The YakChat bot allows you to send and receive text messages as Posts in a Teams Channel enabling you to send and receive SMS text messages in the same way as you chat to other members of your team in in a Microsoft Teams channel.
Mention YakChat in a Teams Channel post to get started
After installing into a Teams Channel, YakChat becomes your virtual team member that will send and receive text messages as Posts in the Teams Channel. Â
To send a new text, reply to a text and perform other action you need to mention YakChat (using the @ sign) and then select YakChat from the Suggestions menu just like you would mention another member of your team.
Command menu & available commands
The following list of commands are available when YakChat is used in a Teams Channel:
- Text
- Reply
- Owner
- Search
- Signin
- Signout
- Help
Note: The default command is Reply so that it is easier to reply to an inbound text message that is displayed as a post – just mention YakChat and type your text message and press send.
These commands are available in the menu that is displayed when YakChat is mentioned. You can click on the required command or type the command leaving a space between the “YakChat” and the command.Â
Send a text [text]
To send a text to a number, select text from the quick menu or type ‘text’ (add a space), type the phone number (add a space) and then type your text message.
Note: The phone number must not have any spaces or symbols and uses the default country code set up for your user by default or you can add a country code.
Then click on the Microsoft Teams Send button to send the text.Â
Note: If you are the first person to send a text to this number, YakChat will automatically make you the owner of the converation so that you will be tagged when a reply is received.
Receive a text
New inbound text messages received are posted into the Teams Channel. Ttext will be posted as a new converation The text will be added to a conversation if one exists for the number that the text is received from YakChat will post any new text To reply to a text within a Teams conversation click on the ‘Reply’ button in the Teams conversation, mention @yakchat (space) and type your text message and click on the Teams Send button to send your reply.
Note: You can also use the ‘reply’ command that is displayed in the menu but this is not necessary.
Reply to a text message in a conversation [reply]
To reply to a text within a Teams conversation click on the ‘Reply’ button in the Teams conversation, mention @yakchat (space) and type your text message and click on the Teams Send button to send your reply. Â
Note: You can also use the ‘reply’ command that is displayed in the menu but this is not necessary.Â
Note: You can also use the ‘reply’ command that is displayed in the menu but this is not necessary.Â
Query the conversation owner [owner]
Each conversation in a Shared Inbox can have an owner. To query the owner of the converation, select owner in the command menu or type ‘owner’ and click the send button.
The YakChat bot will reply with the email of the conversation owner.
Search for a contact and phone number [search]
A contact saved in YakChat can be searched to return the phone number by selecting search in the command menu or type ‘owner’ (add a space) and enter the contact name and click the send button.
The YakChat bot will reply with the contact name(s) and phone numbers that match the search criteria.
Sign in to the YakChat bot [signin]
A Sign in confirmation message should then be displayed. If additional admin consent is required, the bot will respond with the
Enter your Microsoft credentials into the Microsoft popup window to sign in. Â
An Admin Consent Required card will be displayed if additional consent is required from your Microsoft Azure administrator. Your administrator will need to click on the Grant Permissions button, sign in and provide consent to connect with the YakChat service. Once this has been provided it should not be required again.
Sign out of the YakChat bot [signout]
To sign in to the YakChat bot, select signout in the command menu or type ‘signout’ and click the send button.
The YakChat bot will reply confiming you have successfully signed out..
Help with the YakChat commands [help]
To receive a reminder of the YakChat bot commands select help in the command menu or type ‘help’ and click the send button.
The YakChat bot will reply confiming you have successfully signed out..
