Creating and Editing Topics in Copilot Studio

In Copilot Studio, topics are the building blocks that define how your copilot will interact with users through conversation. Topics represent portions of conversational threads between a user and a copilot, consisting of conversation nodes that dictate the flow and actions within the interaction. Whether you’re starting from scratch or using pre-built templates, Copilot Studio provides the flexibility to create seamless, engaging conversations.

Understanding Topics in Copilot Studio

A topic in Copilot Studio is a part of a conversation that your copilot follows when interacting with users. You can customize these topics using provided templates, build them from scratch, or leverage AI to generate them based on your descriptions. These topics define the conversational paths that a copilot can take, and you can visualize and edit them using the authoring canvas.

A topic typically includes several key components:

• Trigger Phrases: These are phrases or keywords that the copilot recognizes and uses to trigger the conversation. For example, a topic about store hours might be triggered by phrases like “check store hours” or “what are your opening hours?”
• Conversation Nodes: Nodes are actions within a topic, such as sending a message, asking a question, or calling a flow. They help shape the conversation based on user inputs and the copilot’s logic.

Prerequisites

Before you start creating topics, make sure you have a copilot set up. If you’re new to Copilot Studio, you can follow the guide on how to create and deploy a copilot. Once you have a copilot, you can begin crafting conversations using topics.

How Natural Language Understanding Works

Copilot Studio employs Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to interpret user inputs. NLU enables the copilot to identify user intent based on the phrases they use, even if the exact wording doesn’t match the trigger phrases. For example, if a user types “open hours,” NLU can match that input to a topic about store hours, triggering a conversation to help the customer.

The Test copilot pane in Copilot Studio allows you to monitor how the conversation progresses and make adjustments to the topics for better accuracy.

Types of Topics in Copilot Studio

There are two types of topics you’ll work with in Copilot Studio:

1. System Topics: These are predefined and handle essential behaviors like ending a conversation or routing to a human agent. You cannot create or delete system topics, but you can customize them as needed.
2. Custom Topics: These are the topics you create or modify to suit specific business needs, like answering FAQs or guiding users through processes. Custom topics allow you to build conversations tailored to your organization’s requirements.

Creating a Topic

Creating topics is simple and intuitive. Follow these steps:

1. Open your copilot from the Copilots page and navigate to Topics on the top menu.
2. Select Add a Topic, and choose From blank.
3. On the topic authoring canvas, a Trigger node will appear.
4. Add trigger phrases by selecting the More icon on the Trigger node, then navigating to the Properties panel. Enter 5 to 10 trigger phrases to help train the AI.
5. Add a name and description for your topic in the Details section to help identify its purpose.
6. Save the topic once you’ve added your trigger phrases.

You can also enrich your topic by adding conversation nodes such as Send a Message, Ask a Question, or even more advanced actions like calling a flow from Power Automate.

Node Types

Nodes form the building blocks of conversations. Here’s a quick rundown of the different types of nodes available:

• Send a message: Display a message to the user.
• Ask a question: Gather information from the user.
• Author using conditions: Branch the conversation based on conditions.
• Variable management: Set, parse, or clear values from variables.
• Call a flow: Trigger an external process like a flow from Power Automate.
• Advanced: Utilize features like HTTP requests, generative answers, or events.

Pro Tip: Rename nodes to make them easily identifiable, especially when working with more complex conversation flows. This helps maintain clarity and organization in your topics.

Editing and Testing Topics

Editing topics is as simple as adding new nodes or deleting unnecessary ones. To delete a node, select the More icon on the node and choose Delete.

Use the toolbar on the canvas for basic actions like cut, copy, paste, and undo. You can also switch to the code editor to view or modify your topic in YAML format, making it easier to share topics or import them from other bots.

After you’ve made changes to your topic, always test it using the Test copilot pane to ensure everything works as expected.

Input and Output Parameters for Topics

Topics can accept input and output parameters, allowing you to pass information between topics or store values during a conversation. This is particularly useful when using generative mode, as the copilot can fill topic inputs from conversation context or generate questions to gather missing information from users.

Publish Your Copilot

Once your topics are ready and thoroughly tested, you can publish your copilot to various channels, such as web, mobile apps, or Microsoft Bot Framework channels.