Microsoft Teams Federated Search Connector

💼 Availability: This feature is available for all packages and requires Azure admin consent. 

What the Microsoft Teams Search Connector is and how it works

The Microsoft Teams Search Connector lets your organization surface Teams messages directly inside your platform’s Search. Instead of switching tools or digging through chats, people can find relevant conversations alongside Pages, Channels, and other integrations. This keeps everyone aligned, reduces repeated questions, and turns scattered insights into actionable, centralized knowledge.

Once enabled:

• Happeo indexes Teams messages as a search source.
• Users can toggle Teams results on or off within Search.
• Results appear alongside other sources.

When an end user searches, Happeo queries the Teams API (via Microsoft Graph) and returns messages they have access to based on Microsoft 365 permissions.

This improves discoverability, reduces time spent searching across tools, and ensures conversations that matter to your work are never “lost” inside chat threads.

Scopes 

• ChannelMessage.Read.All
• Chat.read

Before you begin: Requirements & permissions

• You must be a Happeo Admin to enable the integration and search connector in your platform.
• An Azure admin must provide admin-controlled scope consent within Happeo.
• Users will see a message about missing permissions until this consent is granted.

Before authorizing the connector, it’s helpful to understand the types of permissions Microsoft presents during the consent process.

Understanding the Microsoft permissions requested during authorization

When authorizing Microsoft Teams Search, Microsoft displays a list of permissions required for Happeo to retrieve Teams content on behalf of your organization. These permissions enable the Search Connector to access and index the items users are already permitted to see in Microsoft 365, so Search can return accurate results.

Here is what the key permission groups enable:

• Calendars: Allows Happeo to read user and shared calendars so events can appear in Search results when relevant.
• Teams and chats: Enables reading of Teams channel messages and chat messages. This allows Happeo Search to surface discussions and updates that users already have access to in Teams.
• Files: Grants read access to files users can access in Microsoft 365. This allows the Search Connector to return documents stored in Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint that users are already permitted to view.
• Groups: Allows reading group information to understand membership and improve result relevance.
• Mail (basic): Provides minimal access to user mail metadata, helping improve search accuracy where messages are connected to files or Teams content.
• Profiles and identity: Lets Happeo read user (including basic) profile information to ensure the connector respects each user's permissions and only returns results they are allowed to see.

These permissions do not give Happeo access to content users cannot already access in Microsoft 365. The connector strictly mirrors each user’s Microsoft permissions to maintain privacy and governance across your organization.

How to install Microsoft Teams Search for your organization

Step 1: Enable the Microsoft Teams integration

1. Click your avatar and go to Admin Settings.
2. Open Integrations.
3. Ensure the Microsoft Teams Integration is enabled. If not, click Setup and follow the installation instructions.

Step 2: Enable Teams as a federated search source

1. Go to Admin Settings → Search → Locate Microsoft Teams and expand it.
2. Toggle Results and/or Predictions.
3. Save your changes.

🔍 Read more about search results visibility in Admin Settings: Search.

How to disable the search connector for your organization

1. Click your avatar and go to Admin Settings → Search → Locate Microsoft Teams and expand it.
2. Toggle off Results and Predictions.

Your organization will then no longer see search results or predictions from the Microsoft Teams Search Connector.

How to authorize the search connector in Happeo (admin-controlled scope)

Because the Microsoft Teams Search Connector uses an admin-controlled permission scope, it will not function until an Azure admin explicitly grants consent in Happeo. This ensures that access to Teams data is securely managed at the organizational level.

How an Azure admin authorizes access

1. In Happeo, perform a search and select Microsoft Teams as a source.
2. A notification appears indicating that Teams Search requires additional permissions.
3. Select Authorize. You’ll be redirected to your User Settings → Integrations page.
4. In the Microsoft Teams integration card, select Enable.
5. A Microsoft authorization window opens. Review and accept the permissions to grant organization-wide access.

Once authorization is complete:

• Teams Search becomes available to all users.
• The “Missing permission” warning is removed.
• No individual user authorization is required.

How to revoke authorization

To remove access as an Azure admin:

1. In Happeo, select your avatar.
2. Go to User Settings → Integrations.
3. Turn off the Microsoft Teams integration.

After disabling, your organization will no longer see Microsoft Teams results in Search.

How to use Microsoft Teams Search effectively

Search Teams messages

1. Open your platform and type your query into the search bar.
2. Use the Sources filter to include Microsoft Teams.
3. View Teams messages alongside other content types.

Filter messages

Within the full Search Overview, click Microsoft Teams from the list of available apps. Here, you can refine your results using the following filters:

• Date: Filter Teams messages by when they were sent. This is useful when you need to revisit conversations tied to a specific timeframe, such as updates shared during a sprint or messages posted on the day an issue was reported. 
  • By narrowing results to the period you’re interested in, you can quickly surface the most relevant messages without scrolling through long, fast-moving Teams threads — helping you stay focused, save time, and reduce noise.
• Sender: Filter messages by the person who wrote them. Use this when you remember who shared the information but not the exact wording. This is especially helpful for distributed teams working asynchronously, making it easier to locate updates or instructions from specific colleagues. 
  • Because Teams messages often include quick answers, shared files, or clarifications, filtering by sender helps you surface the right person’s contributions without having to scan entire chat threads.

Best practices & governance recommendations

• Turn conversational insights into structured, long-lasting content: Teams messages are quick and informal, which makes them great for fast collaboration but not ideal for long-term reference. When a chat reveals an important answer, clarification, or process detail, move it into a Page so your organization has a stable, easy-to-find place for information that people rely on.
• Keep information easy to find: If you notice colleagues repeatedly asking for the same link or explanation in Teams, consider adding it to a Page or updating an existing one. This keeps day-to-day knowledge organized and reduces the need to search through old conversations.
• Use Teams Search when you need quick context: If you're unsure whether a question, file, or update has already been shared in Teams, perform a quick federated search in your platform before asking around. This helps reduce duplicated questions and helps everyone stay aligned.
• Promote healthy search habits: Encourage your team to start their workflows in your platform’s Search. When people consistently rely on one search hub, it becomes easier for everyone to discover information without jumping between tools.
• Keep Teams channels tidy and purposeful: Use Teams channel naming conventions and keep discussions scoped to the right channels. Even light structure helps federated search return more relevant results and reduces noise for everyone.
• Be mindful of privacy and channel choice: Remember that Teams Search respects Microsoft permissions. Use private or restricted channels for sensitive topics so messages surface only to the right audiences.