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I created an Azure Bot Service. When I test the service using "Test in Web Chat" it works as expected. When I add the Web Chat channel and use the Web Chat URL, it works as expected.

However, when I add the Microsoft Teams channel, it does not work as I expected. The Health Status shows "Healthy" (in "Channels (Preview)") and "Running" (in "Channels"). When I select "Open in Teams", I am redirected to Teams, but I do not see the bot as a user/bot I can chat with. I watched a video showing just that behavior as I was expecting, but the link only opens my Teams. I only have one other user in Teams and that user shows up. No sign of the bot. What am I missing?

I tried using the "Get bot embed codes". I put in the URL for the Mstreams href and instead of sending me to the bot user as I expected, I am redirected to the other user on the account (not the bot). What am I missing?

I've tried this using the "Channels" and the "Channels (Preview)" sections with the same results.

If relevant, I am still in the trial period with Azure and have not upgraded, but nothing says this should be an issue.

From all I can tell, I'm logging into the Azure portal and the Bot Framework portal with the same account as my Teams account. I'm using latest updated version of Chrome.

Azure Bot Config

Entering AppId in URL

Entering AppId into Search

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  • What you could try is run the bot locally in VS code (Teams Toolkit( and use the webclient of Teams to see if the bot functions with Teams. It that works, you can use the Teams toolkit to deploy the bot to the cloud. Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 7:04
  • @Hessel The backend is an existing webservice/function running in Google Cloud. There is no VS code to run, so I'm not clear how I would do that or even what "deploy the bot to the cloud" would mean in that context. Again, it works fine in the Web Chat channel so the backend doesn't seem to be the issue here. Commented Sep 10, 2021 at 16:21
  • will need more details on the configurations or any document you have followed to do this, a video perhaps would help identify further. Commented Sep 13, 2021 at 12:28
  • Maybe part of the issue is that this is NOT a Microsoft backend. This is driven off an existing app (in Google Cloud) that was modified to work with Azure. It is accessed via the Messaging endpoint. That endpoints seems to work fine because the Web Chat works as expected. So what is different about Teams? When I look at the documentation other's mention, it discusses building and deploying through Visual Studio. This wasn't build in VS, so I have nothing to deploy to the cloud that's not already there. Commented Sep 14, 2021 at 21:12
  • Another potential factor is that I have the free (personal?) version of teams and can't seem to access an admin settings section. Do I have to have a specific type of Teams? Commented Sep 14, 2021 at 21:21

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I think I have found the answer, though I'm still trying to retrace my steps to make sure this is accurate. I will update here if I find anything more of value.

Despite little/no documentation to this effect, bots apparently do not work in the free version of Teams. You have to at least:

  1. create a developer version of Microsoft O365 (E5 license) (and go through all the rigamarole to get it setup properly)
  2. add at least one more user to the organization
  3. then open Teams

Then, I used the embed URL to get the bot to show up. (Again, the same process did not work with my free Teams account even with another user added to it).

For the record, I didn't need to change any admin settings once the three items above were completed.

Working as hoped

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I received confirmation from a Microsoft support person that the above is correct (after they apparently checked with the products team). Bots do not work with the free version of Teams, though it is not well documented as such.
Glad you got it working, noted 😊👍
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I don't think free account has anything to do with this. But the fact that the " bot embed codes" lead you to a different user, may be a configuration issue. Read Create a bot and Test and debug your Microsoft Teams bot in the Microsoft Teams documents for more information.

If you have successfully deployed to teams channel (teams channel registration), as per docs Copy the https part of the code that is shown in the Get bot embed code dialog.

For example, https://teams.microsoft.com/l/chat/0/0?users=28:b8a22302e-9303-4e54-b348-343232

In the browser, paste this address and then choose the Microsoft Teams app (client or web) that you use to add the bot to Teams. You should be able to see the bot listed as a contact that you can send messages to and receives messages from in Microsoft Teams.

Alternately, In-order to test them in teams you need to take the app id from the Configuration page of the bot.

enter image description here

Once you search with the app ID in teams you would be able to see this bot as a contact in Microsoft Teams.

Refer:

Create a Teams app package and upload your app to the Teams client for testing. Learn how

Publish your bot as a Line of Business app in your organization's Teams Tenant App Catalog. Learn how

Publish your bot as an app in the Teams App store. Learn how

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I've added some images above which might be helpful along with a comment above. So, maybe there's something to having to create a bot in VS to get this to work? As I mention above, I have an existing endpoint which works for Chat, so the question is why is Teams any different?
Hi @YKStacker, Using the bot embed link are you able to redirect to your bot ?
Yes, I've tried the embed link: as a link in a simple webpage and just copying the URL directly into the address bar. Both open teams, but show no sign of that user. They just load Teams in the default state.

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