Automating your Microsoft Teams creation process using PowerShell
Microsoft Teams’ daily users are skyrocketing. From April 2020 to October 2020, their numbers rose more than 50 percent from 75 million to 115 million. Suppose your company decides to adopt this software for daily internal or external communications. In that case, you might face the manual construction of public/private teams and channels, assign Office 365 users to them, and so on. This procedure might become very time consuming as the complexity of your company increases. To solve this problem, I have created a script that takes care of all of this for you by automating the entire process. The only thing you must do is create a JSON file as described below and pass a few parameters to the script. Configuration file This JSON file contains all the teams and channels that you want to create in your organization. You can also specify each object’s visibility (private or standard), the users you wish to assign to it, and their roles. The schema of the JSON is the following: { "definitions": {}, "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#", "$id": "https://example.com/object1610484731.json", "title": "root", "type": "object", "required": [ "teams" ], "properties": { "teams": { "$id": "#root/teams", "title": "teams", "type": "array", "default": [], "items": { "$id": "#root/teams/items", "title": "items", "type": "object", "required": [ "displayname", "visibility", "users", "channels" ], "properties": { "displayname": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/displayname", "title": "displayname", "description": "Team display name", "type": "string", "default": "", "examples": [ "public team1" ], "pattern": "^.*$" }, "visibility": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/visibility", "title": "visibility", "description": "Team visibility", "type": "string", "default": "public", "enum": ["public", "private"], "examples": [ "public", "private" ] }, "users": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/users", "title": "users", "type": "array", "default": [], "items": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/users/items", "title": "items", "type": "object", "required": [ "email", "role" ], "properties": { "email": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/users/items/email", "title": "email", "description": "User email", "type": "string", "default": "", "format": "email", "examples": [ "user1@domain.com" ] }, "role": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/users/items/role", "title": "role", "description": "User role", "type": "string", "default": "owner", "enum": ["owner", "member"], "examples": [ "owner", "member" ] } } } }, "channels": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/channels", "title": "channels", "type": "array", "default": [], "items": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/channels/items", "title": "items", "description": "Team users", "type": "object", "required": [ "displayname", "membershiptype", "users" ], "properties": { "displayname": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/channels/items/displayname", "title": "displayname", "description": "Channels display name", "type": "string", "default": "", "examples": [ "public channel" ], "pattern": "^.*$" }, "membershiptype": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/channels/items/membershiptype", "title": "membershiptype", "description": "Channels membership type", "type": "string", "default": "standard", "enum": ["standard", "private"], "examples": [ "standard", "private" ] }, "users": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/channels/items/users", "title": "users", "description": "Channels users", "type": "array", "default": [], "items": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/channels/items/users/items", "title": "items", "type": "object", "required": [ "email", "role" ], "properties": { "email": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/channels/items/users/items/email", "title": "email", "description": "User email", "type": "string", "default": "", "format": "email", "examples": [ "user1@domain.com" ] }, "role": { "$id": "#root/teams/items/channels/items/users/items/role", "title": "role", "description": "User role", "type": "string", "default": "member", "enum": ["owner", "member"], "examples": [ "owner", "member" ] } } } } } } } } } } } } The following example shows how to create different teams and channels with multiple users and permissions: { "teams":[ { "displayName": "Public team1", "visibility": "Public", "users": [ { "email":"User1@domain.com", "role":"Owner" }, { "email":"User2@domain.com", "role":"Member" }, { "email":"User3@domain.com", "role":"Member" } ], "channels": [ { "displayName": "Public channel", "membershipType": "Public", "users":[] }, { "displayName": "Private channel", "membershipType": "Private", "users":[ { "email":"User1@domain.com", "role":"Owner" }, { "email":"User2@domain.com", "role":"Member" } ] } ] }, { "displayName": "Public team2", "visibility": "Public", "users": [ { "email":"User1@domain.com", "role":"Owner" }, { "email":"User2@domain.com", "role":"Member" }, { "email":"User3@domain.com", "role":"Member" } ], "channels": [ { "displayName": "Public channel", "membershipType": "Public", "users":[] }, { "displayName": "Private channel", "membershipType": "Private", "users":[ { "email":"User1@domain.com", "role":"Owner" }, { "email":"User2@domain.com", "role":"Member" } ] } ] } ] } Script This script is based on the official Microsoft Teams PowerShell module. If you are using a version of PowerShell prior the 1.0.18, you might face the following error: New-TeamChannel : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'MembershipType'. At line:1 char:101 + ... upId -DisplayName PrivateChannelDisplayName -MembershipType Private + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [New-TeamChannel], ParameterBindingException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NamedParameterNotFound,Microsoft.TeamsCmdlets.PowerShell.Custom.NewTeamChannel The problem is that the creation of private channels is not supported by versions prior to 1.0.18. At the time of this writing, I am using version 1.1.10-preview. The logic of this script is straightforward. However, there are few keynotes: Because each team and private channel has its dedicated SharePoint communication site, channels are created asynchronously. To solve possible issues related to assigning users to an incomplete instance, the function Add-UserToPrivateChannel will perform several attempts to set users to a private channel. If you want to set a user as the owner of a private channel, the user must first be added as a standard user and then changed to the owner. Param( [Parameter(Position=0)] [string]$Office365Username, [Parameter(Position=1)] [string]$Office365Password, [Parameter(Position=2)] [string]$TeamsFilePath ) Write-Verbose "Importing modules" $Module = Get-Module -Name MicrosoftTeams -ListAvailable if($Module.Count -eq 0) { Write-Verbose "Installing MicrosoftTeams module" Install-Module -Name MicrosoftTeams -AllowPrerelease -AllowClobber -Force } Function New-MicrosoftTeam([object]$Team) { Try { Write-Verbose "Creating $($Team.DisplayName) $($Team.Visibility) team" $NewTeam = New-Team -DisplayName $Team.DisplayName -Visibility $Team.Visibility Write-Verbose "Adding $($Team.Users.Length) users to $($Team.DisplayName) team" $Team.Users | ForEach-Object -Begin { $Index = 0 } -Process { $Index = $Index + 1 Write-Progress -Id 1 -ParentId 0 -Activity "Add user to the team" -Status "$($Index) of $($Team.Users.Length) - User: $($_.Email), Role: $($_.Role)" -PercentComplete ($Index/$Team.Users.Length*100) Write-Verbose "Adding $($_.Email) to $($Team.DisplayName) teams as $($_.Role)" Add-TeamUser -User $_.Email -Role $_.Role -GroupId $NewTeam.GroupId } -End { Write-Verbose "Users succesfully added to the $($Team.DisplayName) team" } Write-Verbose "Add $($Team.Channels.Length) channels to $($Team.DisplayName) team" $Team.Channels | ForEach-Object -Begin { $Index = 0 } -Process { $Index = $Index + 1 Write-Progress -Id 2 -ParentId 0 -Activity "Creation of a new channel" -Status "$($Index) of $($Team.Channels.Length) - Display Name: $($_.DisplayName), Membership Type: $($_.MembershipType)" -PercentComplete ($index/$Team.Channels.Length*100) New-TeamChannel -DisplayName $_.DisplayName -MembershipType $_.MembershipType -GroupId $NewTeam.GroupId Write-Verbose "Check channel membership type" if('Private' -eq $_.MembershipType -And $_.Users.Length -gt 0) { Write-Verbose "Add $($_.Users.Length) users to $($_.DisplayName) private channel" $_.Users | ForEach-Object -Begin { $IndexUsers = 0 $UsersLength = $_.Users.Length $DisplayName = $_.DisplayName } -Process { $IndexUsers = $IndexUsers + 1 Write-Progress -Id 3 -ParentId 2 -Activity "Add user to the private channel" -Status "$($IndexUsers) of $($UsersLength) - User: $($_.Email), Role: $($_.Role)" -PercentComplete ($IndexUsers/$UsersLength*100) Write-Verbose "Adding $($_.Email) to $($DisplayName) private channel as $($_.Role)" Add-UserToPrivateChannel -DisplayName $DisplayName -Email $_.Email -Role $_.Role -GroupId $NewTeam.groupId } -End { Write-Verbose "Users succesfully added to the $($_.DisplayName) channel" } } } -End { Write-Verbose "Channels succesfully created" } } Catch { Write-Error "Message: [$($_.Exception.Message)]" -ErrorId B1 } } Function Add-UserToPrivateChannel([string]$DisplayName, [string]$Email, [string]$Role, [string]$GroupId) { $MaxNumberOfAttemps = 5 $Attemps = 0 do { try { Write-Verbose "$($Attemps) attempt/s" Write-Verbose "Waiting $(60*$Attemps) seconds" Start-Sleep -s (60*$Attemps) Write-Verbose "Adding $($Email) to $($DisplayName) private channel" Add-TeamChannelUser -DisplayName $DisplayName -User $Email -GroupId $GroupId Write-Verbose "Check user role" if("Owner" -eq $Role){ Write-Verbose "Set $($Email) as owner of the $($DisplayName) private channel" Add-TeamChannelUser -DisplayName $DisplayName -User $Email -Role "Owner" -GroupId $GroupId } break; } catch { $Attemps = $Attemps + 1 if($_.Exception.ErrorCode -ne 404 -And $attemps -eq $MaxNumberOfAttemps){ throw } } } while ($Attemps -lt $MaxNumberOfAttemps) } Write-Verbose "Generating secure password" $SecurePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText $Office365Password -Force Write-Verbose "Generating PSCredential object" $Credentials = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -Argumentlist $Office365Username, $SecurePassword; Write-Verbose "Connecting to Microsoft Teams" Connect-MicrosoftTeams -Credential $Credentials Write-Verbose "Read JSON file from $($TeamsFilePath)" $Json = Get-Content -Raw -Path $TeamsFilePath | ConvertFrom-Json $Json.Teams | ForEach-Object -Begin { $Index = 0 } -Process { $Index = $Index + 1 Write-Progress -Id 0 -Activity "Creation of the teams" -Status "$($Index) of $($Json.Teams.Length) - Display Name: $($_.DisplayName), Visibility: $($_.Visibility)" -PercentComplete ($Index/$Json.Teams.Length*100) New-MicrosoftTeam -Team $_ } -End { Write-Host "Update completed" -ForegroundColor Green } References PowerShell module: https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/MicrosoftTeams/1.1.10-preview GitHub repository: https://github.com/GTRekter/ApolloCan't create a new team as a Global Admin
I am the MSFT 365 Global Admin for my tenant. Recently, I have not been able to create new teams using the Teams' desktop application. However, I still can create new teams from the Teams' administrator dashboard. I checked the team's creation policy and found no restrictions applied to my account. Would you please help me find out why this happens?
What permissions are needed to create teams from a template?
Hi there! I'm trying to create a new classroom team in Teams, but neither my normal account or my GA account has permissions to create teams from templates, nor from another team. The options are greyed out and the tooltip says I don't have permission. The "from scratch" option is completely missing, only "From a group" is available. I've ensured that both accounts have a license (Education A3) and the appropriate permissions in the Teams Admin Portal (where I can create normal teams from scratch with my admin account no problem). Am I missing something? Are there any more permissions required? I've tried both in a browser and in the desktop app.
