Microsoft Teams
Chat Aid provides native integration with Microsoft Teams, allowing your organization to get AI-powered answers directly within your Teams workspace.
Some Chat Aid features have different availability across platforms. See the Platform Compatibility section below for details.
Overview
The Microsoft Teams integration enables:
- Natural conversation with Chat Aid bot in channels and direct messages
- Access to your organization's knowledge base from within Teams
- Real-time message indexing from Teams channels
- User authentication and access management
- Support for both public and private Teams channels
Installation
Prerequisites
- Microsoft Teams workspace administrator access
- Microsoft 365 account
Installation Steps
- Contact Chat Aid Support: Microsoft Teams integration requires manual setup by the Chat Aid team
- Provide Tenant Information: Share your Microsoft 365 tenant ID with Chat Aid support
- Bot Installation: Chat Aid will install the bot application in your Teams workspace
- Authorization: Approve the necessary permissions for the bot
Required Permissions
The Chat Aid bot requires the following Microsoft Graph API permissions:
- ChannelMessage.Read.All: Read messages in Teams channels
- User.Read.All: Read user profile information
- Team.ReadBasic.All: Read basic team information
- Channel.ReadBasic.All: Read basic channel information
Using Chat Aid in Teams
Direct Messages
Users can send direct messages to the Chat Aid bot to ask questions:
- Find the Chat Aid bot in your Teams contacts
- Send a message with your question
- Chat Aid will respond with an AI-generated answer based on your data sources
Channel Mentions
Chat Aid can respond to questions in Teams channels when mentioned:
- In any channel where Chat Aid is added, type
@Chat Aidfollowed by your question - The bot will respond in the thread with an answer
Add the Chat Aid bot to channels where your team frequently asks questions for easy access.
Message Context
Chat Aid can maintain conversation context:
- Follow-up questions in the same thread are understood in context
- The bot remembers previous messages in the conversation
- Context is maintained per-thread for clarity
Teams Channel Indexing
Chat Aid can index messages from your Teams channels to make them searchable as part of your knowledge base.
Adding a Teams Channel as a Data Source
- Navigate to Integrations in Chat Aid
- Select Microsoft Teams from the list of integrations
- Choose Add Channel
- Select the team and channel you want to index
- Configure sync settings:
- Team: The Teams workspace
- Channel: The specific channel to index
- Team Assignment: Which Chat Aid team can access this data
How It Works
- Real-Time Sync: Chat Aid subscribes to channel messages via Microsoft Graph webhooks
- Message Storage: Messages are stored and processed for semantic search
- Thread Preservation: Reply threads are maintained in the indexed data
- Updates: Edited messages are automatically updated
- Deletions: Deleted messages are removed from the index
Message Format
Indexed Teams messages include:
- Message content
- Author information
- Timestamp
- Thread/reply relationships
- Subject (for channel posts with subjects)
Retrain Frequency Advantage
Microsoft Teams channels have a significant advantage for continuous retraining:
- Teams channels: Can retrain every 1 hour (continuous mode)
- Slack channels: Require 12 hours between retrains (continuous mode)
This means Teams channels can stay up-to-date 12x faster than Slack when using continuous auto-retrain schedules. This is particularly useful for rapidly changing channels or time-sensitive information.
For channels with frequent updates (e.g., project channels, support channels), enable continuous auto-retrain on Teams to ensure Chat Aid always has the latest information.
User Management
User Authentication
When a user first interacts with Chat Aid in Teams:
- Chat Aid automatically creates a user account linked to their Teams identity
- The user is added to your organization in Chat Aid
- Access permissions are determined by your organization's settings
Auto User Access
Chat Aid can automatically assign roles to new Teams users based on your configuration:
- Standard Users: Regular members of your Teams workspace
- Guest Users: Guest members in your Teams workspace
- Access Levels: Configure whether new users get Admin, Member, or No Access by default
Configure this in Settings → User Management → Auto User Access.
User Roles
Teams users in Chat Aid can have different roles:
- Admin: Full access to all settings and features
- Licensed Member: Full access to ask questions and use Chat Aid
- Unlicensed Member: Limited or no access (based on your plan)
Settings and Configuration
Response Settings
Control where and how Chat Aid responds in Teams:
Direct Message Responses
- Enable/disable Chat Aid responses to DMs
- Configure in Settings → Response Settings
Bot Responses
- Control whether Chat Aid responds to messages from other bots
- Useful for integrations and automation scenarios
Channel Response Permissions
- Control which channels Chat Aid can respond in
- Options include:
- All channels
- Only channels with licensed users
- Only private channels with licensed users
- No channels (DM only)
- Configure overrides for specific channels
See Response Settings for detailed configuration.
Data Source Settings
Configure which data sources Chat Aid uses when responding to Teams questions:
- Company Data Sources Only: Answers from your indexed data only
- Online Data Only: Answers from the internet (GPT-4.1 with May 2024 knowledge cutoff)
- Both: Combined search across company data and online sources
Platform Compatibility
Some Chat Aid features have different availability on Microsoft Teams vs. Slack:
| Feature | Microsoft Teams | Slack |
|---|---|---|
| Direct Messages | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported |
| Channel Mentions | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported |
| Channel Indexing | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported |
| Auto-Answer | ❌ Not Supported | ✅ Supported |
| Actions | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported |
| User Management | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported |
| Chat Widgets | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported |
| Teams Feature | ✅ Supported | ✅ Supported |
Auto-Answer is currently only supported on Slack. This feature allows Chat Aid to proactively answer questions in channels without being explicitly mentioned. For Microsoft Teams, users must mention @Chat Aid to get a response.
Troubleshooting
Bot Not Responding
Possible Causes:
- User doesn't have access (unlicensed)
- Channel response permissions are restricted
- Bot hasn't been added to the channel
- Message doesn't mention the bot in a channel context
Solutions:
- Check user license status in Settings → User Management
- Review response settings in Settings → Response Settings
- Ensure the bot is added to the channel
- Try mentioning
@Chat Aidexplicitly
Messages Not Indexing
Possible Causes:
- Webhook subscription expired
- Bot permissions were revoked
- Channel was not properly configured
Solutions:
- Contact support@chataid.com to verify webhook subscriptions
- Verify bot permissions in Teams admin center
- Re-add the channel as a data source
Sync Delays
Note: Chat Aid caches user license status and channel membership for up to 10 minutes for performance. After adding or removing users from channels, there may be a short delay before Chat Aid's response behavior adjusts.
Best Practices
- Add Bot to Relevant Channels: Install Chat Aid in channels where your team frequently asks questions
- Index Important Channels: Add channels with valuable discussions as data sources
- Set Clear Response Permissions: Configure channel response settings to match your team's workflow
- Educate Users: Let your team know they need to mention
@Chat Aidin channels to get responses - Review Access Regularly: Periodically review user access levels in User Management settings
Security
Microsoft Teams integration follows Chat Aid's security best practices:
- Secure Authentication: OAuth 2.0 authentication with Microsoft
- Permission Scopes: Minimal required permissions only
- Data Encryption: All data encrypted in transit and at rest
- Access Controls: Role-based access control for all features
For more information, see Security and Compliance.