Share an agent in Microsoft Teams

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Agents created in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and SharePoint assist users with everyday tasks and provide valuable insights without requiring any technical expertise. They can offer quick access to information, answer common questions, and help users navigate complex systems or processes. When these agents are integrated with Microsoft Teams, they provide a seamless environment for organizations to access and manage content directly within Teams. This integration fosters better communication, document sharing, and project management.

Once you create an agent in SharePoint or Copilot Chat, you can share it within Microsoft Teams. Doing so allows team members to interact with the agent and benefit from the agent's automated workflows. The benefits of sharing an agent in Microsoft Teams include:

• Enhanced collaboration. Integrating SharePoint and Copilot Chat agents with Microsoft Teams facilitates seamless collaboration among team members. It allows for real-time updates and notifications, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and can contribute effectively to projects.
• Increased efficiency. Automated workflows reduce the need for manual intervention, saving time and minimizing errors. By sharing these agents in Teams, you streamline tasks such as document approvals, task assignments, and status updates, leading to increased overall efficiency.
• Accessibility and usability. Agents are user-friendly and accessible to individuals without technical expertise. Sharing them in Teams ensures that all team members, regardless of their technical background, can easily interact with and benefit from these automated processes.
• Centralized information. Teams provides a centralized platform where all relevant information, documents, and workflows are accessible. Sharing a SharePoint agent in Teams ensures that team members have quick access to necessary resources, reducing the time spent searching for information across different platforms.
• Scalability. SharePoint and Copilot Chat agents can be easily scaled to meet the growing needs of your organization. As your team expands, you can modify and share these agents in Teams to accommodate new processes and workflows, ensuring that your operations remain efficient and effective.

Agents help you to quickly get information tailored to your project, team, and tasks. When you're on a SharePoint site or using Copilot Chat, you can choose an agent, grab a share link, and share it in Teams (or any other Microsoft 365 app).

The agent responds based on the permissions of the person asking the question. When you share an agent with others, they can only access the sources for which they have permissions. The permissions for the sites, pages, and files included in the agent don't automatically adjust when the agent is shared. Therefore, you might need to update the sharing permissions on the agent's resources to ensure others can fully utilize the agent.

Practical use cases of sharing agents in Microsoft Teams

Integrating SharePoint and Copilot Chat agents with Microsoft Teams boosts collaboration by embedding the agent directly into group chats or channels. Team members can use the '@' mention feature to interact with the agent, seamlessly incorporating it into their daily workflow.

Here are some practical use case examples of sharing agents in Teams:

• Daily stand-up meeting reminders. For teams following Agile methodologies, staying on top of daily stand-up meetings is important. An agent can send daily reminders, helping ensure that team members are prepared. The agent can be set up to:
  • Send a reminder message to a Teams channel at a set time each day.
  • Share a summary of key tasks for the day, pulled from a SharePoint list that tracks project deadlines.
  • Provide links to relevant documents or resources needed during the stand-up meeting.
• Project status updates. Keeping stakeholders informed about the progress of a project is vital for successful project management. An agent can help by providing easy updates to the team. The agent can:
  • Pull information from SharePoint lists or Copilot Chat to summarize the status of tasks and deadlines.
  • Post updates in a designated Teams channel, such as a weekly or bi-weekly summary.
  • Notify project stakeholders through email or Teams messages, ensuring everyone stays in the loop.
• Onboarding new team members. Integrating new team members into a project or team can be a complex process that requires clear communication and access to various resources. Organizations can simplify the process of bringing new hires into a team with an agent that provides essential information right when employees need it. The agent can be configured to:
  • Send a welcome message to the new team member in a Teams channel, introducing them to the team and providing an overview of the project.
  • Share links to important documents, such as the project plan, team guidelines, and relevant training materials.
  • Schedule introductory meetings with key team members and stakeholders to facilitate smooth onboarding.

Add an agent to a Teams chat

Adding an agent to a group chat in Microsoft Teams provides the following benefits:

• Enhanced collaboration. Inviting an agent to a group chat allows the agent to participate and assist multiple users. Agents can facilitate more effective collaboration by maintaining up-to-date summaries of important information, including key decisions, action items, and open questions to resolve.
• Real-time assistance. Agents can provide real-time AI notes during meetings, allowing everyone to co-author and collaborate seamlessly.
• Data security and compliance. Agents run on a secure and trusted platform that applies label inheritance and data loss prevention policies. Doing so ensures comprehensive visibility into user, data, and agent risks.
• Information sharing. Adding an agent to a Teams chat ensures that all team members have access to the same information and resources. Doing so fosters a collaborative environment where information flows freely and efficiently.

Perform the following steps to add a SharePoint or Copilot Chat agent to Teams chat for your teammates to use:

1. Sign into SharePoint or Copilot Chat with your work account.
2. Select the Copilot icon at the upper right from any site, page, document library, or Copilot Chat interface.
3. Find the agent you want to share from the agent list. You can only share a custom-made agent.

Note

You can't share the ready-made agent that comes with a SharePoint site.

4. Select the ellipsis icon (the three dots) that appears next to the agent you want to share. In the drop-down menu that appears, select Add to Teams.

5. After you send the share link in a group chat or meeting within Teams, the system prompts you to add the agent to the conversation. Select Add to this chat. If you don't select Add to this chat, the URL remains visible to group chat members, but you can't interact with the agent in the group chat.
6. You can @mention the agent to make a query, just like you can @mention an individual.

Caution

Only one agent can be added at a time. If you attempt to add an agent to a group chat that already has an agent, the former agent is removed. Multi-agent support is planned for an upcoming release.

Remove an agent from Teams

Perform the following steps to remove a SharePoint or Copilot Chat agent from Microsoft Teams in the ellipses of the thread:

1. In Microsoft Teams, review the list of chats on the left rail of the Teams client. Locate the chat that contains the agent you want to remove.
2. Select the ellipsis icon (the three dots) that appears next to the selected chat.
3. In the drop-down menu that appears, select Manage apps.

4. Select the ellipses icon (the three dots) next to the agent that you want to remove from the chat. In the drop-down menu that appears, select Remove.