{"id":6463,"date":"2021-06-22T08:04:20","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officedevblogs.wpengine.com\/?p=6463"},"modified":"2021-06-22T08:04:20","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:04:20","slug":"universal-actions-unified-developer-experience-for-adaptive-cards-on-teams-and-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/universal-actions-unified-developer-experience-for-adaptive-cards-on-teams-and-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"Universal Actions: Unified developer experience for Adaptive Cards on Teams and Outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are excited to announce the general availability of Universal Actions for Adaptive Cards in Teams and Outlook and share some great examples of how partners are already using them to transform a variety of user experiences.<\/p>\n<p>With Universal Actions, Microsoft 365 developers can <strong>now implement Adaptive Card scenarios once and run them seamlessly on both Teams and Outlook<\/strong>. Furthermore, the new Universal Action model also brings the following improvements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Features that were previously only available in Outlook Actionable Messages, such as automatic card updates and the ability for actions to refresh the current card, are now also available in Teams<\/li>\n<li>Outlook Actionable Messages now support Adaptive Cards v1.4 which brings exciting new features such as RichTextBlock and Input Validation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6464 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/73\/2021\/06\/Lifecycle-of-Adaptive-Card.gif\" alt=\"Lifecycle of an Adaptive Card with old versus new model\" width=\"900\" height=\"401\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Until now, Adaptive Cards designed to run in Teams had to use the <strong>Action.Submit<\/strong> action type, while cards authored to run in Outlook had to use the <strong>Action.Http<\/strong> action type. The Universal Action model introduces a new, common <strong>Action.Execute<\/strong> action type that seamlessly works in both Teams and Outlook. This allows developers to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Send the same Adaptive Card to both Teams and Outlook<\/li>\n<li>Implement and maintain a single, sychronized backend service to handle action execution, whether end-users are taking those actions from Teams or Outlook<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In other words, the Universal Actions model enables a true <em>build once, deploy and run everywhere<\/em> experience.<\/p>\n<p>To make all this work, the Universal Actions model relies on the Azure Bot Framework to call the backend services that handle actions. Bot Framework is a standardized solution that comes with rich tooling, SDKs and documentation.<\/p>\n<p>Our developer partners have already started leveraging Universal Actions to elevate their end-user experiences for a wide range of scenarios. To name a few:<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoho.com\/\">Zoho<\/a> Corporation\n<\/strong>Zoho is an enterprise SaaS company with a suite of web and mobile applications for CRM solutioning, business analytics, and collaboration with distributed and remote teams. Universal Actions help Zoho enhance the user experience of the following Zoho products:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoho.com\/forms\/\"><strong>Zoho Forms<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Zoho Forms provides a feature-rich form builder software. Custom forms are sent via email (Outlook) and Teams as adaptive cards powered by Universal Actions.\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoho.com\/forms\/universal-actions-adaptive-cards.html?utm_source=microsoft&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=universal_actions_promotion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learn more<\/a> about Zoho Forms\u2019 Universal Actions implementation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoho.com\/online-service-desk-software.html\"><strong>Zoho ServiceDesk Plus<\/strong><\/a><strong> (Zoho SDP)<\/strong> \u2013 Adaptive Cards across Outlook and Teams will allow Zoho SDP users to track and manage IT tickets efficiently, collaborate better, automate workflows, and resolve issues faster.\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.manageengine.com\/products\/service-desk\/integrations\/universal-actions-adaptive-cards.html?utm_source=MS-teams-blog&amp;utm_medium=cross-promo&amp;utm_campaign=SDP-MS-UA-ACs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learn more<\/a> about Zoho SDP\u2019s Universal Actions implementation<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoho.com\/projects\/\"><strong>Zoho Projects<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Zoho Projects provides cloud-based project management software, adaptive cards will now help users to plan better and track work more efficiently.\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoho.com\/blog\/projects\/teams-outlook-zoho-projecs.html?utm_source=microsoft&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=universal_actions_promotion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learn more<\/a> about Zoho Projects\u2019 Universal Actions implementation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.go1.com\/\"><strong>Go1<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Go1 is a Learning Management product that provides learning opportunities and training to enterprises and educational institutions. Go1 Content Hub delivers a wide range of educational topics and helps create contextualized learning experiences.\u00a0Go1 has built a delightful Universal Actions integration that allows professors to share learning content with students, who can then manage these recommendations via adaptive cards in Outlook and Teams.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.go1.com\/blog\/post-go1s-microsoft-universal-actions-integration-featured-at-the-2021-microsoft-build-developer-conference\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learn more<\/a> about this Universal Actions-backed solution.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ecarevault.com\/\">eCare Vault<\/a><\/strong>\neCare Vault is an innovative and HIPAA\/ FERPA compliant solution designed to digitally transform and streamline your manual, paper-based workflows in Healthcare and Education. eCare Vault has built a powerful adaptive cards-based solution backed by Universal Actions that enables School Counsellors to refer students who need special care for learning\/ mental health to experts who can accept these referrals in a confidential and compliant manner and then help these students via a \u201csafe space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ecarevault.com\/ecare-blog\/2021\/5-26\/streamlining-student-support-with-adaptive-cards-in-safe-spaces\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learn more<\/a> about how Universal Actions power this integration.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcs.com\/\">Tata Consultancy Services<\/a><\/strong>\nTata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an IT Services, consulting and business solutions organization that has been partnering with many of the world\u2019s largest businesses in their transformation journeys for over 50 years. A part of the Tata group, TCS has over 488,000 of the world\u2019s best-trained consultants in 46 countries.<\/p>\n<p>Universal Actions has been used by TCS within a one stop solution for FLWs to report safety incidents, capture risk observations in site plant, spread safety awareness, perform asset health monitoring, conduct field inspections etc. All users involved in managing an incident can now seamlessly collaborate, and complete tasks\/ actions from within Teams or Outlook.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Please<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoftteams\/platform\/task-modules-and-cards\/cards\/universal-actions-for-adaptive-cards\/overview?tabs=mobile\"> click here<\/a> for more information on Universal Actions in Adaptive Cards.<\/p>\n<p>Happy coding!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new Universal Action model for Adaptive Cards includes many improvements. Get a glimpse of what they are and how our partners are already using them to transform user experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69074,"featured_media":25159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,128],"tags":[12,14],"class_list":["post-6463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adaptive-cards","category-microsoft-teams","tag-outlook","tag-universal-actions"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"<p>The new Universal Action model for Adaptive Cards includes many improvements. Get a glimpse of what they are and how our partners are already using them to transform user experiences.<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoft365dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}