A single sentence can now stand in for a Power Automate flow diagram, at least for the simple cases.
Microsoft's July 2026 update to Copilot in SharePoint adds built-in approval tracking for managing sign-offs, requests, and reviews directly inside a SharePoint list or document library. Instead of building a custom approval flow, a site owner can type a request in plain English and Copilot configures the tracking view on the spot. Source: Microsoft Tech Community, "What's New in Copilot in SharePoint: July 2026".
What the feature actually does
Typing a request such as the prompt below against an existing library gives Copilot enough to work with:
From that single instruction, Copilot builds a status-grouped view over the existing items, flags anything that looks overdue or stalled, and can set up automated email reminders. Microsoft describes the repeatable versions of these requests as becoming reusable "workflow skills" that a site owner can invoke again later without re-describing the whole thing from scratch.
How this differs from a Power Automate approval flow
Traditional SharePoint approval tracking means designing a Power Automate flow: choosing a trigger, adding an approval step, wiring up notifications, and testing it against edge cases. That is the right tool for a multi-stage sign-off chain with conditional branching. It is overkill for a site owner who just wants a status column, an overdue flag, and a reminder email on a single list.
Copilot's natural-language approach targets exactly that overkill gap. It will not replace a properly designed multi-approver flow with conditional routing, but for single-stage request tracking, most of the setup work disappears behind a plain-English prompt.
What admins should check before this reaches active teams
- Confirm your Copilot in SharePoint rollout status. This feature rides on the same on-by-default rollout that began in mid-June 2026. If your tenant opted out at the tenant or site level, approval tracking will not be offered either.
- Review who can create these views. Any user with edit access to a list can ask Copilot to build a tracking view over it. That is convenient for self-service admins, but it also means status views and reminder emails can appear on lists nobody explicitly approved for that purpose.
- Check reminder email scope. Automated reminders generated this way go out to whoever is listed as the approver or assignee on the flagged items. Confirm that field is populated with the right people before turning a casual test prompt loose on a live list.
Why this matters for lists with messy permission histories
Approval tracking views surface every item's current status, including items an admin may have forgotten still carry unique permissions from an earlier reorganisation. Before natural-language approval views become part of daily workflow on a given site, it is worth confirming the underlying list does not have stale broken-inheritance entries skewing who sees what. ShareMaster's guide to fixing broken SharePoint permission inheritance covers how to find and clean those up before layering more automation on top.
For a broader view of what else shipped alongside this update, see the related coverage of Copilot's interactive reports feature, released in the same wave.
Source: Microsoft Tech Community: What's New in Copilot in SharePoint, July 2026.