Connect Microsoft 365 and Avox can put meetings and blocked time in your Outlook calendar, add a
Microsoft Teams link to a meeting, and let you reschedule or cancel what Avox created.
Create a meeting: an Outlook event with a Teams link. Guests get Outlook's own invitation.
Reschedule or cancel a meeting from its page in Avox, until it starts.
Block time: a busy event with its reminder off, so nobody books over it.
Avox cannot:
Make a Teams link for a personal Microsoft account. A personal account gets the Outlook event
without a Teams link. Teams links need a work or school account.
Check your free and busy times before it books. Avox can ask Outlook for them, but no automation
step or screen uses that, so a new meeting is created even if the time is taken.
Remove blocked time from an automation. Remove it from Meetings in Avox or in Outlook.
Use any calendar except your main Outlook calendar, or read email, files or contacts. It only
asks to see and change your calendar.
In the sidebar open Apps, then Microsoft 365, and click Connect. The first screen lists
what Avox will be allowed to do. Click Continue, then Continue to Microsoft 365.
2
Choose the account
Microsoft asks which account to use. Pick the one whose calendar you want Avox to use.
3
Accept the permissions
Accept what Avox asks for (see the table). You come back to Avox, which shows Microsoft 365 as
connected, with the account's email.
Permission Avox asks for
What it allows
Sign in and read your profile
Knowing which account this is. Required.
See and change your Outlook calendar
Meetings and blocked time
If the profile permission is not allowed, nothing is connected (AVX-3690).
If the calendar permission is missing, Avox connects but its Overview lists what is missing, and
meeting steps are refused with the same code until you click Reconnect and accept it.
Coming soon means Avox's Microsoft sign-in is not switched on yet (AVX-3682). A greyed-out Connect can also mean your role lacks the permission (AVX-3707), the Switchboard has no plan (AVX-3706), or your plan's apps are all connected (AVX-3683).
Open Apps, then Microsoft 365. The menu (tabs along the top on a phone) has Overview,
Meetings and Activity.
Overview: the status (Connected, Needs reconnecting or Having trouble), the
account, when it last worked, the last problem with its code, permissions not allowed, and Used
for (what uses Microsoft 365). Test connection asks Microsoft whether it still accepts
Avox's access.
Meetings: Sent by Avox lists meetings and blocked time Avox made. In Microsoft 365
lists your Outlook calendar from an hour ago to 180 days ahead, in start order. Open one for its
time, guests, Teams link and notes. Reschedule and Cancel meeting work until it starts.
In an automation add Use a connected app, pick What to do, then pick Microsoft 365 under
With.
Step
What it does
Values it gives back
Create a video meeting
An Outlook event with a Teams link and up to 20 guests
{{meeting.join_url}}, {{meeting.id}}
Block time in a calendar
A busy event
{{calendar.event_id}}
You can rename the values in the step. See Tables and Flows for how they
work. If another meeting app is connected too, pick the one you want in With.
Flows. A Flow does not call Microsoft by itself. An automation that starts with Flow
submitted can use these steps with the customer's answers, like {{flow.email}}. To put the
bookings of the premade appointment booking Flow in Outlook, add an automation with the Booking
made trigger on your Appointments table.
Times.Starts needs a full date and time, with the year, month and day. Avox turns it into
one exact moment and sends it to Microsoft in universal time, so the meeting happens at the same
time wherever you or your customer are. Outlook shows it in your own calendar's time zone; the
step's Time zone box does not change that. A meeting is 5 to 720 minutes long, and its title can
have up to 200 characters. If Avox cannot read the date and time, the step fails before anything is
sent to Microsoft.
After the first run, open the meeting in Outlook and check its time.
Example (made up). When a booking is added to a table, a Create a video meeting step makes
a Teams meeting, then a message step sends {{meeting.join_url}} to the customer. Avox does not
message the link by itself.
Cancelling.Cancel meeting has a switch, Tell the guests it's cancelled, on by default.
If Outlook cannot send the cancellation, Avox removes the event from your calendar instead.
Avox tries again when that is safe. Reads, moves and removals are tried up to two more times
(after about 0.4 seconds, then 1.2 seconds) if Microsoft is busy or cannot be reached. If
Microsoft says how long to wait, Avox waits up to 5 seconds. Creating a meeting, blocking time
and sending a cancellation to guests are not retried, because a repeat could make a second
copy or send two notices. If one of those fails with a timeout, check Outlook before you run it
again: Microsoft may have done it just as the answer got lost.
The status changes only when it should. If Microsoft stops accepting Avox's access, the status
becomes Needs reconnecting at once. Five failed calls in a row on Microsoft's side make it
Having trouble. One good call, or a passing Test connection, puts it back to Connected
by itself. A bad detail in a step, a permission that was not allowed, Avox's own 120 a minute
brake and a paused Switchboard do not count against it.
The call is logged.Activity keeps the time, action, source, result, number of tries and
Microsoft's reason. Emails and phone numbers are masked and sign-in details are never kept.
Your automation follows your choice. Each step has If it can't be done: Stop the run
or Carry on with the next step. While Microsoft Needs reconnecting, or the Switchboard is
paused, Avox does not call Microsoft at all. The step ends as "the app isn't connected"
(AVX-3596) and follows the same choice. Other steps, your Inbox and
automations without Microsoft carry on.
Pages show what Avox saved. If Outlook cannot be read, Meetings shows what Avox saved
(AVX-3717), with the reason's code. Click Refresh later.
Reschedule and Cancel meeting wait until Microsoft answers.
What happens to a meeting or a block. When Microsoft confirms, Avox saves a record (title, time,
guest count, and the Teams link without its passcode) under Sent by Avox. When a call fails,
nothing is saved. Avox does not retry a create, so one failed attempt never becomes two meetings. A
meeting that already exists stays in Outlook even if Microsoft fails later or you disconnect. If a
reschedule or cancel fails, the event is unchanged.
Open Microsoft 365, then Disconnect. Avox first lists what uses it: those steps stop until
you connect again (AVX-3708). Click Disconnect to confirm, or Keep it
connected.
Avox deletes the sign-in it saved. The log and usage stay for your retention period. Meetings in
your calendar stay too.
Microsoft gives apps no way to take their own access back. To fully remove Avox, open your
account's app permissions yourself: myapps.microsoft.com for work or school accounts, or
account.live.com/consent/Manage for personal ones.
Teams links need a work or school account. A personal Microsoft account gets the Outlook event
without a link.
My IT admin has to approve Avox. What do I ask for?
Ask them to allow Avox to sign in and read the user's profile, and to see and change the user's
calendar. Those are the two permissions in the table above.
Can I connect two Microsoft accounts?
One account per Switchboard. Signing in with a different account while reconnecting is refused
(AVX-3703). Disconnect first to switch accounts.