Copilot Connectors and Power Platform Connectors
Graph-indexed search and action-based Power Platform integration.
Two connector families, two completely different jobs
Think of it like a library vs a phone call.
Copilot connectors work like a library card catalogue — they pre-index external content (ServiceNow articles, Confluence pages, file shares) into Microsoft 365 so your agent can search it. About 50 connectors are available, and the M365 admin sets them up.
Power Platform connectors work like making a phone call — your agent dials an external service (Salesforce, SAP, Jira) in real time, asks a specific question, and gets a live answer back. Over 1,000 connectors are available, and you as the developer configure them inside Copilot Studio.
One gives your agent a searchable brain. The other gives your agent hands to reach out and grab live data.
Copilot connectors vs Power Platform connectors
This table is critical for the exam. When a scenario describes how data reaches the agent, you need to instantly identify which connector family is in play.
| Feature | How data flows | Number available | Who sets it up | Auth model | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot connectors | Crawl external source → index into M365 Graph → agent searches index via generative answers | ~50 (ServiceNow, Confluence, Salesforce KB, Oracle, file shares, databases, etc.) | M365 admin in the admin centre (Search Admin or Global Admin role) | Tenant-level — Graph permissions and connector-specific credentials | Surfacing external documents and KB articles as searchable knowledge alongside M365 content |
| Power Platform connectors | Agent calls connector action at runtime → live API request → structured JSON response | 1,000+ (Salesforce, SAP, Jira, ServiceNow, custom APIs, SQL, HTTP, etc.) | Developer inside Copilot Studio (adds as an agent tool) | Connection-level — OAuth 2.0, API key, or service principal per connection | Real-time lookups, write-back operations, and calling external business logic |
Copilot connectors deep dive
Copilot connectors bring external content into the Microsoft 365 search ecosystem. Once indexed, the content is searchable by M365 Copilot, SharePoint search, and Copilot Studio agents.
How the pipeline works:
- Admin configures the connector in the M365 admin centre — specifies the external data source, credentials, crawl schedule, and schema mapping.
- Connector crawls the external system on schedule (frequency depends on the connector — typically every few hours).
- Content is indexed into the Microsoft 365 Search index as external items with properties, content, and access control lists (ACLs).
- Agent queries the index via generative answers — the user’s question is matched against indexed content, and relevant excerpts are used to generate a grounded response.
Key detail: item capacity and schema
Each Copilot connector connection can index up to 5 million items (depending on your M365 licence tier). The schema defines which properties are searchable, queryable, and retrievable. Getting the schema right is critical — if a field is not marked as searchable, the agent cannot find content based on that field. The exam may test whether you know that schema configuration affects search behaviour.
Power Platform connectors deep dive
Power Platform connectors are the action layer. They do not store or index anything — they call external APIs in real time and return structured data.
How they work in Copilot Studio:
- Developer adds a connector as a tool in the agent’s configuration. You select the connector and choose which actions to expose (e.g., “Get a record”, “List items”, “Create entry”).
- Developer configures inputs — map the agent’s conversation context (variables, slot values) to the connector action’s input parameters.
- At runtime, when the orchestrator determines the tool is needed, it calls the connector action, passes inputs, and receives a JSON response.
- Agent uses the response in the conversation — either directly in a message or as input to further logic.
Connection vs connector — know the difference
A connector is the definition (the API shape, actions, triggers). A connection is an authenticated instance of that connector for a specific user or service account. One connector can have many connections. When the exam asks about “configuring a connection,” they mean setting up authentication — not building the connector itself.
The developer’s workflow for each type
| Step | Copilot connectors | Power Platform connectors |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Plan | Identify external content to surface as knowledge | Identify external actions the agent needs to perform |
| 2. Configure | M365 admin centre → Connectors → set up source, schema, crawl | Copilot Studio → Tools → add connector → select actions |
| 3. Authenticate | Admin provides source credentials (service account) | Developer creates a connection (OAuth, API key) |
| 4. Map | Define schema: searchable, queryable, retrievable fields | Map input/output parameters to agent variables |
| 5. Test | Search for indexed content in M365 Search portal | Test the tool in the Copilot Studio test pane |
| 6. Monitor | Check crawl status and error logs in admin centre | Check connector run history in Power Platform admin centre |
Scenario: Kai wires up ServiceNow and Salesforce for Pacific Mutual
Kai has two integration tasks for Pacific Mutual’s agent:
Task 1 — ServiceNow Knowledge Base (Copilot connector): Pacific Mutual’s IT team maintains 5,000 knowledge articles in ServiceNow. Kai works with the M365 admin to set up the ServiceNow Copilot connector. The admin configures the connector in the M365 admin centre, provides ServiceNow service account credentials, maps the article schema (title, body, category as searchable; article ID as retrievable), and sets a 4-hour crawl schedule. After the first crawl completes, Kai tests: “How do I reset my VPN password?” — the agent returns a grounded answer citing the ServiceNow KB article.
Task 2 — Salesforce CRM (Power Platform connector): Insurance agents need live policy lookups. Kai adds the Salesforce connector as a tool in Copilot Studio, selects the “Get Record” action, configures OAuth 2.0 authentication with a Salesforce service account, and maps the policy number from the conversation to the record ID input. At runtime, when a user asks “What is the status of policy PM-2024-7891?”, the agent calls Salesforce live and returns the current policy status, premium amount, and renewal date.
Two sources. Two connector types. Same agent.
Kai wants Pacific Mutual's agent to search ServiceNow knowledge articles. The articles rarely change (updated weekly). Which approach is correct?
A developer adds a Salesforce Power Platform connector to their agent. What happens at runtime when a user asks for policy details?
Which statement correctly describes the authentication difference between the two connector types?