Use the voice assistant in Theta Assist

The voice assistant lets you use Theta Assist hands-free. You can navigate the app, manage assistants and threads, and ask an assistant to complete supported work using your voice.

Start and end a voice session

1. Select the microphone icon to open voice assistant. You will need to allow browser access to your microphone, as shown (exact messaging will vary browser to browser).
   
2. Select Connect or click the microphone to start a voice chat.
3. Speak your request.
4. To end the session, say “disconnect” or “end chat”. You can also select End chat/close.
5. Select Voice: [name] to change the voice. Turn Auto-read replies on to hear new replies as they arrive. 

You can drag the microphone icon up or down the page to a position that suits you.

Voice assistant active on desktop. Move the microphone icon up or down the page.

Voice Assistant on mobile.

Ask what an assistant can do

When you open an assistant, voice assistant knows the capabilities available to it. This can include connected services such as Outlook or SharePoint, tools, knowledge files, skills and suggested prompts.

Ask questions such as:

• “What can the HR assistant do?”
• “Does the Timesheet Helper have access to my calendar?”
• “Which assistant can help me find a SharePoint file?”

Voice Assistant can help you choose an assistant before you start work. When a request matches an assistant’s capabilities, Voice Assistant can ask that assistant to complete the task on your behalf.

It tells you what it is doing while it works, for example, “It is checking your Outlook calendar.” It reads the result back, including any files or images the assistant produces.

Navigate Theta Assist

Use voice assistant anywhere

You can ask the voice assistant to:

• Go to Home, Library or Threads.
• Change the theme.
• Explain highlighted text.
• Tell you which voice is in use or change the voice.
• Download the transcript.
• Copy error details.
• End the voice session.

Search and open items

On the Home, Library and Threads pages, you can:

• Search and filter items.
• Show favourites only or show all items.
• Ask what a search found.
• Move to the next page of results.
• Open or add an item by its number or name.

For example, say:

• “What did that search find?”
• “Show favourites only.”
• “Open number 3.”
• “Open the HR assistant.”
• “Next page.”

Work with assistants and threads

Work with an open assistant

When an assistant is open, you can:

• Draft or send a message.
• Favourite or unfavourite the assistant.
• Find or open one of its threads.
• Start a new thread, with an optional first message drafted or sent.

For example, say “Start a new thread and ask it to summarise this document.”

Work with an open thread

When a thread is open, you can:

• Rename, pin or unpin the thread.
• Delete the thread after confirming.
• Ask what the conversation is about.
• Ask Voice Assistant to read messages or your draft back to you.
• Stop a running response.
• Run available follow-on actions.

For example, say:

• “What’s this thread about?”
• “Read that back.”
• “What did I ask last?”
• “Read the one before that.”
• “What’s in my draft?”
• “Rename this thread to Project update.”
• “Pin this thread.”

Recover from a failed message

If a message fails, say “What went wrong?” the voice assistant explains the error and offers only the actions that are available. Depending on the error, you may be able to retry, recover, compact and retry, or delete the message.

Approve actions

Some requests require an assistant to use a connected service or tool. The voice assistant reads the request to you and lets you approve or deny it before the action runs.

Get help

You can also ask questions about Theta Assist and how it works. The voice assistant will, if it needs to, open Tai, our help chatbot, and ask the question there.

Set up voice assistant: information for admins

Voice must be enabled for your organisation. Access is controlled through an access profile, and an OpenAI voice model must be available in the environment.

You need to be a system admin to set up voice for your organisation.

1. Navigate to Admin > Tools > Settings
2. Select Enable Voice. If you can't see this setting, contact Theta Support.
3. Choose a Voice Access Profile to control who can see and use the microphone. Select Anyone (No Restriction) to make it available to all signed-in users. More on access profiles.
4. Set the Voice Idle Timeout (seconds). This controls how long the browser waits in silence before ending the session. The assistant warns the user 15 seconds before closing.

Set up voice assistant on Teams

If you wish to enable the voice assistant on Microsoft Teams, please ensure you have the latest version of the Microsoft Teams App. To download it and enable voice, go to Admin > Configuration > Microsoft Teams App. 

Voice is not supported on the Teams mobile app.

What is not included

The voice assistant does not currently support sharing, attachments, jobs or admin pages.

It only offers actions that are available for your current page, access level and selected assistant.