Skip to main content
Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id : mxKg8naYr+S8aeN69/9z/8
Copilot Studio - Building Copilot Studio Chatbo...
Unanswered

Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

Like (0) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on 23 Dec 2020 04:52:02 by

Hi Team,

I have created a Knowledge Base using a QnA Maker in Microsoft Azure and integrated it to Teams using Power Virtual Agent in Teams. I have submitted the bot for admin approval, which already is approved and now my bot shows up in the list of apps in Microsoft Teams for everyone. However, I still cannot add it as a team member in any Teams channel. I did go through the Microsoft documentation where it says that any conversation with the bot is done privately, but I need it to be added to only some specific channels. Could you suggest any workaround for the same?

 

  • nmk Profile Picture
    193 on 24 Dec 2020 at 07:18:51
    Re: Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

    @renatoromao - yes you are right. this is a limitation from MS. That's why I mentioned all the possible ways I can think of. @Anonymous needs to evaluate the options and go for one.

     

    For "Copy Link " option, it can be used by anyone in the org. The access is controlled via security settings. So there's no need of a workaround. Details here. I haven't tried that but it should work.

     

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-virtual-agents/teams/configuration-security-teams

     

     

     

  • CU22081450-0 Profile Picture
    Most Valuable Professional on 24 Dec 2020 at 07:00:48
    Re: Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

    Hi @Anonymous ,

     

    I recommend to be attention of the @nmk  way because if you block Power Virtual Agents for the users, they can not use Power Virtual Agents before to allow again, you will block all bots for the users and not for a specific bot. When you publish your bot inside the Microsoft Teams, he is an internal app but will don't appear inside the Manage Apps (In my experience, all bots developed don't appear in the Admin.teams.microsoft.com panel), so you can not disable it for other users.

     

    Also, you can Copy Link and share with users but only team members can use the chatbot. If the user is not a member, you will see a message like::

    App not found

    The app may not exist, or your organization may have disallowed you from using it

     

    A workaround to do it (but it's not good), is adding all users that you want to use this chatbot inside this team, send the link to all users and send a message like "Hey guys, add this bot with this link today.". After all users add this bot to themselves, you remove everyone inside this team, now all users will able to use the added chatbot without permission to access this team.

  • nmk Profile Picture
    193 on 24 Dec 2020 at 06:06:28
    Re: Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

    Few ways. Not sure if these can help you achieve your goal.


    -- Create a team with only restricted people and have a bot for that team and publish for that team only.


    -- Publish the bot but don't share with a team. Instead, share the URL with specific people. In this way the bot won't be available in 'built by colleague' section so not discoverable by other people. Not a foolproof way but still can work for your scenario 


    --Don't share the URL as mentioned above but take help from team admin to push the app to restricted people. Explore what you can do with app setup policies here.

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-US/microsoftteams/teams-app-setup-policies?WT.mc_id=TeamsAdminCenterCSH


    -- Allow or block PowerPlatform apps for specific users. Explore the possibilities here

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/manage-power-platform-apps#allow-or-block-microsoft-power-platform-apps-for-specific-users

     

    These are some ways you can try. Maybe you need to discuss this with you MS Teams admin. The PVA bot for teams operates within the larger ecosystem of MS team and there are many things you might able to achieve by using other parts of the ecosystem.

     

    HTH

  • Community Power Platform Member Profile Picture
    on 24 Dec 2020 at 04:51:59
    Re: Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

    How can we restrict it for few people?

  • nmk Profile Picture
    193 on 24 Dec 2020 at 04:40:02
    Re: Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

    Hi @Anonymous,

    If you want to restrict the bot for a few people only, this can be easily achieved. I thought you wanted to add the bot to a channel conversation which is a different thing. Let me know if I understood correctly. thanks

  • CU22081450-0 Profile Picture
    Most Valuable Professional on 24 Dec 2020 at 04:26:01
    Re: Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

    Hi @Anonymous ,

     

    Unfortunately , you can’t do that yet, we don’t have a workaround of it.

     

    Today you can share to everyone or only for a members of your team.

     

    As I said, you can create your idea here: https://aka.ms/pva/community/ideas

  • Community Power Platform Member Profile Picture
    on 24 Dec 2020 at 04:11:31
    Re: Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

    Yes. After getting the admin approval, we are able to add the bot as a stand alone app in the side bar. But the requirement is to add it to specific channels and not for everyone. So the documentation states its not possible, but I have a requirement to do that. Basic task is to have the bot available only for few people which are part of a group and not for everyone. Do we have any workaround to this limitation?

  • nmk Profile Picture
    193 on 23 Dec 2020 at 13:18:49
    Re: Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

    @renatoromao - can you please elaborate the first line? As per my understanding, you can't add PVA bot to any channel. It just gets added as a standalone app. Please correct me if  I am wrong.

     

     

  • CU22081450-0 Profile Picture
    Most Valuable Professional on 23 Dec 2020 at 08:03:15
    Re: Adding a bot created using PVA in Teams on specific channels in teams.

    Hi @Anonymous ,

     

    Unfortunately, today you can just add in one channel. 

    The chat bot will be appear inside the apps on Teams and not inside the channel, so you can share using the documentation to other users inside your organization, you just adding as a member of a team.

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-virtual-agents/teams/admin-share-bots-teams#share-bots

     

     

    If you want to see a possibility to add in more channels easily, you can create your idea here: https://aka.ms/pva/community/ideas

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

Announcing our 2025 Season 2 Super Users!

A new season of Super Users has arrived, and we are so grateful for…

Paul Stork – Community Spotlight

We are honored to recognize Paul Stork as our July 2025 Community…

Congratulations to the June Top 10 Community Leaders!

These are the community rock stars!

Leaderboard > Copilot Studio

#1
Michael E. Gernaey Profile Picture

Michael E. Gernaey 468 Super User 2025 Season 2

#2
stampcoin Profile Picture

stampcoin 52 Super User 2025 Season 2

#3
trice602 Profile Picture

trice602 46 Super User 2025 Season 2

Featured topics

Loading complete