Installing AB Support takes two steps: add the app, then create a support desk to work in. The whole thing takes a few minutes, and afterwards your team can work that desk from Microsoft Teams, from Outlook, or from a web browser.
Only your team installs anything. Your customers don’t. AB Support is for your agents. Customers reach you through web chat, email, web forms, WhatsApp, and SMS — they never need Teams or an account.
Set it up
- Add the app. Get AB Support from the Microsoft Teams store (or find it in your organisation’s app catalogue) and add it. That gives you the personal app with its Home, Desks and Settings tabs, and the AB Support bot.
- Create your first desk. On the Home tab, type a name and click Create a desk. You land in its inbox.
Prefer your team to work in a Teams channel? Instead of the Home tab, go to that channel and choose + → AB Support → Save. That creates a desk for the channel and pins its inbox as a tab. Both routes are covered in support desks. - Give the AI something to answer from. In the desk’s inbox open the Knowledge base — the book icon beside the gear — and add an article or two. Without a knowledge source the AI hands every question to your team instead of answering it. See knowledge sources.
Check it worked by asking the AB Support bot in Teams the question you just wrote about — it answers from the same sources a customer gets. - Name the desk and give it an icon. In Settings → Desk identity, call it after the audience it serves — Billing, Website chat — so your team can tell one desk from another at a glance. See Settings.
- Connect your customer channels. Open Settings for the web-chat snippet, your support mailbox, and your WhatsApp and SMS numbers. See Settings.
- Bring your team in. On a channel-linked desk, anyone in the channel who opens AB Support becomes a member. On a standalone desk, invite them from the desk’s Settings. Either way they can then be assigned tickets — see assigning tickets.
Email is the only part that needs an administrator. Connecting a support mailbox asks a Microsoft 365 admin (someone who can approve app permissions for your whole company) to grant access once. Nothing else does: creating a desk, the web chat, forms, and the AI all work without it. See support email for the mailbox steps.
Working the desk outside Teams
Some people on a support team don’t live in Microsoft Teams. They don’t have to:
- Outlook or the Microsoft 365 app. AB Support appears there once installed, with the same Home, Desks and Settings tabs.
- Any browser. Go to blz.actionbridge.io/web/hub, sign in with the same Microsoft account, and open AB Support — it sits alongside AB Projects and AB Sales.
Nothing to install and nothing to keep in sync — it’s the same desk everywhere. Whether a teammate replies from Teams, Outlook or the browser, the customer sees one conversation.
What you get after setup
| Surface | What it’s for |
|---|---|
| The personal app | Home shows what needs you across every desk, Desks lists them, Settings holds your own preferences. In Teams, Outlook, the Microsoft 365 app, or a browser. |
| The channel tab | On a channel-linked desk, the dashboard and ticket list pinned in the channel where your team works. |
| Inquiry cards in the channel | On a channel-linked desk, a card posts on every new inquiry so anyone can jump in and reply without opening the app. |
| The AB Support bot | Ask it a question and it answers from your knowledge base with sources, or ask for open tickets and my tickets. Type help for the full list. It answers before you have set anything up. See the bot. |
| Your customer channels | The web chat, email, forms, and WhatsApp and SMS that customers use. |
Once the desk exists and Settings are filled in, it is live — the next customer message becomes your first ticket.