How emu.chat works with Microsoft Teams

emu.chat is built to live inside Microsoft Teams. Instead of switching to another tab or app to text your customers, you run emu.chat as a tab right in your Teams channels, get native Teams notifications when a message comes in, and reply without leaving Teams. For teams that already work in Microsoft Teams all day, it is the most natural way to do business texting, and there is nothing else quite like it.

The Teams integration is included on the standard plan, with nothing extra to buy.

Texting where your team already works

Add the emu.chat tab to a channel and it opens your normal emu.chat inboxes right there in Teams. It is the same emu.chat you use in your browser, so your inboxes, conversations and contacts are identical either way. You sign in with your Microsoft account, and inside Teams the layout is tuned for the smaller frame.

The standout is notifications: when a customer texts you, your team is alerted through Teams' own activity feed, just like any other Teams notification. Opening it takes you straight to that conversation, ready to reply. No separate inbox to watch, no missed messages.

How a channel connects to an inbox

A Teams channel or group chat can be linked to a single emu.chat inbox. When the tab is opened in a linked channel, it jumps straight to that inbox. A channel links to at most one inbox at a time; if you link one that's already connected elsewhere, emu.chat moves it rather than connecting it twice.

You set up a link either from the Teams tab (the first time someone opens it in a channel) or from an inbox's settings in emu.chat. You can also leave a channel unpinned, in last-used inbox mode, where the tab opens to whichever inbox each teammate had open last. For the step-by-step, including notification options and moving a channel, see Linking an inbox to a Microsoft Teams channel.

Getting set up

Before anyone can use the tab, a Teams admin adds the emu.chat app to the team. This is a one-time job. For the full walkthrough, see Installing emu.chat in Microsoft Teams.

When the tab can't open an inbox

Sometimes the tab shows a status screen instead of an inbox. The common reasons:

• emu.chat isn't installed in the team yet — a team admin needs to add the app first.
• You don't have access to the linked inbox, or to any inbox yet — ask a workspace admin to add you, or request access from the panel shown.
• You're joining from a different organisation — inboxes belong to the organisation hosting a shared channel, so only that organisation's members can open them. You can still read and post in the channel as normal.
• A temporary connection problem — emu.chat couldn't reach Microsoft just then. Wait a few seconds and refresh; if it persists, contact support.

What you can do next

Once a channel is linked, your team can open the inbox straight from Teams and work conversations as normal. To get started in the inbox, see Starting a new conversation. New to emu.chat? Start with Getting started with emu.chat.