prompt that runs your skill (for example: run the skill newsletter grouping). Publish the page. Anyone with a Copilot license can now execute the skill with a single click without the need to know its name or where it lives.

What a SharePoint skill actually is

A SharePoint skill is a saved Copilot action tied to a site. It does a specific job on your content like sorting a list, grouping data or reformatting something, and you trigger it by name in the Copilot chat.

Mine groups all the Microsoft 365 roadmap and message center items by product every week. The raw content sits in an HTML column; the skill sorts and groups it, and I get the output ready to drop into the blog and the newsletter. I used to do this with Power Automate for years. Now the output lives inside of a list and it is generated by a SharePoint skill.

Skills are stored in your site under Agent assets → Skills. That folder is also the only reliable place to find the name when your memory fails you, which is exactly the problem we’re solving.

Why nobody uses them

Unless you already know a skill exists and know what it’s called, you’ll never run it. There’s no menu, no list on the page, no button. The knowledge lives in one person’s head, usually the person who built it.

Build a skills index page (step by step)

The idea is simple: one page that acts as an index of your skills, with a button for each one. Think of it as the front door.

1. Create a SharePoint page
2. Add the Button web part. Until recently this only added a link. Now, under its actions, there are new options: open link, run a Power Automate flow, and Open Copilot in SharePoint.
3. Choose Open Copilot in SharePoint. This is the one that runs the skill. Note: it only shows up for Copilot-licensed users. More on that below.
   

   

4. Write the prompt. In the instructions field, type the prompt that runs your skill, for example, run the skill newsletter grouping. This is exactly what Copilot will type for the user when they click.
   

   

5. Give it all the context. If the skill doesn’t already carry its own context, add it here. My prompt is short because my skill already holds all of that. A generic skill meant to run across different lists needs the context spelled out in the button.
6. Name the button and publish. Give it a friendly label, add an icon if you want, and publish the page.

Now when someone clicks the button, the Copilot chat opens in the context of the page, types the prompt for them, finds the skill, and runs it. In my case, a couple of minutes later I have the week’s updates grouped and ready, the same output I used to generate with Power Automate and PowerShell, now one click from a page.

Context is the part people skip

When you prompt inside SharePoint, don’t assume Copilot knows where to look. If you haven’t pointed it at the exact library or list, do it in the prompt. Name the list, say where it is, name the columns, say where the values should land. The button is only as good as the prompt behind it, and a vague prompt gives you vague results.

The licensing catch

This is the part that will confuse you if you don’t know it upfront.

The Open Copilot in SharePoint action is only visible to Copilot-licensed users. Unlicensed users don’t see anything Copilot-related in SharePoint, and that includes the button. Even if they’re a site owner. Even if the button is sitting right there on the landing page. It’s invisible to them by design.

So a skills index page is brilliant for a licensed audience and useless for everyone else. Two things follow from that:

• Put the index where licensed users live. A dedicated site collection, or a clearly labeled page that says “this only works if you’re licensed for Copilot.”
• Know what unlicensed users see when they build a button. If an unlicensed user adds a Button web part, the Copilot option simply isn’t there, they only get open link and run a Power Automate flow. That actually reduces confusion. But a button built by a licensed user still won’t render for an unlicensed one, and it won’t let them run skills.

None of this is a bug. It’s how licensing is enforced. Just plan your index around it instead of getting caught out.

Why this matters

A skill nobody can find is a skill nobody uses. Put it behind a button on a page people already visit, and it stops being a private shortcut and becomes something the whole team runs without thinking about it. That’s the difference between building a clever thing and building a clever thing that gets used.

Prefer to watch it? I recorded the full walkthrough on my YouTube channel, the button, the skill running, and the licensing gotcha, all in a couple of minutes.

The post Your SharePoint Skills Are Probably Invisible! Here’s How to Fix It appeared first on HANDS ON SharePoint.