Who can access a chatbot in MS Teams?

[Anonymous]

Hello to everyone,

I have a very basic question. I have built a chatbot for a team in MS Teams. Can members of the team still chat with the chatbot

without having Power Virtual Agents installed in MS Teams?

For some members, the app doesn't appear in the app store and I am supposing it is because they do not have PVA installed in  MS Teams.

Thank you in advance,

llona

[renatoromao]

Hi @Anonymous ,

You can use the documentation below to do it:

Install the bot

Only users who can access the bot can use the installation link to install the bot. You can share the bot to give user access to the chat with the bot.

See more: Publish your chatbot with the Power Virtual Agents app in Microsoft Teams - Power Virtual Agents | Microsoft Docs

Show to teammates and shared users

Only teammates or shared users can find and install the bot in the Microsoft Teams app store Built by your colleague section. The bot will not show for everyone in the organization even if it is configured to allow everyone to use the bot. To show the bot to the organization, submit the bot for admin's approval to show in Microsoft Teams app store Built by your org section.

See more: Publish your chatbot with the Power Virtual Agents app in Microsoft Teams - Power Virtual Agents | Microsoft Docs

• Before installing the bot for yourself or sharing the bot with others, you should publish the bot at least once.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply.

I have seen the documentation multiple times, but it doesn't really answer my question.

[renatoromao · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous ,

By default, all members of your team will have access to this bot as a user.

Also, there is a recommendation from Microsoft that is:

"If your app doesn't appear in the Built by your colleagues section, your Teams app might be caching information.

Try signing out and back in again (if you're using the desktop app) or refreshing your browser (if you're using the web app of Teams)."

And make sure that your bot has been published.

[Nicer_Atl]

This can be confusing.

This topic may be a bit old, but I'll share my experience in case it helps someone.

The whole business of Publishing your PVA creation and it being available seems to have some dependencies;

1. Whether you designate the availability in the publishing or editing PVA details process.
2. Whether users are allowed to do things like side-load the PVA as an App as administered by Teams admin. (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/concepts/build-and-test/prepare-your-o365-...)
3. Whether your Teams admin has approved the PVA so that it appears in and loadable from the general list of Apps Built By Your Org.

Generally, once the PVA is published and at a minimum you have designated it to be available to members in your organization, they will be able to interact with it.

How they interact with it will depend on one of the things listed above.  If they Add as an app (side-loaded/uploaded), or add from the list of Apps Built By Members Of Your Organization, they will have it as an app in their left navigation. Otherwise, at a minimum they should be able to interact with it "privately" by just calling it using @mention by it's name from the Teams Search Bar, or starting a new private conversation with the PVA by it's name.

Hope this doesn't add confusion.  Its just my experience and what I think I discovered after going through the same frustration trying to understand how things work.