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Delivering real-time updates with Esri RSS feeds in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams makes it easy to connect as many RSS feeds as needed, giving your team real-time access to curated content without the need to chase down information. It’s a simple yet powerful way to keep everyone informed and focused. 

In Customer Support, having access to timely and accurate information is critical to keeping our teams aligned and well-informed. One of the ways I ensure my teammates are always in the loop is by leveraging Microsoft Teams with Esri’s RSS feeds. This allows us to automatically share the latest updates, helpful tips and critical status alerts right into our shared workspace, ensuring no one misses a beat.

What is RSS and how do I use it?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It’s a way for you to get the latest content by using a feed reader of your choice. 

No coding necessary

Setting up your feed is easy! Follow these steps to add your RSS code snippet into your designated Microsoft Teams channel:

  1. Select Apps from the left of Teams.
  2. Scroll and select Workflows from the navigation on the left.
  3. You can either search RSS for a built-in template or look under the Category section for Social Media.

The template choices are:

  • Channel updates from any RSS feed
  • Chat updates from any RSS feed
  • Post a chat message every week with a list of RSS feeds published

A new RSS update for a blog that was automatically published using the RSS feed. Your team will be able to read and stay informed with specially curated news.

A new RSS update automatically added to Microsoft Teams

Your workflow will run automatically. An "automatic" requires no further action from you once you've added it. Each workflow has a trigger, and when the trigger occurs, an action or series of actions happen automatically.

Multiple Esri branded RSS feeds to choose from!

Add Esri RSS feeds to your Microsoft Teams channels to automatically share updates on news, blog posts, product announcements and real-time ArcGIS Online service availability.

Esri RSS feeds

This feed is a valuable tool for staying up to date on Esri’s latest product developments, feature enhancements and best practices. You can also subscribe to specific Esri blog categories or tags. For example:

ArcGIS Online: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/feed/?post_type=blog&product=arcgis-online

Public Safety: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/feed/?post_type=blog&category=public-safety

Learn ArcGIS: https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/feed/?post_type=blog&tag=learn-arcgis

Esri Canada RSS feeds

Stay up to date with the latest from Esri Canada and explore how GIS professionals and organizations across the country are using Esri solutions to drive innovation, streamline operations and achieve their strategic goals.

https://resources.esri.ca/getting-technical.rss

Esri United Kingdom RRS feeds

Many Esri distributors around the world offer RSS feeds for their blogs and product updates. For example, Esri UK follows a consistent product naming convention, making it easy to track updates across regions. Subscribing to these feeds is a great way to stay informed about international developments and insights in the Esri ecosystem.

https://resource.esriuk.com/feed/atom/?post_type=blog&product=arcgis-enterprise

ArcGIS Online Health Dashboard RSS feeds

The ArcGIS Online Health Dashboard provides real-time updates on the status of Esri’s cloud-based GIS services. It includes an RSS feed that users can subscribe to for notifications about service interruptions or performance issues. 

The ArcGIS Online Health Dashboard, a yellow exclamation mark indicating “performance issues” occurring on  Hosted Feature Services.

The ArcGIS Online Health Dashboard

This feed is especially useful for support teams and GIS administrators who need to be informed about outages or degraded performance across ArcGIS Online services.

An automatic update message on Microsoft Teams detailing the intermittent performance issues on a subset of Hosted Feature Services has been resolved.

The intermittent performance issue was automatically added to the Microsoft Teams

Note: If you are experiencing performance issues or service disruptions and no alert appears on the ArcGIS Online Health Dashboard, contact your local Esri Customer Support immediately. Reporting issues helps us ensure they are investigated and resolved quickly.

Esri Community RSS feeds

Staying current with the latest discussions, blog posts and updates in the Esri Community is easy when you use RSS feeds.

To locate RSS feeds in the Esri Community:

  1. Navigate to a board, blog, thread or post within the Esri Community.
  2. Click the Options menu (usually represented by three dots or a dropdown).
  3. Select “Subscribe to RSS Feed.”

A preview of the feed will appear, and you can copy the RSS link to use in your feed reader or integration tool.

The Esri Community board with a posting on how to get the RSS feed reader by using the steps listed above.

Esri Community thread on how to get RSS feeds

There you will see a preview of the feed. When you connect the RSS feed to your reader, the RSS feed will appear in your reader as well as new content from that section of the community whenever it becomes available.

Esri YouTube RSS feeds

RSS feeds on YouTube are incredibly helpful for staying organized and up to date with video content, especially in professional or educational settings.

How to set it up:

To find the RSS feed for the Esri YouTube channel, navigate to the Esri YouTube channel page, then view the page source (usually by right-clicking and selecting "View Page Source" or using Ctrl/Cmd + U). Search for "RSS" within the page source, and the corresponding URL will be the RSS feed for the channel.

Smarter updates, stronger teams

By integrating Esri RSS feeds into Microsoft Teams workflows, Customer Support at Esri Canada ensures timely updates reach the right people, automatically. From product news to service alerts, these feeds help our team stay informed, aligned and ready to respond.

If you want to watch the steps being conducted in a video, click here for my YouTube tutorial

About the Author

Amanda De Medeiros is a Senior Support Enablement Consultant at Esri Canada. She provides support for enterprise customers and internal staff by identifying issues, troubleshooting software, developing workarounds and providing knowledge transfers. Amanda has a BA in Geography and Environmental Studies from McMaster University and a GIS post-graduate degree from Niagara College. Her interest in geography developed from city building and strategy games.

Profile Photo of Amanda De Medeiros