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Version: 11.x

Teams Channel

The Teams Channel integration allows you to display updates from a Microsoft Teams channel directly on your screens. This enables communication across departments, projects, and locations, ensuring that important announcements, updates, and messages are visible to everyone.

This feature is especially useful for:

  • Project teams sharing milestones or alerts
  • Departments posting internal news
  • Organizations promoting fast and transparent communication

How it works​

When connected, Smartsign retrieves posts from the selected Team and Channel using the Microsoft Graph API. The fetched data is then formatted and displayed on screens using a Teams-based template.

Smartsign can retrieve the following information:

  • Teams - Message Subject – The subject of the Teams post
  • Teams - Message – The message body content
  • Teams - Message Image - The image included in the post
  • Teams - Message Date – When the post was created
  • Teams - Message Author – Name of the user who posted the message
  • Last update time – Timestamp for when the most recent data was fetched
  • Teams - QR link to message
note

To display images, you must copy/paste them directly into your Teams message. If you upload images as attachments (drag-and-drop or using the attachment icon), they are not part of the message data returned by Microsoft and will not appear on screens.

Requirements​

To connect to Teams, use a Microsoft 365 work account with access to the Team and channel you want to display. Some requested permissions may require approval from your Microsoft 365 administrator.
alt text
If you don't hold sufficient permissions on your own, you can usually request such approval during the connection process and then return later once approval has been granted.

Screens must also be able to reach https://social.smartsigncloud.net, which is the endpoint is used for retrieving Teams data.

Video guide​

Setting up the datasource​

When you have a user with sufficient permissions, you can start by setting up the datasource.

  • Go to Templates and Datasources.
  • Select Add datasource -> Create new. alt text
  • Browse available datasources and choose Teams Channel. alt text
  • Configure the datasource by entering name, description, and connect your Microsoft 365 account.
  • Choose the Team and channel with Select a Team and Select a Team Channel. alt text
  • Click Create to finish.
  • Once created, you can confirm that data has been fetched and Datasource is now ready to be used. alt text

When the datasource is configured, you can use a Teams Channel template to display the feed on your screens.

Teams channel template​

Smartsign offers a few default Teams templates available in the Marketplace and you can also design your own using the Template Creator.

Download template from Marketplace​

  • Go to Templates
  • In the category where you want to add the template, select ADD TEMPLATE -> Get more templates. alt text
  • Browse or search for Teams templates.
  • Select a template and click Get now! to download it. alt text
  • As you already have a configured Teams datasource, you can connect it directly to the template during download. It can otherwise be done when it's added to a booking or media library. alt text
  • Return to publisher where the new template is available.
  • Template is now ready to be published on a screen. alt text

Publish template​

Once the Teams datasource is configured and your template is ready, you can publish it to a channel.

  • Go to the Channel Calendar for the screen or channel where you want to publish the template.
  • Create a new booking (or edit an existing one).
  • Click Add media alt text
  • Select Use template alt text
  • Choose the Teams template you want to use
  • Click the datasource box to edit configuration options (see below) alt text alt text
  • Save your template and publish the booking. alt text

Configuration options​

You can adjust the datasource settings to control how Teams posts are displayed. These options apply to this template or smart-media item without changing the shared Teams connection. The presentation controls are under Datasource settings for this template.

Setting

Description

Example

Replace this datasource

Choose another Teams Channel datasource for this template or smart-media item


Time between posts

Time in seconds to show each post

10

Number of posts to show

The maximum number of posts to display

5
Enable emojis Enable to show emojis in messages True
Only show messages with an image

Enable to only show messages that have an image included

 False
Show progress Show a progress indicator for the time remaining before the next post False

Technical information​

Permissions required​

The Teams integration uses Microsoft Graph API and requires the following delegated permissions.
Some of these may require administrator approval depending on your Microsoft 365 tenant settings.

API Permission Type Microsoft description Used for
Microsoft Graph User.Read Delegated Sign in and read user profile Allows users to sign-in to the app, and allows the app to read the profile of signed-in users. It also allows the app to read basic company information of signed-in users
Microsoft Graph Team.ReadBasic.All Delegated Read the names and descriptions of teams Allows the application to read the names and description of the teams on behalf of the signed-in user
Microsoft Graph Channel.ReadBasic.All Delegated Read the names and descriptions of channels Allows the application to read the names and description of the channels on behalf of the signed-in user
Microsoft Graph ChannelMessage.Read.All Delegated Read user channel messages Allows the application to read all the channel messages on behalf of the signed-in user

Limitations​

  • No video support – only text, images, gif and sticker
  • Only one image per message is shown
  • Replies and reactions are not shown
  • Attachments are not supported (attach/drag & drop)
  • Data refreshes every 15 minutes