--- title: "How to Add Discussions to Microsoft Teams" description: "Step-by-step guide to using Vitextra Discussions as a tab in a Microsoft Teams channel: publishing the app from the SharePoint App Catalog, adding the tab, creating or selecting a board on the team's SharePoint site, configuring the tab, how permissions, approval and deep links behave in Teams, and what to check if the tab is empty." url: https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10393 language: en published: 2026-11-01 modified: 2026-11-01 products: - "Discussions" author: "Lidija Reising" tags: ["Discussions Microsoft Teams", "discussion board tab Teams channel", "forum in Teams", "Add to Teams SharePoint App Catalog", "Teams tab SPFx web part", "team site discussion board", "Q&A tab Teams", "Vitextra Discussions Teams"] --- # How to Add Discussions to Microsoft Teams Step-by-step guide to using Vitextra Discussions as a tab in a Microsoft Teams channel: publishing the app from the SharePoint App Catalog, adding the tab, creating or selecting a board on the team's SharePoint site, configuring the tab, how permissions, approval and deep links behave in Teams, and what to check if the tab is empty. ## Introduction A team that lives in Microsoft Teams wants its forum next to its conversations. [Discussions](https://vitextra.com/en/products/discussions) ships as a Teams application and can be pinned as a **tab in a channel**: the same topic list with views, categories and search, the same threaded replies, best answers, subscriptions and moderation as on a SharePoint page, with the content stored in the lists of the team's own SharePoint site. This article covers publishing the app to Teams, adding the tab and configuring it, and the points that differ from a SharePoint page. It assumes that the package has already been deployed to the App Catalog of your tenant (see [KB10035. How to Install a Vitextra Product in SharePoint Online](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10035)). 📝 **Note** The Teams package contains the **Discussions** web part as a channel tab and as a personal app entry, and the **Discussions Activity** web part as a channel tab. One license per tenant covers SharePoint pages and Teams tabs alike, and no Microsoft Graph API permissions are requested. ## Prerequisites - To publish the app to Teams you need to manage the SharePoint App Catalog — typically the **SharePoint Administrator** role. - To add a channel tab you need to be a member of the team; team owners may restrict who can add tabs. - To create the **first board** of the team you need the **Manage Lists** permission on the team's SharePoint site, which team owners have. Once the lists exist, any member can add a tab and select an existing board. ## Step 1. Make the app available in Teams 1. Open the [Microsoft 365 admin center](https://admin.microsoft.com), go to the **SharePoint admin center**, select **More features** and click **Open** under **Apps**. 2. On the **Manage apps** page, select the **Vitextra Discussions** package and click **Add to Teams**. (In the classic **Apps for SharePoint** library the same command is **Sync to Teams** on the **FILES** tab of the ribbon.) ![Adding the package to Teams from the App Catalog](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10393/add-to-teams-en.png) *Adding the package to Teams from the App Catalog* The app is published to your organization's Teams app store under the name **Discussions** (*Vitextra Discussions*). It stays linked to the SharePoint package: a new version installed in the App Catalog is used in Teams as well (see [KB10050. How to Update a Vitextra SPFx Solution in SharePoint Online](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10050)). 📝 **Note** Alternatively, a Teams administrator can upload the Teams app package manually in the Teams admin center under **Teams apps → Manage apps → Upload new app**; the package is the `TeamsSPFxApp.zip` file included with the product. **Add to Teams** is the simpler route. ## Step 2. Add the tab to a channel 1. Open the team and the channel, and click **+** in the tab bar. 2. Find **Discussions** in the list of apps (use the search box) and select it. 3. Click **Add** (or **Save**). The tab opens with the **Not Configured** screen of the web part and its property pane. 4. Create or select a board — see the next step — and the tab shows the board. Rename the tab (**Rename** in the tab's menu) to something like *Help desk* or *Q&A*; the default name is the app name. ## Step 3. Choose the board A Teams tab runs in the context of the **SharePoint site of the team**, and the **Not Configured** screen works with the lists of that site: - **New board** — type a **Board name**, pick the **Mode**, list the **Categories (one per line)**, set **Require approval of new posts** and click **Create board**. If the team has no Discussions lists yet, they are created on the team site at this moment (**Discussions Boards**, **Discussions Topics**, **Discussions Posts**, **Discussions Subscriptions** and the **Discussions Assets** library) and appear in the **Site contents** of the team site. The options are explained in [KB10392. Creating Your First Board: Modes, Categories and Approval](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10392). - **Existing board** — select a board that already exists on the team site, for example one created for a page of the same site, and click **Use board**. The tab and the page then show the same topics. A board of **another** site — a company-wide help desk on the intranet, say — cannot be selected in the tab, because the web part works with the lists of the site it runs on. To show such a board to a team, add a **Website** tab in Teams with the address of the intranet page, or pin the page with the **SharePoint** tab app. ## Step 4. Configure the tab With the board selected, open the property pane whenever you need it: in the tab's menu choose **Settings**. The options are the same as on a SharePoint page — the **Board** drop-down and the **Open List** link, and under **Appearance** the **Default view**, **Topics per page**, **Show categories**, **Show reply and view counters** and **Show search box** settings — and are described in [KB10391. How to Add and Configure the Discussions Web Part](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10391). The tab keeps its own settings, independent of any web part on a page that shows the same board. ## What is different in Teams - **Permissions come from the team.** Team owners are owners of the SharePoint site and therefore **moderators**: they post without approval, see the **Moderation** button and can pin, feature and lock topics. Team members have *Edit* rights on the site and can start topics, reply, like, follow and report. Guests of the team take part with their guest permissions. Details are in [KB10408. Permissions in Discussions: Who Can Read, Post and Moderate](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10408). - **Deep links.** On a SharePoint page the web part adds `?topic=ID` to the page address when a topic is opened. Inside a Teams tab the page address is not visible, so to share a topic with a colleague use the SharePoint page that shows the same board, or **Copy link to tab** from the tab's menu to point to the tab itself. Links from the **Discussions Activity** web part open the configured **Board page URL** in the browser. See [KB10407. Sharing a Link to a Topic in Discussions (Deep Links)](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10407). - **Importing a classic board.** The **Import classic board** command of moderators appears only in edit mode. On a SharePoint page that is the page edit mode; for a tab it is available while the tab **Settings** are open. - **Personal app.** The Teams package also registers Discussions as a personal app. A personal tab has no board selection step, so the web part cannot be pointed at a board of a team from there; use channel tabs for boards. - **Attachments and images** open in the browser or in the file viewer of Teams, depending on the type. Inline images are stored in the **Discussions Assets** library of the team site. - **Theme.** The tab follows the light and dark themes of the Teams client; the layout adapts to the width of the Teams window and to the Teams mobile app. ❗ **Important** Removing the tab from a channel does not delete anything: the boards, topics and replies stay in the lists of the team site and can be shown again by a new tab or a page. Deleting the team deletes its SharePoint site and, with it, the boards. Keep this in mind for teams with an expiration policy. ## If the tab is empty or shows a message | What you see | What to do | |---|---| | *Not Configured* / *The web part still needs to be configured* | Open **Settings** in the tab's menu and create or select a board (step 3). | | *You do not have permission to create lists on this site* | The team site has no Discussions lists yet and you are not a team owner. Ask an owner to create the first board. | | *The selected board was not found* | The board item was deleted from the **Discussions Boards** list or the tab was copied to another team. Open **Settings** and pick another board. | | *No topics yet. Start the first one.* | The board is empty, or all topics are waiting for approval and you are not a moderator. | | The **New topic** button is missing | The user has no *Add items* permission on the team site — a visitor or a read-only guest. | | The app is missing from the **+** dialog | The package was not added to Teams (step 1), or the Teams administrator blocks custom apps; check **Teams apps → Manage apps** in the Teams admin center. | | The license message | The trial has ended or no license is assigned to the tenant; see [KB10365. Why Does a Vitextra Web Part Show "We Hope You Enjoyed Your Free Trial"? License Messages and Fixes](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10365). | More cases are in [KB10429. Troubleshooting Discussions: Not Configured, Board Not Found and Permission Errors](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10429).