How to send a message to a specific user using microsoft bot-builder to Skype for Business?

Question

I've found lot of tutorials explaining how to respond to a user-initiated message as a Skype for Business bot. However, none about initiating a new conversation by the bot.

Proactive messages need to have the address stored somehow by having received a message from the user first (as explained here). Is it possible to initiate a new conversation to a user without prior exchanges?

How to send a message to a specific user knowing his email address?

Thanks

Answer 1

This really depends on the channel you re using to publish your bot. If you re using Facebook Messenger or Skype, you need the user to contact the bot first as you stated.

If you re using email channel, you should check Create a custom Email message, on the link below:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/bot-framework/dotnet/bot-builder-dotnet-channeldata

However, I don't see a Node sample for that.

Answer 2

I think someone has done similar tasks using the method described here:

https://github.com/microsoft/botframework-sdk/issues/1957