Setting Up IBM Watson

• Access the IBM Cloud Dashboard and create a new IBM Watson instance, such as Watson Assistant, which you plan to integrate with Microsoft Outlook.

 

• Obtain the API key and URL for your Watson service from the IBM Cloud Dashboard under your Watson service credentials section.

Preparing Microsoft Outlook

• Verify that you have the necessary permissions to add and manage add-ins in Microsoft Outlook.

 

• Create a Microsoft Azure account to facilitate the registration of your integration script, which will be essential for OAuth and API communication.

Creating a Custom Add-in

• Log into the Microsoft Azure portal and navigate to the "App registrations" section to register a new application.

 

• Configure the app registration to obtain a client ID and secret, and define the necessary API permissions, which typically include user.read for Outlook interactions.

 

• Create an Outlook add-in manifest file in XML, describing your integration's structure and referencing necessary resources like APIs and scripts.

Developing the Integration Script

• Set up a development environment with Node.js to handle API calls between Watson and Outlook.

 

• Install necessary packages to facilitate RESTful API communication, like axios and express, with the following commands:

 

npm install axios express

 

• Create a Node.js script that authenticates with Microsoft and IBM Watson using stored credentials and tokens. Implement logic for capturing and processing emails, passing data to Watson, and handling responses:

 

const axios = require('axios');

async function interactWithWatson(emailBody) {
    try {
        const response = await axios.post('https://api.us-south.assistant.watson.cloud.ibm.com/your-service-url', {
            text: emailBody
        }, {
            headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.WATSON_API_KEY}` }
        });
        return response.data;
    } catch (error) {
        console.error(error);
    }
}

 

• Ensure the script can connect and authenticate with the Microsoft Graph API to access and send emails:

 

const authenticateWithMicrosoft = async () => {
    // Use Microsoft Identity authentication flow
};

Deploying and Testing the Integration

• Deploy your integration as an Azure Web App or another appropriate hosting service to run your Node.js application live.

 

• Install the custom add-in in Outlook using the manifest file and test the workflow by sending emails that Watson should process.

 

• Ensure logging and debugging capabilities to troubleshoot and monitor interactions between Outlook and Watson effectively.