๐ฌ A5: My Comms Assistant¶
Primary Feature: Teams Chat + Email as Knowledge Sources Status: โ Built (Corp) Built in: Corp โ 2026-04-08 | Lab โฌ
Originally planned as: "New Hire Buddy" (File Uploads) โ repurposed because it overlapped too much with A02. See design decisions below.
๐ฏ Problem It Solves¶
"I know someone mentioned that in a chat or email last week, but I can't find it. I've been scrolling through Teams and searching Outlook for 20 minutes."
This agent searches your actual Teams chats and Outlook emails to find information โ who said what, when, what was decided, what files were shared.
Why This Agent?¶
This is our Teams + Email Knowledge showcase. It demonstrates that Agent Builder can use your real communications as a knowledge source โ no file uploads, no SharePoint, no web URLs. Just toggle ON "My Teams chats" and "My emails" and the agent searches through your actual conversations.
Key Contrast with Previous Agents¶
| Agent | Knowledge Source | Data Type |
|---|---|---|
| A01 | ๐ Public web URLs | External public data |
| A02 | ๐ค Uploaded files | Internal documents |
| A03 | โ None (instructions only) | No data |
| A04 | ๐ค Template file | Internal template |
| A05 | ๐ฌ Teams + ๐ง Email | Personal communications |
This is the first agent that uses personal, real-time data โ not documents or web pages, but actual conversations and emails.
๐๏ธ Architecture¶
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โ User Question โ
โ "What was discussed about the portal project this week?" โ
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โ My Comms Assistant Agent โ
โ โ
โ ๐ Instructions: Communication search persona โ
โ ๐ฌ Knowledge: Teams chats + meetings โ
โ ๐ง Knowledge: Outlook emails โ
โ โ
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โ โ Teams chats โ โ Outlook email โ โ
โ โ 1:1, groups, โ โ inbox, sent, โ โ
โ โ channels โ โ folders โ โ
โ โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ โ
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โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
โ "In your Teams chat with Sarah on April 3, she mentioned โ
โ the portal redesign deadline is moving to May 15. She โ
โ also emailed the updated timeline on April 4." โ
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โ Capabilities Used¶
| Capability | Used? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| SharePoint Knowledge | โ | Not used |
| Web Grounding | โ | Not used |
| File Uploads | โ | Not used |
| Graph Connectors | โ | Not used |
| Office Artifacts | โ | Not used |
| Tool Groups | โ | Not used |
| Copilot Actions | โ | Not used |
| Teams Chats + Meetings | โ | Toggled ON โ searches real Teams conversations |
| Outlook Email | โ | Toggled ON โ searches real inbox and sent mail |
| Instructions | โ | Communication search persona with source citation rules |
| Starter Prompts | โ | 5 working + 1 boundary |
๐ Instructions Used¶
Copy-paste these instructions when building the agent:
You are My Comms Assistant โ a helpful agent that answers questions by searching through the user's Teams chats, meetings, and emails.
## Your Role
- You help people quickly find information from their conversations and emails
- You save time by answering "what did we discuss?", "who said what?", and "when was that decided?"
- You are like a personal search engine for all communications
## Rules You MUST Follow
1. ONLY answer using information found in the user's Teams chats, meetings, and emails
2. If you cannot find the information, say "I couldn't find that in your recent chats or emails. Try refining your search โ mention a person's name, date, or topic."
3. ALWAYS mention where you found the information (e.g., "From your Teams chat with Sarah on April 3" or "From an email from James dated March 28")
4. NEVER make up conversations or emails that don't exist
5. Be concise โ summarise the key points, don't paste entire threads
6. When summarising meetings, focus on: decisions made, action items, and key discussion points
7. Respect privacy โ only search content the user has access to
## What You Can Search
- Teams 1-on-1 and group chats
- Teams channel conversations
- Meeting chat messages
- Outlook emails (inbox, sent, folders)
## What You CANNOT Search
- Meeting recordings or transcripts (unless included in chat)
- Attachments content (you can find that an attachment was shared, but may not read inside it)
- Deleted messages or emails
## Topics You Do NOT Cover
- NEVER give advice based on conversation content (you report, not advise)
- NEVER share information from one person's private chats with another person
- NEVER answer questions unrelated to communications. If asked, respond: "I search your Teams chats and emails. For other questions, try asking Copilot directly!"
๐ ๏ธ Quick Build Guide (Copy-Paste Ready)¶
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Go to microsoft365.com/chat โ Agents โ Create Agent โ Skip to configure |
| 2 | Name: A05: My Comms Assistant |
| 3 | Description: Answers questions from your Teams chats, meetings, and emails โ find what was discussed, who said what, and what was decided |
| 4 | Instructions: Paste the full instruction block from above |
| 5 | Knowledge โ My Teams chats and meetings: โ Toggle ON |
| 6 | Knowledge โ My emails: โ Toggle ON |
| 7 | Knowledge โ Everything else: OFF (no SharePoint, no web, no files) |
| 8 | Search all websites: OFF |
| 9 | Generate documents, charts, and code: OFF |
| 10 | Starter Prompts: Add all prompts from the table below โ use real colleague names and topics! |
| 11 | Create and test with T1 (recent emails) first |
๐จ Gotchas & Design Decisions¶
๐ Design Decision: Why A05 Was Repurposed¶
A05 was originally "New Hire Buddy" using File Uploads as knowledge. During planning, we realised it was too similar to A02 (Team Wiki Bot) โ both use uploaded files to answer questions. The only difference was the instructions, which isn't enough for a distinct demo.
We repurposed A05 to showcase Teams + Email knowledge โ a completely different data source that we hadn't covered yet.
Lesson for customers: Don't build agents that overlap too much. Each agent should showcase a distinct value or data source.
๐ Gotcha 1: Privacy and Permissions¶
The agent only searches content the user has access to. This means: - User A's agent won't show User B's private chats - If you share the agent with a colleague, they see THEIR chats and emails, not yours - This is the same permission model as M365 Copilot BizChat
๐ค Demo Talking Point
"This agent respects permissions. When you use it, it searches YOUR conversations. When your colleague uses the same agent, it searches THEIR conversations. Nobody sees anyone else's private data."
๐ง Gotcha 2: Email Cannot Be Scoped¶
When you add "My emails" as knowledge, the agent searches ALL email the user has access to. You cannot scope it to: - A specific folder - A specific sender - A specific date range
Workaround: Use detailed instructions to tell the agent what to focus on. For example: "Focus on emails from the last 7 days" or "Prioritise emails about [topic]".
๐ฌ Gotcha 3: Teams Chats Can Be Scoped (Up to 5)¶
Unlike email, you CAN scope Teams knowledge to specific chats (up to 5). This is useful for: - A project-specific agent (only search the project channel) - A team standup agent (only search the standup chat)
We chose "My Teams chats and meetings" (unscoped) for the broadest demo coverage.
๐งช Gotcha 4: Use Real Names and Topics in Demo Prompts¶
Generic prompts like "What decisions were made in my team meetings?" may return nothing if you don't have team meetings. Always use real colleague names and topics from your actual tenant when testing.
We replaced two generic prompts (T3 about "team meeting decisions" and T5 about "last team meeting") with prompts that work for Sutheesh's Corp communication patterns.
๐ฌ Starter Prompts¶
| # | Title | Prompt | What It Tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | ๐ง Recent email | What emails did I get today about any projects or deadlines? | Email search |
| T2 | ๐ฌ Teams chat | Summarise my Teams chat with [real colleague] from this week | Teams chat search |
| T3 | ๐ Action items | What action items or follow-ups were mentioned in my chats and emails this week? | Cross-source search |
| T4 | ๐ Find info | Did anyone share a document about [real topic] in my chats or email recently? | File mention search |
| T5 | ๐จ Sent emails | Summarise the emails I sent this week โ what topics was I working on? | Sent mail analysis |
| B1 | ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ Out of scope | What is the weather in Auckland? | Boundary test |
๐งช Test Results¶
| # | Test | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Recent emails | โ Worked | Found project-related emails |
| T2 | Teams chat summary | โ Worked | Summarised real conversation |
| T3 | Action items (original: team meeting decisions) | โ โ โ | Original failed (no team meetings), replaced with action items prompt โ worked |
| T4 | Find shared document | โ Worked | Found document mention in chat |
| T5 | Sent email summary (original: last team meeting) | โ โ โ | Original failed, replaced with sent email summary โ worked |
| B1 | Weather (boundary) | โ Declined | Correctly refused out-of-scope question |
๐ Pros & Cons¶
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| โ Searches real conversations โ genuinely useful | โ Email cannot be scoped (searches everything) |
| โ Zero setup โ just toggle ON, no files to upload | โ Results depend on actual communication volume |
| โ Cross-source search (Teams + Email together) | โ Can't read attachments (only finds that they were shared) |
| โ Permissions respected โ each user sees only their own data | โ Meeting transcripts may not always be available |
| โ Most "personal" agent โ feels like having a memory assistant | โ Generic prompts fail โ must use real names/topics |
๐ฎ Future Enhancements¶
| Enhancement | Impact |
|---|---|
| Scope to specific Teams channels | Project-specific communication agent |
| Combine with SharePoint knowledge | Search docs AND conversations in one agent |
| Add Office Artifacts | Generate meeting summary Word docs from conversation data |
| Add Tool Groups (Outlook) | Not just search emails but also draft replies |
| Copilot Actions (when available) | Daily "what did I miss?" summary pushed to you automatically |
๐ค Demo Talking Points¶
- "Your memory assistant" โ Every time you think "I know someone mentioned that somewhere", this agent finds it
- "Zero setup" โ Two toggles: Teams ON, Email ON. That's it. No files, no URLs, no SharePoint
- "Privacy by design" โ Each user sees only their own conversations. No data leakage
- "Real data, real value" โ This isn't demo data. These are your actual chats and emails. The agent is useful from minute one
- "Cross-source" โ It searches Teams AND Email together. "Did anyone mention X?" covers both channels in one query
- "Imagine combining this" โ Add SharePoint for docs, add web for public info, add Tool Groups for actions. That's the MAX OUT agent