Linking an inbox to a Microsoft Teams channel

Link a Microsoft Teams channel or group chat to an emu.chat inbox so that opening the emu.chat tab in that channel jumps straight to the right inbox, and your team gets notified there about new messages. A channel can be linked to one inbox at a time. The easiest way to link is from inside Teams, the first time you open the emu.chat tab in a channel.

Before you can link anything, a team admin needs to add the emu.chat app to the team in Teams. For background on how the integration fits together, see How emu.chat works with Microsoft Teams.

Link a channel from inside Teams

The first time the emu.chat tab in a channel is opened, it runs a short setup wizard with two choices:

• Link this channel to an inbox (recommended) — pick one inbox. Opening the tab then jumps straight to it, and the channel can receive notifications about new messages.
• Open my last-used inbox — the tab opens to whichever inbox each teammate had open last. This suits personal-use channels where everyone works in different inboxes. There are no channel notifications in this mode, because the tab resolves each person's own last inbox.

If you choose to link, search for and select the inbox, choose your notification options (see below), and finish. Anyone with access to the inbox can do this first-run setup; no admin rights are needed. If you don't have an inbox yet, create one first — see Creating your first inbox (the inbox wizard). You can change any of these choices later from inbox settings.

If the tab says emu.chat isn't installed in the team yet, a team admin needs to add the app first, from Manage team > Apps in Microsoft Teams.

Notification options

When a channel is linked to an inbox, you choose how your team hears about new messages. There are two options, and you can change them anytime from the channel's settings.

Send notifications (recommended)

On by default. Each person gets a normal Microsoft Teams notification in their activity feed for new conversations, mentions, and assignments, showing the count just like any other Teams notification. Opening the notification takes them straight to a pane with emu.chat focused on that specific conversation, ready to reply.

This is per person, not per channel: if an inbox is linked to several channels, each user still gets only one notification for a new message, not one per channel.

Post new inbounds to channel

Off by default. When a new conversation arrives, emu.chat posts a card into the channel itself so everyone can see the inbound. You can't reply to the message from the card, and in a busy team it tends to clutter the channel, so it is usually not the best choice for everyday internal comms (use Send notifications for that).

It is a good fit for two cases:

• A channel whose only job is to surface inbounds for everyone to see, such as a channel that receives one-time passcodes.
• A channel shared with people outside your organisation. They can see the posted cards in the chat, even though they can't open the emu.chat tab (the inbox belongs to your organisation, so only your members can use it).

Unlinking a channel

To stop a channel jumping to an inbox, open the inbox's Microsoft Teams channels section, find the channel, and select Unlink (this requires a workspace Administrator). Opening the tab in that channel then no longer jumps to the inbox, and its notifications stop. You can re-link it later.

Channels and group chats

Group chats link to an inbox exactly like channels do; only the wording differs (the controls say "group chat" instead of "channel").

Link or manage channels from inbox settings

As well as setting up from inside Teams, a workspace Administrator can link and manage channels from emu.chat. Open the inbox's edit page, find the Microsoft Teams channels section, select Add channel, and search for the channel to link it. From here you can also edit each channel's notification options or unlink it.

A channel can belong to only one inbox at a time. A channel already linked to this inbox can't be picked again, and if you choose one that's linked to a different inbox, emu.chat asks you to confirm moving it; once moved, people who open the tab in that channel land on this inbox instead. For who has which role, see User roles and permissions.

Next steps

Once your inbox is linked, your team can open it straight from Teams. To start messaging, see Sending your first text message.