Solved: How To Get Copilot to Say a Someone’s Name (Microsoft Copilot Studio)

Enhance your chatbot’s user interaction by personalizing greetings with Microsoft Copilot Studio. This tutorial guides you through the process of configuring your Copilot to address users by their name, making conversations more engaging and personal. By securing user names and implementing the right authentication, you can pass names as parameters, creating a more dynamic and enjoyable user experience.

What You’ll Learn

• Capturing and using user names as variables.
• Configuring conversation start messages to include user names.
• Implementing authentication to gather user credentials.
• Setting up global variables for name storage and usage.

Why This Matters

Personalizing interactions in chatbot design significantly enhances the user’s experience. By having Microsoft Copilot address users by their name, you can foster a sense of connection and improve the overall engagement. This feature is particularly useful in scenarios where customer service personalization is vital, such as in customer support or internal team interactions within Microsoft Teams.

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Step-by-Step Instructions

Capturing User Names

1. Using Authentication:
   • If your chatbot is embedded in environments like Microsoft Teams, user authentication can automatically provide access to users’ credentials, including their names.
   • Ensure your chatbot supports authentication to securely access and utilize users’ personal details.
2. Asking Users Directly:
   • For scenarios where authentication isn’t used, start the conversation by asking the user for their name.
   • Example conversation prompt: “Hey, what is your name?”
3. Passing as Parameters:
   • If applicable, set up parameters to pass user names directly when starting a conversation with your chatbot.
   • This is generally a more advanced use case and might not be applicable to all scenarios.

Storing User Names

Once you have the user’s name, storing it as a variable in Copilot is essential for reuse. In our example, we are going to have Copilot say the User’s Name in the conversation start message:

• Navigate to the Conversation Start Message and click on the ‘Insert Variable’ feature (represented by X in squiggly brackets).
• If using authentication, search for system variables like user.fullName or user.displayName.
• For direct input, create a new global variable to store the name.
• Use the Identify feature to create an entity for names. Ensure it’s globally accessible across different topics (make it a global variable).
• Configure it to retain information across sessions if desired.

Configuring the Conversation Start Message

1. Accessing the Message:null.
2. Inserting User Name Variable:
   • Use the variable tool available in the message setup pane to insert the previously defined user name variable.
   • Example of a customized greeting: “Hello, [User Name]! How can I assist you today?”
3. Making Variables Global:null.

Tips and Best Practices

• Remember to Define Entity Types: When asking users for their name, define an entity in Copilot that looks for names, ensuring accurate data capture.
• Global Variables: Use global variables for storing user data so it is accessible throughout the session or in subsequent conversations.
• Session Management: Decide if the variable should persist across sessions for returning users.

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Conclusion

By personalizing your greeting messages, Microsoft Copilot Studio allows you to create a more engaging and user-friendly experience. Whether leveraging authentication to securely obtain user details or asking directly, integrating user names into conversation flows elevates interaction quality. Continue enhancing your chatbot designs with user-centric features to maintain a sophisticated and personable dialogue with Microsoft’s Power Platform tools.

Feel inspired to integrate these capabilities in your projects and excited to connect further? Contact me for direct support or explore more tutorials on personalized Copilot functionalities.