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If you’ve run into a problem where your Microsoft Teams bot stops sending events after updating the app, you’re not alone. This is a common issue developers face when adding new features like tabs or making other changes to their Teams app package. Here’s what you need to know and how to fix it.
When you update the app manifest to add tab support or make significant changes, it often requires increasing the manifest version and uploading the new package to the Teams Admin Center. This process can sometimes cause the existing bot channels to stop functioning correctly, especially in terms of event notifications. The main reason is that the new deployment may cause Teams to consider the app as a new version or a different app altogether, which can disconnect the previous bot installation from its event subscriptions.
In your case, after updating the manifest with tab support, your bot isn’t receiving conversation events or messages anymore. Interestingly, when you remove and then reinstall the app in the channel, the bot resumes normal operation. This suggests that the installation state needs refreshment for event subscriptions to re-establish correctly.
The most straightforward solution is to remove the existing app from your Teams channel and then reinstall it after you upload the new package. This ensures that all the necessary subscriptions and configurations are properly set up. While it might seem like an extra step, it’s often necessary because Teams treats app updates with added capabilities as a new instance.
To prevent disruptions in the future, consider the following:
– Always test updates in a staging environment before deploying to production.
– After updating the app manifest and uploading a new package, instruct users or admin teams to remove the old app and reinstall from the package. This helps reset the connection and event subscriptions.
– Review your app manifest to ensure that changes don’t unintentionally break existing configurations. For example, adding tabs and supporting additional scopes can sometimes require reconfiguring permissions or endpoints.
In summary, the need to remove and reinstall the app comes down to how Teams manages app updates and subscriptions. When adding new features like tabs, Teams may require a re-initialization of the installation to properly set up event delivery. Performing this reinstall is the current best practice, and it helps your bot continue receiving all the conversation events it was designed to handle.
If you want to avoid this step in future updates, keep in mind that some changes to the app manifest might require more thorough reconfiguration. Always review the release notes for the Teams app schema and consider testing the update process so you can plan for reinstallation without disrupting your users.


