# SharePoint agents are changing: what to do before April 2027

> If your teams built agents in SharePoint, those .agent files stop working in April 2027. This guide shows how to list, sort, and upgrade them.

Canonical: https://www.dexy.cloud/insights/sharepoint-agents-transition-april-2027

If people in your business have created agents inside SharePoint, what happens to those agents next? Microsoft is retiring the .agent file format that SharePoint and OneDrive agents use today. Agents in that format stop working in SharePoint, Teams, and the Copilot app in April 2027. Each one needs to be replaced or upgraded before then.

## What is a SharePoint agent?

An agent here is an AI assistant that someone set up on a SharePoint site or in OneDrive to answer questions from that content. Until mid-November 2026, each one is saved as a file with the .agent extension, stored alongside the site's other files. Anyone with edit rights on a site and a Copilot license (or pay-as-you-go access) could create one, with no approval step by default, so agents may exist that IT has never reviewed.

## What is changing, and when

Microsoft announced the change in Message Center post MC1511052 on October 16, 2026. There are two dates to plan around.

From mid-November 2026, with the rollout expected to complete by early December 2026, new agents are built in the Microsoft Copilot Agent Builder. When someone chooses "Create an agent" or "New agent" in SharePoint or OneDrive, the Agent Builder opens. New agents no longer create .agent files. They appear in the Plugin store, Microsoft's shared catalog of approved and custom-built agents and plugins.

Existing .agent agents keep working until the end of March 2027. Then, from early April 2027, with the rollout expected to complete in mid-April, they stop working in SharePoint, Teams, and the Copilot app. That includes the Agent Link web part, the immersive view, and the chat pane in SharePoint.

<MdxImage
  src="/insights/sharepoint-agents-transition-april-2027-timeline.jpg"
  alt="Timeline with three markers: mid-November to early December 2026 for new agents in Agent Builder, end of March 2027 when .agent support ends, and early to mid-April 2027 when .agent agents stop working."
  align="right"
  size="MD"
  frameAspectRatio="natural"
  outline={false}
  padding={false}
  background="transparent"
  width={1920}
  height={1080}
  caption="Two rollouts to plan around. Upgrade before .agent agents stop working in April 2027."
/>

Teams needs one extra step. Upgraded agents must be re-added to Teams chats and channels. If a team relies on an agent inside a Teams channel, the upgrade alone won't put it back.

## A new way to put agents on pages

Today, many sites show an agent through the Agent Link web part, which stops working with the .agent format. Its replacement is the Agent chat web part. Page editors can add it to a modern SharePoint page and set it up to use any Microsoft 365 Copilot agent from the Plugin store.

Microsoft's roadmap item RM575298 lists the Agent chat web part as in development, with a preview in November 2026 and general availability in January 2027. That gives page owners time to replace the old web part before April 2027.

## Three ways to replace an agent

Microsoft's guidance is that the right path depends on what each agent helps people do today. There are three options.

If an agent mainly answers questions about one site, Copilot in SharePoint can now do that job, so the agent may not need replacing at all.
If an agent supports a specific task or business outcome on its site, convert it to a skill for Copilot in SharePoint. A new convert-agent-file-to-skill skill in Copilot in SharePoint does the conversion.
If people need a conversational assistant that answers from content across Microsoft 365, upgrade it to a declarative agent. The "Upgrade to M365 Agent" button in the SharePoint agent builder does this. If you have a custom engine agent published to the SharePoint channel, update it.

<ExpertQuote
  quote="The best way to prevent agent sprawl is to start with a registry that acts as a single source of truth."
  name="Charles Lamanna"
  role="Executive Vice President, Copilot, Agents, and Platform, Microsoft"
  sourceUrl="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/11/18/microsoft-agent-365-the-control-plane-for-ai-agents/"
/>

## How we run the transition

We run it as a short, planned project.

First, we take an inventory. We list every .agent agent across your SharePoint sites and OneDrive, with its owner and the content it answers from. We also note where people use it: on pages, in Teams, or in the Copilot app.
Next, we sort them. With each owner, we put every agent into one of the three paths: Copilot in SharePoint, a skill, or a declarative agent. Some agents turn out to be unused and can retire.
Then we upgrade. We convert or upgrade each agent and replace Agent Link web parts with the Agent chat web part once it's available. Then we re-add upgraded agents to the Teams chats and channels that used them.
Last comes governance. Upgraded and new agents are managed in the Agent Builder, the Microsoft 365 admin center, and Agent 365. Microsoft describes Agent 365 as the place for central controls over agents. We help your admins set up those controls so new agents don't pile up unseen again.

For MSPs, this is the same project for each client, with the same April 2027 deadline.

## What to do now

- Find the teams and site owners who built or manage agents, and share the April 2027 deadline with them.
- Start a list of your .agent agents and where each one is used.
- Ask your admins to get familiar with the Microsoft Copilot Agent Builder and Agent 365.
- You don't need to change any .agent agents today. You can keep editing them during the transition and upgrade when you're ready.

## FAQ

### When do SharePoint .agent agents stop working?

Agents in the .agent file format are supported until the end of March 2027. They stop working in SharePoint, Teams, and the Copilot app in a rollout that starts in early April 2027 and is expected to complete by mid-April 2027.

### Where are new SharePoint agents created?

From mid-November 2026, "Create an agent" or "New agent" in SharePoint or OneDrive opens the Microsoft Copilot Agent Builder. New agents appear in the Plugin store and no longer create .agent files.

### How do I upgrade an existing SharePoint agent?

Use the "Upgrade to M365 Agent" button in the SharePoint agent builder, or the convert-agent-file-to-skill skill in Copilot in SharePoint. Microsoft says the right path depends on the agent: Copilot in SharePoint for site Q&A, a skill for a focused site task, or a declarative agent for conversations across Microsoft 365.

### What replaces the Agent Link web part?

The Agent chat web part, which lets page editors add any Microsoft 365 Copilot agent from the Plugin store to a modern SharePoint page. Microsoft's roadmap lists a preview in November 2026 and general availability in January 2027.

### Do upgraded agents keep working in Teams?

Not automatically. Upgraded agents must be re-added to Teams chats and channels.

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## Need a hand moving your agents?

Talk to us: [contact us](/contact)

## Keep exploring

- [What's new in Copilot in SharePoint (October 2026)](/insights/whats-new-copilot-in-sharepoint-october-2026)
- [How to prepare SharePoint for Copilot](/insights/prepare-sharepoint-for-copilot)
- [AI and knowledge management](/ai-and-knowledge-management)