Trigger types

Completed

By default, topics use the Phrases trigger, which activates when one or more of their trigger phrases match closely with an incoming message from a user. There are other trigger types available that determine when a topic should be run.

Trigger types

Triggers allow you to intercept and handle activities of different types. The following trigger types determine when a topic should trigger.

Type	Description
Phrases	When one or more of the trigger phrases match with the incoming message from a user
Activity received	When an Activity of any type is received
Message received	When an Activity of type message is received. The most common type of Activity. Received when a user types or says something to the agent.
Event received	When an Activity of type event is received
Conversation update received	When an Activity of type conversationUpdate is received. For example, Teams sends an activity of this type when a user joins a conversation.
Invoke received	When an Activity of type invoke is received. Most commonly received from the Teams channel. For example, when the user interacts with a Message or Search extension in the Teams app.
Inactivity	When a user hasn't interacted with the agent over time. The time period can be configured.

Tip

When a user sends a message to a agent, the payload is a message type of Activity.

Agents can receive activities of other types with new changes in the chat. For example, Microsoft Teams sends hidden activities of type invoke, which signifies a user action, such as interacting with a Message Extension.

Changing the trigger for a topic

You can change the trigger for a topic when editing a topic. By default, topics use the Phrases trigger but you can switch to other trigger types:

Trigger condition

The Condition node on the trigger allows you to specify condition(s) that must be met in order for the trigger to fire.

Note

You can use Power Fx to author complex conditions.

Trigger priority

More than one trigger can fire for a single incoming Activity, such as a message. The trigger type determines the order the triggers fire.

Order of execution:

1. Activity Received
2. Message / Event / Conversation Update / Invoke Received
3. Phrases

If there's more than one qualifying trigger of the same type, the triggers get executed in the order of creation (oldest first).

Important

You can use the Priority property on a trigger's Properties pane to explicitly determine the order of execution.

For more information, see Using topic triggers.