Template: Add scheduled tweets to a SharePoint list with AtBot
This is the fourth post in a multi-part series on building a Twitter Scheduler Center using Microsoft Teams, Power Automate, and AtBot. See part 1 for context.
In a previous post, I showed how to automatically post a scheduled tweet from SharePoint using Power Automate. It’s surprisingly easy to add the tweet to the SharePoint list via Teams (or directly in SharePoint), but it’s not so easy to do that when you’re on the go.
AtBot is the solution to this problem. This template will connect AtBot to your SharePoint list so you can add new tweets on the fly directly through AtBot.
While I call this “add scheduled tweets to a SharePoint list with AtBot”, this is actually applicable to any information you’d want to add to pretty much any type of SharePoint list. This just happens to be an excellent use case of the concept.
Create the Skill
A templated version of this Skill is currently under review for inclusion in the Power Automate website’s template area. At that time, I’ll update this post with the link. Until then, it’s easy enough to add the Power Automate steps as explained below.
1. Log in to office.com with your user name and password and add AtBot to Teams if you haven’t already.
2. Browse to the AtBot Power Automate Connector page and click ‘When an intent is used’.
3. Name your Flow.
4. Complete ‘When an intent is used’ step.
In When an intent is used, add a Trigger description to help your users understand what the Skill does; change Bot trigger type to Shared if you want colleagues to be able to use this Skill in AtBot; and update Keywords to a different trigger command if you’d like. (Keywords is what you’ll type to AtBot when you want him to kick off the Skill.)
5. Add a ‘Create variable’ action.
When AtBot requests the tweet text from you, he’ll set this variable to represent that text.
In Name, input Tweet. In Type, choose String. You can leave Value blank.
6. Add a ‘Create variable’ action.
When AtBot requests the publish date and time from you, he’ll set this variable to represent that value.
In Name, input Time. In Type, choose String. You can leave Value blank. (If you want a default date and time, you can add this here.)
7. Add an AtBot ‘Get response from AtBot’ action.
In Message, add the question AtBot will ask the user when they kick off the Skill. For example, something like “What’s the text of the tweet you want to schedule?”
In Reply Activity, add Reply Activity from the dynamic content parameters.
8. Add a ‘Set variable’ action.
This is AtBot identifying the variable Tweet with your text.
In Name, choose Tweet.
In Value, add Response Text from the dynamic content parameters.
9. Add an AtBot ‘Get datetime response from AtBot’ action.
In Date Scope, select Date and Time.
In Message, add the question AtBot will ask the user when they kick off the Skill. For example, something like “What date and time do you want to post your tweet? (MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM AM/PM format works best)”
In Reply Activity, add Reply Activity from the dynamic content parameters.
10. Add a ‘Set variable’ action.
This is AtBot identifying the variable Time with your input.
In Name, choose Time.
In Value, add Response Date from the dynamic content parameters.
11. Add a SharePoint ‘Create item’ action.
In Site Address, select the site where you created your list. If you don’t see the site, copy the URL from the site, choose Enter custom value, and paste the URL.
In List Name, select the Ad Hoc Scheduler list from the drop-down menu.
In Title, add Tweet (the variable) from the dynamic content parameters.
In Publish Time, add Time (the variable) from the dynamic content parameters.
12. Add an AtBot ‘Send reply’ action.
In Reply Text, add something like “All set! Your tweet is now scheduled. You can see it in the SharePoint list if you’d like:” Then add Link to item from the dynamic content parameters. This provides the user a direct link to the item in SharePoint in case they need it.
In Reply Activity, add Reply Activity from the dynamic content parameters.
13. Save your Flow.
This is what the whole thing should look like from top to bottom.
Test it out
Jump into a private chat with AtBot and tell him to Schedule that tweet. He should ask for the tweet, then the post time. Confirm that it’s been added to the SharePoint list. Then, in Power Automate, confirm that the Ad Hoc Scheduler Skill has started. This Skill automatically kicks that one off because the latter starts whenever a new item is created (which is the ultimate deliverable of this Skill).
I tested it using AtBot in my Tweet Scheduler Center on Teams desktop. Any time AtBot responds to you in a conversation, you have to @mention him explicitly with each response (it’s a limitation with bots in Teams). If you forget to @mention him, you can just post again (editing a post won’t work).
And here’s a video demo of what it looks like in Teams for iOS.
Remember, this is just the start
Using AtBot to post to a tweet-scheduling SharePoint list is great, but the possibilities are huge. You could use AtBot on the go to collect data, complete field reports, inspections, record mileage and travel expenses, the list goes on.
Hey, you could even request a new Office 365 Group or SharePoint site right from AtBot that goes through a permission review process to ensure you have the right training or qualification.
And when you’re using your iPhone or Android, remember that you can talk to your phone rather than type, using the phone’s built-in dictation tools. Kind of cool, right?
Next up: finish your Twitter Scheduler Center
You’ve gotten through creating all the Skills, so now you can jump back to the overview post and bring this process into a close, then start reaping the benefits of an automated tweet scheduler built right in Microsoft Teams!
