Brian can appear in the bar on the left side of Microsoft Teams, next to Chat and Calendar. Clicking it opens a Brian page inside Teams with a single button. We call this page the Brian tile. The button opens Brian in the web browser. If your institution is set up for it, teachers and students arrive already signed in with their institution account.
This article explains how to add Brian to Teams for your whole institution. So you need an administrator account for the Teams admin center (admin.teams.microsoft.com). You set Brian up once for your whole institution. After that, you only upload new versions of Brian (see step 5).
To learn how teachers and students use Brian in Teams, see Microsoft Teams & Brian.
What does the Brian tile do?
- Automatic sign-in: Teams tells Brian who is signed in. One click opens Brian with the right account: teachers land on their courses, students in their learning environment.
- No access to data: Brian only asks Microsoft who is signed in. It can't read emails, chats, or files.
Check these first
Automatic sign-in needs three settings in your school's Microsoft 365. (Microsoft 365 is the Microsoft system your school uses for accounts, email and Teams.) If someone else manages your institution's Microsoft accounts, ask them to check these for you.
- Brian is approved in your school's Microsoft 365.
This is the same approval Brian needs when people sign in to Brian with Microsoft. If people at your institution already do that, this is most likely done. If not, set it up first with our guide: Setting up Microsoft Entra or write to info@brian.study.
- "Assignment required?" is set to “No” for Brian.
You find this setting in the Microsoft Entra admin center (entra.microsoft.com) under Enterprise applications > Brian Study > Properties. If it is set to "Yes," only the people and groups assigned there can sign in to Brian with Microsoft, both from Teams and from Brian's login page.
Info: When someone without a Brian account signs in with Microsoft, Brian creates the account with the role your school gave them for Brian in Microsoft 365. People without a role get a student account.
- No rule that makes people sign in again.
Some institutions use rules that make people sign in again before they can use an app, for example with a code on their phone. Microsoft calls this Conditional Access. If such a rule applies to Brian, the Brian tile can't sign anyone in automatically.
If one of these settings is missing, nothing breaks. The Brian tile then shows "Brian opens in your browser, where you sign in with your school account," and everyone signs in the usual way.
Step by step
- Allow apps that don't come from Microsoft's app store.
- If it is off: turn it on and click Save.
- If it is already on: click Cancel.
Microsoft calls these "custom apps". Brian is one of them. In the Teams admin center, go to Teams apps > Manage apps. Click Actions, then Org-wide app settings.
Under Custom apps, find the switch "Let users install and use available apps by default."
- Upload Brian.
- Open the link below and download the file. It is the same file for every school. It is a zip file: do not open or unzip it.
- Then go to Teams apps > Manage apps, click Actions, then Upload new app, and choose the file.
- Brian then appears in the list of apps. If the list is long, type "Brian" in the search box. If the file below is missing, write to info@brian.study.
If you also see "AskBrian" in the list, that is a different app, not ours.
- Choose who gets Brian.
- "Installed for" decides who gets Brian added to their Teams without doing anything themselves.
- "Available to" decides who may use Brian.
Click Brian in the list to open its page.
Click on each one and choose Everyone, or only the groups of teachers and students who use Brian (groups your school has set up in Microsoft 365, for example a group with all teachers). Choose the same people for both settings.
- Put Brian in the left bar of Teams.
Go to Teams apps > Setup policies. Click Global (Org-wide default). This is the standard setup for everyone at your institution. If your institution has separate policies for teachers or students, choose those instead.
Under Pinned apps, click Add apps, search for Brian, and add it. Use Move up and Move down to choose where Brian appears in the bar. Then click Save.
Inside "Global (Org-wide default)", under "Pinned apps": Brian is at the top of the "App bar" list, above Activity, Chat and Teams. This list is the left bar people see in Teams.
- Upload each new version of Brian.
- Download the new file from step 2 (we replace it there).
- Go to Teams apps > Manage apps and choose Brian.
- Under New version, click Upload file and choose the new file.
We can't update Brian in your institution's Teams for you. When we tell you about a new version:
You don't choose anything else here: everyone you set up in steps 3 and 4 gets the new version from Teams on their own. Only people who added Brian to their Teams themselves may see a message in Teams asking them to update Brian. They should accept it.
How long until changes show up?
Changes usually reach everyone's Teams within a few hours. Changes to who can use Brian, or who has it installed, can take up to a day, sometimes longer.
My Teams admin center looks different
If Brian's page doesn't show "Available to" and "Installed for," your Teams admin center still uses Microsoft's older layout. In that case, choose who can use Brian under Teams apps > Permission policies. You install and pin Brian under Teams apps > Setup policies. If you get stuck, write to info@brian.study.
Troubleshooting
Teams refuses the upload The file was changed (for example, unzipped), or you already uploaded this version or a newer one. Download the file from step 2 again and upload it without unzipping it. If you already have this version, there is nothing to do.
Brian doesn't appear in the left bar of Teams The change hasn't reached Teams yet, or Brian isn't set up for that group. Wait a few hours (up to a day), then check steps 3 and 4.
The Brian tile doesn't sign anyone in automatically Check the three settings under "Check these first." The button still works: everyone can sign in the usual way in the browser.
Need help? Please don’t hesitate to contact us for help. Tell us what you clicked and what was shown. A screenshot helps a lot. 💌 info@brian.study We speak German, English, and French.