How do I use Shifts tags in a "Post to a channel as Flow bot"

[rparungao3]

We use Shifts for scheduling, and really like the new channel tags that dynamically @ mention only the people actually on shift. I was wondering if I could use the Shift tags in Flow notifications.

I tried <at> email</at> using the channel email and some variations of the Shift group tags but could not get anything to work.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[v-yiwenxie-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @rparungao3 

Currently, there is no function in flow to @all members in teams channel just using the channel email.

And if you want to use <at>email</at>, make sure you put only one person’s email for one <at></at>. You will need to add several <at></at> to @ several people.

You can go to ‘Power Automate Ideas’ forum to realize the function in the future if the post gets more kudos: Microsoft Teams notification when post on channel - Power Platform Community

But I can create a flow meeting your needs, though the flow needs more steps, as below:

First, if you want to @all the members in a channel email, you can get all the group members’ emails by ‘List group members’ action.

Then, initialize variable. And append to the string variable to add elements on the original basis.

Last, the content of message you want to post as the flow bot to a channel is the string variable.

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Kira Xie
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[rparungao3]

Thanks, I'll try that out.

[Expiscornovus]

@rparungao3 I believe they are still rolling out the tagging by shift feature and it should be completed by the end of January. Look for message MC228393 (Updated) Shifts app groups will automatically have a tag in Teams in the Message Center of Office 365 Admin.

As far as I can tell you can just use the name of the shift group in a channel. Unfortunately, I can't test it for you, because the shift tags aren't appearing in my demo tenant yet.

Tagging by shift automatically assigns users with tags matching their schedule in the Shifts app in Teams. Simply @mention the name of the shift group in a channel or use it when starting a new chat to notify everyone currently working at once. 

[rparungao3]

@Expiscornovus Yes, we have tagging by Shifts to have it in our tenant, as I randomly noticed it last month, and I use it almost daily now, since we have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shifts, and it's very useful to @ mention only the few people actually working and not the entire channel. We do it to assign tickets and/or duties.

By the way, I attempted to use the workflow given above in Flow, and it collected every member of the whole Team and @ mentioned them at once 😞 that was embarrassing.