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botframeworkskypeazure-bot-serviceskype-bots

Add skype bot to a group

I have created a Skype bot using the Microsoft Bot Framework and published it with Azure bot channel registration. I can chat with the bot and it works fine.

But I'm not able to add this bot to any group conversation. I've made sure that Enable adding to a group option is selected for this bot in the Skype channel config section.

EDIT:

A day passed and now I can add bot to groups and see its avatar from Skype PC client. But I have the same issue when working from Mac / iPad client.

Per Skype tech support, the Bots support functionality will be discontinued. But according to Azure channels documentation:

As of October 31, 2019 the Skype channel no longer accepts new Bot publishing requests. This means that you can continue to develop bots using the Skype channel, but your bot will be limited to 100 users. You will not be able to publish your bot to a larger audience. Current Skype bots will continue to run uninterrupted

I'm ok with my bot being limited to 100 users, I just want it to work and behave correctly on all platforms.

EDIT 2: Now bot works fine on all the platforms I have. Not sure if this was a caching issue on Skype side or if recent app updates fixed that.

Solution

  • You might be interested in this answer: Add bot to existing Skype group chat

    If you use the Add bots button in the group profile you will only be able to look up published bots:

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    However, if you use the Add to Group button in the upper right corner (not available in the mobile client), you can find your bots that are still in preview:

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    As you can see, this currently only works in the desktop client. If you are getting undesired behavior in other clients, the only thing anyone can do on Stack Overflow is recommend workarounds or tell you to report the bug. Since Skype bots are mostly deprecated, I do not expect this bug to be fixed but you can try to report it anyway. My recommended workaround is to stop using deprecated channels if you would like a better experience. Microsoft Teams is great for corporate communications. If you want personal communication then you may have to use a third-party channel like Slack or Telegram.