AI Collaborator: "Write task fields" not offered to Copilot Studio agent

Question

Hi all,we connected a Microsoft Copilot Studio agent to Workfront as an AI Collaborator (Task agent). The connection works: the agent is triggered, posts its comment and sets the task status. But it cannot write custom form fields, although "Write task fields" is enabled.SetupAI Collaborator, type Task agent, origin Microsoft Copilot Studio (web channel secret, Test connection = Connected), access level Standard	After the Collaborator is finished with its work, it can: Mark task complete = Allow, Write task fields = Allow	Task fields the agent can write: the task custom form was added. After saving, the dialog shows its 5 fields individually under Fields.	Custom form (object type Task) with 5 text fields, attached to the task before the collaborator is assigned. It's visible in Task Details, and objectCategories contains it.What Workfront sends to the agent (from the Copilot Studio conversation transcripts; we checked 26 runs across 6 collaborators):task.customFields contains only fields that already have a value, by name without the DE: prefix (e.g. {"product_sku": "…"}). Reading works.	In every run, outputSchema contains only botId, taskId, task_complete, followup_questions, comment and update_task_status (INP/CPL), plus document_upload when uploads are allowed, with "additionalProperties": false. There is no property for task fields.So the agent can read custom fields but has no way to return values for them. It ends up putting them into the comment.What we tried, with no changeForm attached at task creation; project created in Planning; collaborator assigned; then the project switched to Current	All fields prefilled before the collaborator was assigned	Field names changed to names without spaces (brief_rating; DE:brief_rating via the API). The collaborator config picked up the new names.	A colleague sees the same behaviour with his own collaborators and forms (same instance, Production).QuestionsIs Write task fields supported for Microsoft Copilot Studio task agents, or only for other origins (Claude Managed Agents, Writer, custom agent)?	Under which conditions does Workfront add a task-field property to the outputSchema? Are there requirements for the field type, the form's sharing settings, or the collaborator's access level (ours is Standard)?	What does the expected reply look like when writing fields (property name and value format, e.g. DE:<field name> or field ID)?Thanks!

Patrick-antegma · Answer

Here an update after a few more test:Reading works:Workfront includes the form's values intask.customFields.Writing doesn't:even with the fields visible to the agent, theoutputSchemahas no property for task fields.Side note:document_uploadappeared in the schema (even as a required property) for a collaborator whereUpload a documentis set toDo not allow. So the schema doesn't seem to reflect the current collaborator settings reliably.This is the completeoutputSchemaWorkfront sent to the agent in the latest run.Write task fieldsis allowed and the form is selected, but no field property is present:{  "type": "object",  "properties": {    "botId": {      "type": "string",      "description": "The bot ID"    },    "taskId": {      "type": "string",      "description": "The Workfront task ID"    },    "task_complete": {      "type": "boolean",      "description": "Whether the task is fully done. Set to true ONLY when you have finished the task. Whenever you need more information from the user before you can finish -- including any time you are asking a clarifying question -- you MUST set this to false."    },    "followup_questions": {      "type": "array",      "items": {        "type": "string"      },      "description": "A structured list mirroring the clarifying question(s) you are asking, one question per array item. Populate this whenever you set task_complete to false because you need more information from the user; leave it empty ([]) when task_complete is true. This is a machine-readable signal -- ask the same question(s) in the comment as well, since the comment is what the user actually sees."    },    "comment": {      "type": "string",      "minLength": 1,      "maxLength": 10000,      "description": "Comment to post on the task -- this is the message shown to the user, and it must always be present and non-empty. When you need to ask the user for clarification, ask your question(s) here in the comment (and also set task_complete=false and mirror them in followup_questions). Always return your output as JSON matching this schema, never as plain prose."    },    "update_task_status": {      "type": "object",      "properties": {        "status": {          "type": "string",          "enum": [            "INP",            "CPL"          ],          "description": "Workfront task status code to set on the task. One of: INP, CPL"        }      },      "required": [        "status"      ],      "description": "A status to set on the task"    }  },  "required": [    "comment",    "update_task_status"  ],  "additionalProperties": false}For the second collaborator in the same run, the schema was identical except for this additional property (anddocument_uploadadded torequired):{  "document_upload": {    "type": "object",    "properties": {      "filename": {        "type": "string",        "maxLength": 255      },      "markdown": {        "type": "string",        "maxLength": 500000,        "description": "Markdown content to render into the DOCX"      }    },    "required": [      "filename",      "markdown"    ],    "description": "A document to upload to the task"  }}So the open question is still whetherWrite task fieldsis supported for Copilot Studio agents, and what the reply for field updates should look like.

Sign up

Login with SSO

Login to the community

Login with SSO