File attachments in Copilot for finance and operations apps

The chat experience for Copilot for finance and operations apps lets you attach files, like a screenshot of the current browser window for your finance and operations apps client session. The file is part of your chat session, and you work with it by adding extended topics or tools to Copilot to create custom experiences for your environment.

Prerequisites

To use attachments with Copilot for finance and operations apps, make sure these requirements are met:

• Finance and operations apps must be version 10.0.45 or later.
• Install these solutions in the Microsoft Power Platform environment. If they're not installed, you can learn about installing Dynamics 365 solution packages in Dataverse in Manage Dynamics 365 apps.
  • The Copilot for finance and operations package includes:
    • Copilot for finance and operations apps.
    • Copilot for finance and operations generation solution.
    • Copilot for finance and operations anchor solution.
  • Finance and Operations Virtual Entity.
• To enable the respective attachment experiences, turn on the following features in Feature management:
  • Enable user attachments in Copilot sidecar
  • Enable ability for user to attach a screenshot to Copilot sidecar

Attaching files to a chat session

The attachments feature supports uploading a file to your chat session or taking a screenshot of the current browser window in your finance and operations apps client session to attach to the chat session.

To add a file attachment to the chat session, follow these steps.

1. Select the Attach button in the chat window.
2. Select Browse....
3. Go to the file ___location, and select the file you want to attach.
4. Select Open.

To add a screenshot attachment to your chat session with Copilot for finance and operations apps, follow these steps.

1. Select the Attach button in the chat window.
2. Select Add screenshot.
3. When prompted to give the client access to the tab, select Allow.

Extending Copilot for finance and operations apps to use attachment files

By default, the chat experience for Copilot for finance and operations apps doesn't use files or screenshots attached to the chat session. Copilot adds the files to a system variable. To give Copilot the skills you want for users in your environment, you need to create custom topics or tools in Copilot for finance and operations apps.

When you attach a file to the chat session, Copilot Studio adds it to the System.Activity.Attachments object that has a table of file attachments. Use the file here, working with it like other files in Copilot Studio. To give Copilot more capabilities, create a topic or tool that uses file attachments and access the attached files in the table.

Example extending Copilot with attachments

This example shows how to extend Copilot for finance and operations apps with a custom topic that uses attachment files from the chat session to give the user more capabilities. In this scenario, you add a topic that reviews an attached screenshot of an error from Copilot for finance and operations apps, and Copilot gives guidance to the user to fix the error.

Create a new topic

To create a new topic, follow these steps.

1. In Copilot Studio, open the Copilot for finance and operations apps agent.
2. Select the Topics tab, and select Add a topic > From blank.
3. On the Trigger node, enter a description like: "This topic troubleshoots errors based on an attached screenshot. It helps with inputs such as 'Help me troubleshoot this error.'"

Get the attachment file

To get the attachment file, follow these steps.

1. In the new topic, select Add node > Variable management > Set a variable value to add a new Set variable value node.
2. Create a new local variable in the Set variable field called attachment_data.
3. In the To value field, enter the formula First(System.Activity.Attachments).Value.

Create a prompt that analyzes the error screenshot

To create a prompt that analyzes the error screenshot, follow these steps.

1. After the Set variable value node, select Add node > Add tool > New prompt.
2. Change the prompt title to Troubleshoot FinOps errors.
3. In the Model selector, select a model that supports documents and images, like GPT-4.1 or GPT-5.0.
4. In the Instructions, select Add content > Image or document. Set the Name to FinOpsScreenshot.
5. In the Instructions, after the document input, enter a prompt indicating what you want the LLM to do with the screenshot. For example: "Analyze this image to determine what error messages are displayed. Then provide step-by-step instructions for troubleshooting the error."
6. Save and close the prompt.
7. In the Copilot Studio topic, in the Input field of the prompt action, select the Topic.attachment_data variable created in the previous step.
8. In the Output field, create a new local variable called troubleshooting_output.

Return the response to the user

To return the response to the user, follow these steps.

1. After the Prompt node, select Add node > Send a message.
2. On the Message node, select the Insert PowerFx expression button.
3. Enter the formula and insert into the message: Topic.troubleshooting_output.text.

Test the attachments

After saving the topic, and publishing the changes to the agent, you can now try out the new attachments feature. In the finance and operations apps client, perform an operation that returns an error message. With the error message displayed on screen:

To test the attachments, follow these steps.

1. Open the Copilot sidecar chat panel.
2. Select the Attach button, then Add screenshot.
3. Select Allow.
4. In the Copilot chat, with the screenshot attached, type: "Help me troubleshoot this error."

The topic then uses the prompt action to analyze the screenshot and returns guidance to the user for troubleshooting the error.