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Connecting Apostle to Microsoft Teams

Step-by-step instructions for IT administrators to set up the Teams integration

Written by Stefan Kapteijns

This guide explains how to set up Apostle in Microsoft Teams, so employees can receive post suggestions and submit content. No technical knowledge is required. Apostle is available in the Microsoft Teams app store, so nothing needs to be uploaded.

This feature is available on the Integrate plan and above. Contact your Customer Success Manager to activate the Teams integration for your environment.

What does Apostle do in Teams?

Employees receive post suggestions in a private chat with Apostle, including a reminder if a suggestion has not yet been shared. Employees can also submit their own content by tagging @Apostle in a team channel. Once Apostle is added to a team, all current team members are automatically linked based on their email address.

💡 Tip: Contact the Apostle support team if you need help with the initial connection.

Step 1: Activate the Microsoft Teams connector in Apostle

Once all the steps in Teams have been completed, the final step is to activate the Microsoft Teams connector in Apostle.

⚠️ Important: You need admin access in both Apostle and Microsoft Teams to complete this step.

  1. Go to your Apostle dashboard.

  2. Navigate to Team Settings.

  3. Go to Connectors.

  4. Click Add Connector and choose Microsoft Teams.

  5. You will be redirected to Microsoft to grant the necessary permissions. Make sure to consent on behalf of your organisation.

Once connected, you will see an overview of all Teams members in Apostle. The technical setup is now complete and the connection is active.

Step 2: Allow Apostle in the Teams admin center

This is a one-time action by the Teams administrator.

  1. Go to the Teams admin center at admin.teams.microsoft.com.

  2. Click Teams apps and then Manage apps.

  3. Search for Apostle. The app comes from the Teams app store and does not need to be uploaded.

  4. Set the status to Installed for everyone or specific users or groups depending on your preference.
    ​

Once Apostle is added, all current team members are automatically linked to Apostle so they can receive post suggestions and reminders. The connector will also become active at this point.

💡 Tip: The first time someone tags @Apostle in a channel, that tag is only used to confirm the connection. The next tag will actually submit content. If the connection seems to be stuck, tagging @Apostle once in a channel will get everything going.

Step 3: Roll out Apostle to employees automatically

This way employees do not need to install anything themselves.

  1. Go to the Teams admin center and open Teams apps and then Setup policies.

  2. Edit the Global (org-wide default) policy, or create a policy for a specific group.

  3. Go to Installed apps, click Add apps and add Apostle.

  4. Go to Pinned apps, click Add apps and add Apostle so the app is visible in the left sidebar.

  5. Click Save.


What do employees notice?

After installation, the following happens automatically:

  • Apostle appears in the left sidebar of Teams.

  • Employees receive a short welcome message from Apostle. They do not need to sign up for anything.

  • From that point on, they receive post suggestions in the private chat with Apostle, including reminders for suggestions that have not yet been shared.

  • Want to submit their own content? They tag @Apostle in a team channel, followed by their message or photo.

(Optional) Enabling attachments via drag and drop or paperclip

By default, only pasting an image via Cmd/Ctrl+V works. Dragging files or sending them via the paperclip does not work automatically, because Apostle intentionally requests as few permissions as possible. To enable this, grant Apostle one-time read access to the SharePoint site of the relevant team.

⚠️ Important: This is a technical step. Have it carried out by a Global Admin or SharePoint admin, for example via Graph Explorer at developer.microsoft.com/graph/graph-explorer.

One-time for the entire organisation:

  1. Go to the Azure app registration of Apostle.

  2. Go to API permissions and add the Microsoft Graph application permission Sites.Selected.

  3. Click Grant admin consent.

Note: The Sites.Selected permission does not grant access to any site on its own. The specific access is configured per team separately in the step below.

One-time per team:

  1. Log in to Graph Explorer as an admin and grant one-time consent for Sites.FullControl.All via the Modify permissions tab and then Consent.

  2. Retrieve the site ID via a GET request. Replace the site name with that of the team:
    GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/<tenant>.sharepoint.com:/sites/<teamsite>
    Copy the id field from the response.

  3. Grant access via a POST request:
    POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/<site-id>/permissions
    A response with status code 201 means the setup was successful. Drag and drop and the paperclip now work in this team.

Note: Apostle only receives read access to that one team site, not to other sites or the broader organisational environment.

Good to know

  • Apostle only has access to the specific team it has been added to.

  • Pasting images via Cmd/Ctrl+V always works. Drag and drop and the paperclip only work after the one-time setup above.

  • What employees type in the private chat with Apostle is not saved as content. Only what they post via @Apostle in a channel is sent to the content team.

  • Reminders are configured per team in Apostle. If the number is set to 0, Apostle will not send reminders.

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