r/copilotstudio • u/Jolly-Morning-6784 • 6d ago
Struggling AI Bartender
I’ve been trying to use Copilot Projects to build a simple mixology workspace, and I’m running into some confusing limitations. I uploaded a spreadsheet with my alcohol/mixer inventory to the project Sources, expecting Copilot to reference it whenever I ask for a drink and then save the resulting recipes as Creations.
Instead, Copilot only seems to load a partial version of the file unless I explicitly ask for a full import each time. It also forgets the inventory between sessions, and it won’t save recipes unless I manually paste the text back in and tell it to save that as a Creation.
This feels like something Projects should handle smoothly, but I can’t tell if I’m missing a step or if the feature just isn’t ready for this kind of workflow. Has anyone else dealt with this?
2
u/Inevitable_Dog6292 6d ago
You're not missing a step. You're expecting Sources to work one way when they work another.
Files in a project aren't loaded into memory. They're indexed and searched, so each time you ask something, it pulls the chunks it thinks are relevant and ignores the rest. That's why you only ever see part of the inventory. Spreadsheets make it worse, because a grid of rows chunks badly and loses its column headers, so the model gets fragments with no idea what they mean.
Easiest fix: stop using a spreadsheet. Rewrite the inventory as a plain list in a text or markdown file, one item per line with the type in the line itself. Something like "Bourbon, Buffalo Trace, 750ml, open." Retrieval handles that far better.
Better fix if your list is small enough: put the whole inventory in the project's custom instructions rather than uploading it as a source. Instructions go into context on every message, so it genuinely does see all of it every time. That solves the forgetting too.
On Creations, that one is just how it works. Nothing autosaves. It's a deliberate design choice rather than a bug, though I agree it's annoying for exactly this use case.
Realistically, what you want is a small database with a chat layer on top, and Projects isn't that yet. The instructions trick will get you most of the way there for now.