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The Microsoft Teams integration captures messages from the channels you choose and feeds them into Modem for analysis. Install the Modem app in Teams to ask the agent about customer signals and take action through your connected tools.
Modem captures channel messages from the channels you subscribe, including replies, edits, deletions, reactions, and @mentions. It does not capture 1:1 or group chats (DMs). You query captured Teams data from the Modem Agent on the web.Channel capture and the Teams agent have separate setup steps. You can capture messages without installing the bot. To talk to the agent in Teams, install the Modem app.

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How it works

Modem connects to your Microsoft 365 tenant with an app-only Microsoft Graph app that a tenant administrator approves once. After you subscribe specific channels, Modem uses Graph change notifications to receive a signal whenever someone posts, then fetches the message and ingests it in real time. Graph channel subscriptions expire after about an hour, so Modem runs a background loop that renews them continuously and recreates any that lapse. This means capture is self-healing after a brief outage, but a prolonged outage has a gap: Microsoft does not replay missed notifications, so messages posted during a long interruption are not captured automatically. You can recover them with a manual history import within the 30-day window.

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Prerequisites

  • A Microsoft 365 work or school tenant (personal Microsoft accounts are not supported)
  • A Microsoft tenant administrator to grant admin consent during setup
  • Owner or admin role in your Modem organization

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Setup

1

Start the connection

Go to Settings → Integrations → Microsoft Teams in your Modem dashboard and click Connect Microsoft Teams. Only organization owners and admins can connect.
2

Grant admin consent

You’ll be redirected to Microsoft to sign in and approve the permissions Modem needs. This step requires a tenant administrator. See Permissions below for the exact scopes. If your tenant blocks consent for unverified publishers, an admin may see a warning during approval.
3

Wait for channel sync

Back in Modem, your teams and their channels sync automatically. This populates the channel list so you can choose what to monitor. You can re-run it anytime with Sync teams.
4

Subscribe to channels

Channels start unmonitored. Check the channels you want Modem to capture, then click Save changes. See Subscribing to Channels below.
5

Import history (optional)

Click Import history to backfill the last 30 days of messages from your subscribed channels. See Importing History below.

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Permissions

During admin consent, a tenant administrator approves the following application (app-only) Microsoft Graph permissions. The Graph app reads message content and basic directory information. It never posts or changes anything in your tenant. The Modem bot, if your tenant installs it, replies where it’s @mentioned or messaged. Modem authenticates as the approved app and does not store any per-user sign-in tokens. Consent is tenant-wide and can be revoked only from the Microsoft Entra admin center. Disconnecting in Modem stops capture but leaves the consent in place.
Each Microsoft tenant can be connected to one Modem organization, and each organization can have one active Teams connection. To connect a different tenant, disconnect the current one first.

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Subscribing to Channels

Channels are not captured by default. After connecting, open Settings → Integrations → Microsoft Teams and check the channels you want Modem to monitor. Your selections stay pending until you click Save changes. Subscribing a channel starts real-time capture for that channel. Replies and threads within a subscribed channel are captured along with root messages.
  • Support or help channels where customers and users raise issues
  • Feedback or ideas channels for feature requests
  • Bug-report channels for user-reported problems

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Channels to Avoid

  • Internal team-only or admin channels (unless relevant)
  • Bot or automation channels
  • Off-topic or social channels (high noise, low signal)
Start with a few high-signal channels and expand based on what’s useful. You can change your channel selection anytime.

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Importing History

To capture conversations from before you connected, click Import history on the integration settings page. Modem backfills recent messages from every subscribed channel, so subscribe the channels you care about first. Import limits:
  • Up to the last 30 days of messages
  • Up to 500 messages per channel
One import runs at a time, and progress (channels processed and messages imported) is shown live on the settings page. Imported messages that overlap with live capture are automatically deduplicated, so running an import after messages have already streamed in won’t create duplicates.

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Analyzing Teams Conversations

Once messages are flowing, ask the Modem Agent about them from the web dashboard like any other source.

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Installing the Teams agent

Connect your Microsoft 365 tenant in Modem first, then install the app in each team where you want to use the agent.
1

Download the app

In Settings → Integrations → Microsoft Teams, find Teams agent and click Download Teams app. You can also download the production app package directly. Keep the ZIP file zipped. It contains the app manifest and icons; you do not need to supply any keys or secrets.
2

Upload and add Modem to your team

In Teams, open Apps → Manage your apps → Upload an app → Upload a custom app and select the ZIP. Add Modem to each team where you want to mention the agent.If custom uploads are unavailable, ask your Teams administrator to upload the ZIP through Teams admin center → Teams apps → Manage apps, then make it available in your organization’s app catalog. Your administrator controls who can install custom apps. See Microsoft’s custom app guidance.
3

Check installation status

Return to Modem and click Refresh status. Each team shows Installed once Modem has received activity from the installed app. Downloading the ZIP alone does not confirm installation. Installation status is separate from channel subscriptions.
4

Link your account and test a reply

In a channel where you installed the app, select @Modem from the mention menu, then send the prompt below. If the bot asks you to link your account, follow its link, sign in to Modem, and link the Microsoft account you use in Teams. You must also be a member of the connected Modem organization. Mention the bot again after linking.
You can also add Modem for personal use and message it directly. Personal installation does not mark the app as installed in a team. Direct messages to the agent are conversations with Modem; they are not captured as channel feedback.

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Troubleshooting

The tenant connection enables channel capture. To use the agent, install the Modem app in the team, select it from the @mention menu, and send a message. Check Teams agent → Installation status in Modem settings. If it asks you to link your Microsoft account, follow the bot’s link and try again.
Modem discovers channels using app-only access. If Microsoft refuses to list a team’s channels to the app, which can depend on your tenant’s policies, that team appears with no channels. Private and shared channels that Microsoft does list appear alongside standard channels. Try Sync teams to refresh the list.
Teams subscriptions expire roughly hourly and Modem renews them continuously, so brief interruptions recover on their own. Microsoft does not replay notifications missed during a longer outage, so use Import history to recover messages from the affected window (within the last 30 days).
Message text, mentions, reactions, and threads are captured. File attachments point to SharePoint and require Microsoft authentication, so their contents may not be fully accessible in Modem yet.
A Microsoft tenant can only be linked to one Modem organization. If the tenant was previously connected to another organization, contact support@modem.dev.

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Disconnecting

To disconnect Microsoft Teams:
  1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Microsoft Teams
  2. Click Disconnect and confirm
Disconnecting removes the stored connection and stops channel-message capture for your organization. Live subscriptions stop being renewed and lapse within about an hour. To fully revoke Modem’s access on the Microsoft side, remove the app’s consent from the Microsoft Entra admin center. Historical data remains in Modem after disconnecting.

The Modem Agent

Query and act on your captured Teams conversations from the web.

Topics

See how messages are grouped into themes and classified.

Companies & People

Understand how Modem links message authors into unified profiles.

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