Here's how to loop through arrays in Copilot Studio
Copilot Studio doesn't have a built-in Apply-to-Each like Power Automate, but you can still loop through arrays and lists. This guide shows you how to use Power FX and Go-to-Step navigation to process multiple items
Challenge
Working with collections of data is fundamental to application development, and arrays represent one of the most essential data structures for t2his purpose. A frequent requirement involves iterating through these collections to execute specific logic on individual items. While Copilot Studio serves as Microsoft’s low-code platform for creating intelligent conversational agents, it currently lacks native looping functionality. Although a preview feature called “Loop through a list” has been introduced to handle list iteration, this capability remains in preview and hasn’t reached general availability yet. In the meantime, developers need alternative approaches to manage and process collections effectively. This comprehensive guide provides a practical solution for this limitation while also exploring the upcoming “Loop through a list” preview feature.
A Practical Example
AssetGenie helps marketing teams quickly generate multiple content pieces for their campaigns. Users simply enter their campaign topic (like “AI-powered CRM software launch”) and select which marketing assets they need from a checklist - email templates, LinkedIn posts, press releases, product one-pagers, etc. The bot then processes each selected item individually, generating customized content for every chosen asset type. This scenario perfectly demonstrates the need for looping in Copilot Studio, as we need to iterate through the user’s multiple selections and generate content for each one.
Setup
- An adaptive card with text input for users to enter subject or context of the campaign
- A choice set with all the asset types available for user to generate and a button to submit
- This adaptive card is placed in the “Ask with Adaptive card” node and the inputs are stored in two variables namely: “inpSubject”[string] and “inpAssetsChoice” [Table]
Looping through inpAssetsChoice
Now let’s loop through inpAssetsChoice and pass the subject and current asset type (eg: Email template or Press release) to an AI builder prompt and generate content for that marketing asset
- Condition: If actionSubmitId is equal to “Generate assets”
- Set LoopIndex to 0: Create Set a variable value node from variable management and create new variable with name “LoopIndex”, set its value as 0
“Incement LoopIndex by 1”: Next, create another Set a variable value node and use the same “LoopIndex” variable and in the vvalue field switch to Formula and enter the following Power Fx formula
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Topic.LoopIndex+1
- Condition: LoopIndex “is less than or equal to” fx: CountRows(Topic.inpAssetsChoice)
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CountRows(Topic.inpAssetsChoice)
- Prompt: Provide inputs: inpSubject and current item: fx: Index(Topic.inpAssetsChoice, Topic.LoopIndex).Value
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Index(Topic.inpAssetsChoice, Topic.LoopIndex).Value
- Message: Select the AI Builder output: Topic.AssetContent.text
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Topic.AssetContent.text
- Go To step: Insert Go To step from Topic management and select the node “Incement LoopIndex by 1””
Complete YAML topic
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kind: AdaptiveDialog
beginDialog:
kind: OnConversationStart
id: main
actions:
- kind: AdaptiveCardPrompt
id: zlhU2Y
card: |-
{
"type": "AdaptiveCard",
"$schema": "https://adaptivecards.io/schemas/adaptive-card.json",
"version": "1.5",
"body": [
{
"type": "Container",
"showBorder": true,
"roundedCorners": true,
"style": "accent",
"items": [
{
"type": "ColumnSet",
"columns": [
{
"type": "Column",
"width": "stretch",
"items": [
{
"type": "TextBlock",
"text": "AssetGenie",
"wrap": true,
"size": "Large",
"color": "Default",
"isSubtle": true,
"style": "heading",
"horizontalAlignment": "Left"
}
],
"backgroundImage": {
"verticalAlignment": "Center"
},
"horizontalAlignment": "Left",
"verticalContentAlignment": "Center"
},
{
"type": "Column",
"width": "stretch",
"backgroundImage": {
"verticalAlignment": "Center"
},
"items": [
{
"type": "Image",
"url": "https://icon-library.com/images/content-icon/content-icon-16.jpg",
"size": "Medium",
"horizontalAlignment": "Right"
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "Container",
"showBorder": true,
"roundedCorners": true,
"separator": true,
"items": [
{
"type": "Input.Text",
"label": "Subject / Context",
"placeholder": "Placeholder text",
"isMultiline": true,
"id": "inpSubject"
},
{
"type": "Input.ChoiceSet",
"label": "Assets (Select all that you would like to generate)",
"choices": [
{
"title": "Email template",
"value": "Email template"
},
{
"title": "LinkedIn post",
"value": "LinkedIn post"
},
{
"title": "Twitter / X post",
"value": "Twitter / X post"
},
{
"title": "Press release",
"value": "Press release"
},
{
"title": "Product one-pager",
"value": "Product one-pager"
},
{
"title": "Landing page",
"value": "Landing page"
}
],
"placeholder": "Placeholder text",
"style": "expanded",
"isMultiSelect": true,
"id": "inpAssetsChoice"
}
],
"backgroundImage": {
"url": "https://static.vecteezy.com/system/resources/previews/001/946/670/original/abstract-template-grey-geometric-shine-and-layer-background-with-light-blue-effect-technology-style-free-vector.jpg"
},
"style": "emphasis"
},
{
"type": "ColumnSet",
"columns": [
{
"type": "Column",
"width": "auto",
"items": [
{
"type": "ActionSet",
"actions": [
{
"type": "Action.Submit",
"title": "Generate assets"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "Column",
"width": "stretch"
}
]
}
]
}
output:
binding:
actionSubmitId: Topic.actionSubmitId
inpAssetsChoice: Topic.inpAssetsChoice
inpSubject: Topic.inpSubject
outputType:
properties:
actionSubmitId: String
inpAssetsChoice:
type:
kind: Table
properties:
Value: String
inpSubject: String
- kind: ConditionGroup
id: conditionGroup_GcegVi
conditions:
- id: conditionItem_bQUBZL
condition: =Topic.actionSubmitId = "Generate assets"
actions:
- kind: SetVariable
id: 7oWGWG
displayName: Set LoopIndex to 0
variable: Topic.LoopIndex
value: 0
- kind: SetVariable
id: 9Tnelz
displayName: Increment LoopIndex by 1
variable: Topic.LoopIndex
value: =Topic.LoopIndex+1
- kind: ConditionGroup
id: MCad3W
conditions:
- id: yOmnNq
condition: =Topic.LoopIndex <= CountRows(Topic.inpAssetsChoice)
displayName: LoopIndex < Array length
actions:
- kind: InvokeAIBuilderModelAction
id: ADKOpH
input:
binding:
AssetType: =Index(Topic.inpAssetsChoice, Topic.LoopIndex).Value
Subject: =Topic.inpSubject
output:
binding:
predictionOutput: Topic.AssetContent
aIModelId: a57edec0-c2de-4548-a09f-e85cb84bc3c6
- kind: SendActivity
id: Gm6vMl
activity: |-
**{Index(Topic.inpAssetsChoice, Topic.LoopIndex).Value}**
{Topic.AssetContent.text}
- kind: GotoAction
id: MDhyu4
actionId: 9Tnelz
- kind: EndConversation
id: idBfht
Preview feature
A preview feature “Loop through a list” is available. To try this, head to “https://copilotstudio.preview.microsoft.com/” 
The above looping scenario can be handled simply though this approach as in the below snapshot
- After adding the “Loop through a list”, pass the variable of array/table.
This will automatically create a loop value variable, which stores the current item, and can be referenced in the actions inside the loop
Thank you! Please reach out in case of any questions or comments on this blog
Sandeep Angara
June 15, 2025