Microsoft Teams

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Admin privileges for setup

If not a Global Administrator, share authorization link with your organization's admin.

Overview

Thena's Microsoft Teams integration with the Slack App offers a streamlined communication platform for your team and customers. This integration enables your team to support customers via Slack while interacting with users on Microsoft Teams. This guide provides a detailed step-by-step process for new users to install and utilize the product.

Imagine you're working on Slack, but your customer is using Microsoft Teams. You want to provide customer support without leaving the Slack environment. In this scenario, the Microsoft Teams integration with the Slack App enables you to create a shared channel on Microsoft Teams and mirror the conversation in a Slack channel. This setup allows you to manage all communication directly from Slack.

See in action

Supported Teams channels

Standard channel on Teams

When your customer is on MS Teams, it is advised to create a 'Standard channel' on Teams and add Thena to this channel to communicate with your customers. Standard channels falls back to Thena bot messages when the user (vendor side) is not synced with MS Teams and is replying on the thread.

Shared channel on Teams

When your customer is using MS Teams and you have a shared channel with them, Thena does not support fallback bot messages if the user (vendor) is not synced with MS Teams. For this functionality to work, each user must individually sync with MS Teams to reply successfully in the channel. Additionally, the vendor must be the owner of the shared MS Teams channel.

Key Features

Richtext support

Message types

Attachment support

*If your team members do not have a Microsoft Teams license, their messages will be delivered using the Thena bot. Attachment, rich text, image unfurls, or emojis are currently not supported when sending messages from Slack to Microsoft Teams through the Thena bot.

Video and audio messages

Emoji support

Support for editing and deleting messages

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Creating, deleting, or editing channels across Teams and Slack is not supported.

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User statuses (online, offline, away, etc.) are not synced between Teams and Slack.

Pre-requisites

You will require the following:

1. Microsoft Team's licence for your team members.
2. Global Admin Privileges - Necessary because Thena utilises Microsoft Graph API for this connector and you require Global Admin Privileges for authentication
3. Configure Thena Request management on slack

Integration Steps

To connect Thena and Microsoft Teams with Slack, simply follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Thena web app, navigate to Configuration, select Setup, and choose Microsoft Teams.
2. Click on 'Download'.

3. Go to MS Teams, and under the 'Apps' section, select 'Manage your Apps'.
4. Click on 'Upload an app' and upload the downloaded Thena zip file on Step 2.

5. Navigate to the 'Thena Custom app' and click on 'Add'.

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Select "Add to a Team" option

Ensure that Thena is added to every customer Team.

6. Send a message to the bot with the text "login" as shown below and you will get a login link to authorise Thena as a user.

7. Click on the Login button and provide access the requested permissions to Thena.

8. After configuring Microsoft Teams for Thena, navigate back to the Thena web app and check the box next to "I've configured Microsoft Teams for Thena"
9. Once the configuration is complete, click on the "Connect" button to initiate the OAuth flow. This will connect your organisation's Microsoft Teams tenant to Thena. Make sure to follow the instructions and complete the process.

10. Once the authorization is complete, you'll be redirected to the configuration page.

11. Next, proceed with the channel and user sync.

    1. Syncing channels between Slack and Microsoft Teams involves fetching channel and user data and creating subscriptions for the channels. These subscriptions enable messages to be sent back and forth between Slack and MS Teams.
    2. Syncing users allows you to post messages as a user in Teams. If this is not set up, the messages would be delivered as Thena bot. Only those users, present in the synced channel would appear under Sync users.

    

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Teams Channel

Please be aware that the list includes team channels you've personally created. Channels created by customers will not be displayed here.

It is advisable for you to initiate team/channel and invite your customers to it.

Supported channel types

Broadcasts on MS Teams

Thena supports Broadcasts on your MS Teams channels. Click to learn more about Broadcasts.

When you send a Broadcast to a Slack channel which is mapped with a channel in MS Teams, we deliver the same to your MS Teams channel under the following conditions and constraints:

1. If the Broadcast is sent as a bot from Thena (if you haven't authorized Slack to reply as yourself on Thena, or send as a colleague, or send as the workspace name) - Broadcast will be posted on the MS Teams channel as the bot. If the Thena bot is not part of the channel or if it is a shared or private channel, the message will be posted as the Admin, provided the admin who installed Thena on your Team is part of the channel. However, in this case, the formatting of the Broadcast will not be as accurate as on Thena editor, with no support for rich text, image unfurls, or emojis.
2. If the Broadcast is sent as the authorized user (with a valid token) - Broadcast will be delivered as the user if the user has a valid token on Teams. Otherwise, it will fall back to the methods mentioned above.

Message delivery fallbacks

Slack to MS Teams

Messages from Slack to MS Teams are delivered using the user token of the user messaging in the Slack channel.

Fallback to bot

If the user messaging in Slack has not provided the user token in MS Teams or does not have a valid MS Teams license, we try to post the message in MS Teams using the Thena bot.

The messaging user is informed in Slack via an ephemeral about the same (only visible to the user)

Fallback to admin user

If the user messaging in Slack has not provided the user token in MS Teams or does not have a valid MS Teams license and we are unable to post the message using the Thena bot in MS Teams, we use the credentials of the admin who authenticated MS Teams with Thena to send the message in MS Teams.

The messaging user is informed in Slack via an ephemeral about the same (only visible to the user)

MS Teams to Slack

Messages from MS Teams are delivered in mapped Slack channels via the Thena bot and white labelled using the username and user profile of the user sending the message in MS Teams

Scope

Application scopes requested by Thena to connect

Delegated scopes requested by Thena for User Sync

FAQs

What is the Thena Microsoft Teams Bridge with the Slack App?

The Thena Microsoft Teams Bridge with the Slack App facilitates seamless communication between vendors on Slack and their customers on Microsoft Teams.

What types of channels with MS Teams are supported with this integration?

Both standard and shared channels on MS Teams are supported with this integration.

What are the prerequisites for using the Thena Microsoft Teams Bridge with the Slack App?

You need to have a Teams account with necessary permission & licence and a Slack account.

How do I integrate the Thena Microsoft Teams Bridge with the Slack App?

To integrate the Thena Microsoft Teams Bridge with the Slack App, follow the steps outlined in the Integration Steps section.

How do I link my Slack user to my MS Teams user if my email addresses differ?

If your email address on Slack differs from the one used in MS Teams (particularly if MS Teams provides an onmicrosoft.com email address for non-Outlook users), you can connect the two by following these steps:

Add your Slack email address to the Job Title field in your MS Teams profile. Thena will automatically recognize this and map your Slack user to your MS Teams user accordingly.

Note: This step must be completed for all users within your organization.

Why are Teams licenses required for all team members?

This requirement ensures that responses from your team appear under individual team members' names rather than the message being delivered in Teams by the Thena bot , providing your customers with a more personalized and seamless experience.

How to add Thena to a team on MS Teams?

Navigate to Apps on Teams -> Apps built for your organization -> Search for Thena -> Click on Add to a team

Why are my messages are not being sent on Teams?

This could happen due to multiple reasons. Listed below are the stepwise ways to debug this.

1. Ensure that the channel is mapped on Thena.
2. Ensure that your user is synced, i.e., you have authenticated your user token.
3. Make sure that Thena is added to the Team on Microsoft Teams.

This could also happen if you have not authorized yourself on Thena to send messages on your behalf as a user and not authenticated your user token on MS Teams. Refer to the below table for the delivery of messages on Thena and MS Teams depending on user authentication.

Why do I see a Thena logo against my customer who is on Teams?

This is because your customer must not have added a display picture on Teams and Thena defaults the display picture to Thena logo.

I had authenticated Thena to use my user token and send messages from Slack to MS Teams but I got a message that my token is expired and the message was sent to MS Teams via the bot?

The user token is refreshed automatically but it can expire in the below scenarios:

• Changing your password on MS Teams
• The integration being disconnected and reconnected
• Your permissions being revoked and reassigned
• Your teams license renewal failed and you purchased a new license

In all the above scenarios you will need to reauthorise Thena. If you do not re authorise Thena, your message would be sent to MS Teams using the Thena bot.

I had authenticated Thena to use my user token and send messages from Slack to MS Teams but I a message that my token is expired and the message was not sent to MS Teams?

The user token is refreshed automatically but it can expire in the below scenarios:

• Changing your password on MS Teams
• The integration being disconnected and reconnected
• Your permissions being revoked and reassigned
• Your teams license renewal failed and you purchased a new license

In all the above scenarios you will need to reauthorise Thena. If you do not re authorise Thena, your message would be sent to MS Teams using the Thena bot but if you have not added the Thena bot to the MS Team's team, your message may not be sent to MS Teams and you would get an error message in Slack.

Why do some of my messages on Slack appear as "edited"?

It is possible for some messages to get updated by the MS Teams - Subscription. This is because MS Teams bot sends the message before the Subscription is called and the latter updates the same message. This does not cause any data losses, hence can be overlooked in cases when there are no message edits. However, Thena supports legitimate message edits from Teams <> Slack and hence the messages are always updated to their latest states.

Ensuring User Consent for Apps in Microsoft Entra

To allow all users to consent to apps, including the Thena App, follow these steps:

Step 1: Sign in to the Microsoft Entra Admin Center

1. Go to Microsoft Entra.
2. Sign in using your credentials as a Global Administrator.

Step 2: Navigate to User Consent Settings

1. In the left-hand menu, select Identity.
2. Go to Applications.
3. Select Enterprise applications.
4. Click on Consent and permissions.
5. Choose User consent settings.

Step 3: Update User Consent Settings

1. Under User consent for applications, choose Allow user consent for apps.

Step 4: Save the Changes

1. Click on Save to apply your settings.

By following these steps, you will ensure that all users can consent to applications, including the Thena App.]

I have signed in and provided permissions to post as my user in MS Teams, but my messages are still being delivered as a bot

To ensure your messages from Slack to Microsoft Teams are delivered using your user token, please make sure you are also added as a member in the Microsoft Teams channel.