How to Remove Topic Picker Card for Virtual Agent in Microsoft Teams Channel

[MayankGupta77]

Hi Community,

We are using ServiceNow Virtual Agent integrated with Microsoft Teams. By default, a topic picker card (with “Select Topic” dropdown or "Show all my options" button) displays at the start of conversations in Teams. We’d like to remove or hide this card so that users in Teams do not see the available topics picker, but can still interact with the bot via LLM or direct keyword queries.

We have explored:

• Topic visibility scripts to exclude topics from Teams

• Custom greetings to avoid sending the topic picker in Teams

• Condition scripting in skill/topic picker blocks

What is the recommended or supported approach to completely remove the topic picker card just for Teams, without impacting other channels (Service Portal, web, etc.)? Is there a configuration or code solution that achieves this cleanly?

Thank you,
Mayank Gupta

[RaghavSh]

I think if you have explored "Custom greetings to avoid sending the topic picker in Teams" , it would be easiest and best.

I believe this code is clean , greeting is a simple topic not very complex , you can maintain the custom version easily.

We often do such scripting based on device type at other places as well.

There doesn't seems to be any OOB configuration for this.

Please mark the answer correct/helpful accordingly.

[Eduardo Ruiz]

There’s no OOTB toggle that disables the topic picker for a single channel.

1- Create a Teams-only Greeting topic

In Virtual Agent > Designer, create (or clone) a greeting topic, e.g., “Teams – Greeting (no picker)”.

Do not include the “Show Topics / Topic Picker” node in this topic.

Optionally add a short welcome and guidance like “You can ask me naturally (e.g., ‘reset password’) or type a keyword.”

2 Make this topic only available in Teams

On the topic record, keep it Available in channel = Microsoft Teams (and uncheck other channels).

Leave your existing greeting (with topic picker) available in Service Portal/Web.

3 Route only Teams conversation starts to the new greeting

Go to Virtual Agent > Administration > Interception Rules (or your platform’s equivalent).

Create a rule:

Condition: Channel == Microsoft Teams AND Event == Conversation started (or the “empty/first message” condition).

Action: Start topic → Teams – Greeting (no picker).

Put this rule above any generic greeting rule.

4 - Keep topics discoverable without the picker

Ensure your actual support topics remain Available in channel: Microsoft Teams, so they can still be triggered by LLM/intent or keywords.

If you use topic visibility scripts, keep them as-is; they’ll control which topics can be matched, but you are no longer rendering the picker card.