With the Robin app for Teams, you can view your schedule, see who's going to be in the office, plan your week, and receive timely flexible desks and/or meeting room notifications right in your Teams instance.
If you're an admin looking for a guide on how to add Robin to your organization's Microsoft Teams instance, check out this guide instead.
Getting started
To get started, first, you need to connect and authenticate your Robin user account with your Microsoft Teams account.
1. If an administrator has installed the Robin application on your behalf, it should appear in the pinned sidebar. Don't see the Robin app in your sidebar? Try searching for it in your app section.
2. Click Add to install the app to a chat.
3. Then try messaging the Robin user in the Teams app, and you'll be prompted to log in to Robin.
4. Click Sign in to Robin and follow the login prompt. You will receive a notification once you've successfully signed in (captured above).
Start planning your week
1. If you haven't already, open the Robin app located in the sidebar of your Microsoft Teams instance. If you don't see it in your sidebar, then your administrator has not installed the Robin application on your behalf yet.
2. Navigate to the Schedule tab at the top. This opens a schedule view where you can schedule office visits, book a desk, and modify any plans that may have changed.
3. Let others know when you're heading into the office by clicking Join office.
4. Do you need a desk for your office visit? Click Book a desk.
5. This opens a map of your preferred office right in your Teams instance. Use the menu at the top of the map to adjust the reservation time to fit your needs, then select a desk to book it.
How to use the Robin bot
Microsoft made a change
Microsoft recently made a change to their bot functionality, and the messaging extension can no longer be initiated by @mentioning the bot.
To pull up the Robin bot, open the Robin app from the overflow tool menu below the chat box or from the overflow menu on the individual message.
Then select a command from the list. We've also provided a list of the available commands and an example of each below.
-
Help: Returns a help dialog using the bot
-
Who's coming in [select location]: Fetches a summary of everyone that is planning to come into the office that week.
-
Where is [person]: Finds where a person is currently sitting
-
Where is [space]: Retrieves space details
-
Free at [location]: Fetches meeting room availability for location
Example of Who's coming in [select location]:
After selecting the "Who's coming in" command, the Robin bot will ask you to select an office location from the drop-down menu.
The Robin bot will share a digest of who's going into that office that week. It will look something like this:
Click Update your plans to see a more detailed list of everyone that is planning to go into the office each day and the option to join them. Clicking Join takes you to Robin, where you can finish making your plans.
Example of Where is [person]: Finds where a person currently is sitting.
Example of Where is [space]: Retrieves space details for a meeting room with the option to reserve it if it's available.
Example of Free at [location]: Fetches meeting room availability for a location.
Robin notifications in Teams
Keep your schedule running smoothly with Teams reminders for things like your upcoming desk reservation or scheduled meetings for the day.
Desks
Assigned desks not supported yet
Only hot/hotel desk check-in notifications are supported today. We plan to add assigned desk check-ins in the future.
If your office uses the desk check-in feature and a reservation is booked ahead of the confirmation window, then the reservee will receive a check-in notification at the start of the confirmation window.
You can check in or release your desk reservation right from Teams. It will look something like this:
Meeting rooms & events
You’ll receive a notification for every upcoming event, and if you’re the organizer and the event is attached to a space, you’ll see an option to confirm.
Set your notification preferences
Once the Robin app is installed, you can choose the type of Robin notifications you want to receive in Teams. In Teams, open the Robin app and navigate to the Settings tab. Use the toggle to turn on/off the different notifications.
