M365 Copilot — Workflows (Frontier)

At a glance

What it is
An agent in Copilot Chat that builds automated
flows from a plain-language description.

Key difference from Power Automate
No designer, no connectors to configure.
Describe it — Workflows builds it in seconds.

Key limitation
Microsoft 365 connectors only. No Salesforce,
Google, or third-party integrations yet.

Use case	What it automates	For
Daily email briefing	Scans inbox, extracts action items, sends Teams summary at a set time	Manager · Exec · EA
Approval routing	File added to SharePoint → sends approval request → posts result to Teams	PM · Content Lead · Finance
Meeting prep delivery	Sends weekly Teams message with calendar + Planner tasks before the week starts	Manager · Team Lead · EA
Vendor/client email alert	Specific sender received → immediate Teams notification with summary	Commercial · Sales · BD
Planner team digest	Scheduled Teams post of overdue or upcoming tasks from a Planner plan	PM · Team Lead · PMO
New SharePoint item alert	Item added to SharePoint list → notifies a Teams channel with details	Ops · Finance · Procurement

Workflows vs the other tools — when to use which

Tool	Best for	Connectors	Editable?
Workflows	Personal automation described in plain language — individual productivity	6–8 Microsoft 365 only	No — regenerate if needed
Power Automate	Team or enterprise workflows, complex logic, third-party systems	300+ (multi-vendor)	Yes — full visual designer
Copilot Studio	IT-built agents and flows deployed org-wide, multi-agent orchestration	300+ via connectors	Yes — full environment
Copilot Cowork	Long-running multi-step tasks Copilot executes autonomously on your behalf	M365 built-in skills (13)	N/A — task-based, not flows

Setup — 5 steps

Open Copilot Chat

Sign in to m365.cloud.microsoft/chat with your work account. Confirm your organisation has Frontier access before proceeding.

Add the Workflows agent

Click All agents in the Copilot Chat sidebar. Search for Workflows (labelled "Frontier"). Click Add. It will now appear in your agents list.

Describe your automation

In the Workflows chat, type exactly what you want automated in plain English. Be specific: include times, folder names, Teams channel names, and people's names. Workflows generates the flow in real time.

Review the flow

Workflows shows you each step it created. Read them carefully. If something is wrong, describe the correction in chat — you cannot edit flow steps manually. Click Test to run it once before enabling.

Save and manage

Save the flow. View all your flows under My workflows in the Workflows agent. Toggle flows on or off. Check the Activity tab to see every run with execution details.

Use cases — what to automate and how to describe it

Each card shows the scenario and example phrases to use

Use cases — by role and scenario

Daily email briefing

Manager · Executive · EA · Anyone with a busy inbox

Most common starting point

When to set this up

You triage your inbox manually every morning
You miss important emails buried in volume
You want a summary before you open Teams
You manage multiple projects with different senders

Say this to Workflows

Each weekday at 8:30 AM, scan my inbox for the last 24 hours, identify any emails that need action, and send me a summary in Teams chat
Every morning at 9 AM, send me a Teams message listing any unread emails from [name] or [name] with a one-line summary of each

Be specific about time, inbox scope (all unread, or last 24 hours), and where the summary should go (Teams chat vs. a channel). Vague descriptions produce vague flows.

Approval routing from SharePoint

PM · Content Lead · Finance · Procurement · Document Control

Replaces manual routing emails

When to set this up

Documents are uploaded to SharePoint for review
You manually email approvers when files arrive
Approvals sometimes get missed or delayed
You want a Teams notification when approval completes

Say this to Workflows

When a new file is added to the [folder name] library on the [site name] SharePoint site, send an approval request to [name], and if approved, post a message in the [channel] Teams channel with the file name and a link
When someone uploads a document to the [folder] SharePoint folder, email [name] asking them to review it and let me know their decision in Teams

Use the exact SharePoint site name and folder name as they appear in SharePoint — Workflows resolves them by name. Ambiguous names (e.g. "Documents") may match the wrong library.

Weekly meeting prep and task digest

Manager · Team Lead · EA · PMO

High-value for Monday mornings

When to set this up

You want to start Monday already knowing your week
You manage a team with tasks spread across Planner
You spend time each Monday manually pulling together a briefing
You want your team to receive a consistent weekly digest

Say this to Workflows

Every Monday at 8 AM, send me a Teams message with my meetings for the week and all Planner tasks from the [plan name] plan that are due this week or overdue
Every Friday at 4 PM, post a message in the [channel] Teams channel listing all tasks in the [plan name] Planner plan that are overdue or due next week, with the task name and assigned person

Specify the exact Planner plan name and whether you want it sent to you personally (Teams chat) or to a team channel. Both options are supported.

Priority sender alert

Commercial · Sales · BD · Legal · Anyone with critical external contacts

Instant awareness without inbox monitoring

When to set this up

You work with a client or stakeholder who sends time-sensitive emails
You cannot monitor your inbox continuously during meetings
You want immediate Teams notification, not just email
You manage a relationship where response speed matters

Say this to Workflows

When I receive an email from [name] or anyone at [domain.com], immediately send me a Teams chat message with the sender name, subject line, and a one-sentence summary of the email
When an email arrives from [name] with the word 'urgent' in the subject line, send me a Teams notification straight away

You can filter by sender name, email domain, or subject line keywords. Combine conditions: "from [domain] AND subject contains [word]" to reduce noise from that same sender.

SharePoint list item notification

Ops · Finance · Procurement · Admin · IT

Replaces manual monitoring of shared lists

When to set this up

Your team logs requests, issues, or items in a SharePoint list
You need to know when new entries are added without checking the list constantly
A process depends on a person being notified when a list changes

Say this to Workflows

When a new item is added to the [list name] list on the [site name] SharePoint site, post a message in the [channel] Teams channel with the item title and the name of the person who added it
When a new entry is created in the [list name] SharePoint list, send me a Teams notification with the key fields from the new record

Use the exact list name from SharePoint — not the page title, the list name. If you are unsure, navigate to the list and check the URL for the list identifier.

End-of-day personal wrap-up

Anyone who loses track of the day and leaves items open

Low setup, high daily value

When to set this up

You often end the day without reviewing what was left open
You want a routine close-of-day nudge without managing it manually
You have Planner tasks that drift without a daily check

Say this to Workflows

Every weekday at 5 PM, send me a Teams message with any Planner tasks from the [plan name] plan assigned to me that are overdue or due today
Each weekday at 6 PM, scan my inbox for emails I received today that I haven't replied to, and send me a list in Teams so I can follow up tomorrow morning

Pair an end-of-day flow with a morning summary flow to create a lightweight daily rhythm without any manual review effort.

Rules for getting reliable results

01
Name locations exactly as they appear in Microsoft 365. For SharePoint sites, folders, and Teams channels, use the exact display name. Workflows resolves names by matching — "Documents" will likely match the wrong library. Navigate to the location first and confirm its exact name.
02
Always test before enabling a flow. Click the Test button in the Workflows interface before saving to production. Flows run on real data — an untested approval routing flow will send real approval requests to real people.
03
You cannot edit a generated flow — describe a new one instead. If a flow has an error or needs a change, describe the corrected version in chat. Workflows generates a new flow. Delete the old one from My workflows before enabling the new version.
04
Delete flows before uninstalling the Workflows agent. If you remove the Workflows app without deleting your flows first, those flows will continue running in the background. You will not be able to manage or stop them until you reinstall the app.
05
One flow per distinct process. A single flow with five different trigger conditions produces unreliable results. Create one flow per distinct automation — they are fast to build and easy to toggle individually.
06
Flows run as you, with your permissions. Workflows can only access resources you have permission to access. If you do not have edit rights to a SharePoint library, the flow will fail when it tries to read from it.

What Workflows can connect to

Workflows supports Microsoft 365 native connectors only. Third-party and custom connectors are not available in the Frontier preview. All flows run with your existing user permissions — Workflows cannot access anything you cannot access directly.

Outlook — send, reply to, and read emails; create calendar events

Microsoft Teams — post messages to channels and chats; create conversations

SharePoint — read and create list items; trigger on new files or items

Microsoft Planner — create tasks; list tasks; trigger on task changes

Approvals — create approval requests; handle approval responses

Office 365 Users — look up managers; retrieve org profile data

Salesforce / Dynamics — use Power Automate instead

SAP / Oracle / ERP systems — use Power Automate instead

Google Workspace / Slack — use Power Automate instead

Custom connectors — not available in Frontier preview

Available now (Frontier)

Not available — use Power Automate

IT admin requirements — what needs to be in place

Required

Frontier programme enrolment

Enrol via M365 admin centre → Copilot → Frontier. Assign access to all users or a specific security group. Without enrolment, the Workflows agent will not appear in Copilot Chat.

Required

Dataverse environment

Workflows stores flows in Dataverse. If no Dataverse environment exists, it is created automatically on first use. Confirm available Dataverse capacity in the Power Platform admin centre.

Required

DLP policy — 6 connectors

Your Power Platform DLP policy must include these connectors in the Business data group: SharePoint, Approvals, Teams, Planner, M365Copilot, Outlook.

Required

AI features enabled

In Power Platform admin centre, enable AI actions and AI prompt features. Without these, Workflows cannot generate or run AI-powered flow steps.

Conditional

Cross-region data movement

If your environment is in a region without GPU resources (e.g. some EU regions), toggle on Move data across regions in Power Platform admin centre settings. Required for AI processing.

Management note

Flows are stored in Dataverse

Workflows flows are stored as M365CopilotAgentFlow in Dataverse — separate from standard Power Automate flows. They are not visible in the Power Automate UI and cannot be managed from there.

Failure modes to expect

The flow triggers on the wrong SharePoint site or Teams channel. Workflows resolves names by matching display names — if you have multiple sites or channels with similar names, it may pick the wrong one. Use the most distinctive part of the name and verify the generated flow steps show the correct location before testing.

The flow generates differently each time you describe the same automation. Workflows uses an LLM to interpret your description — it will not produce the identical flow twice. This is by design. If the generated flow is not what you intended, describe the correction or re-describe more precisely rather than retrying the identical prompt.

The flow fails silently after running for days. Check the Activity tab in the Workflows agent regularly to confirm runs are completing. Flows may fail if a referenced SharePoint library is renamed, a Teams channel is deleted, or your Planner plan is archived. There is no automatic failure notification in the preview.

You uninstalled Workflows and the flows kept running. If you remove the Workflows app from Copilot Chat without first deleting your flows, those flows continue executing in the background with no management interface. Reinstall the Workflows app to regain access, then delete the flows before uninstalling again.

The flow works in test but fails in production. Test mode runs with your live permissions at the moment of testing. Permissions can differ by time of day, by resource, or by policy change. If a flow passes test but fails in production, check that all referenced resources still exist and that your permissions have not changed.

The Workflows agent is not visible in Copilot Chat. Your organisation is either not enrolled in Frontier, or Frontier access has not been assigned to your account. Contact your IT admin to verify Frontier enrolment and confirm your account is in the assigned group.