Time to Consider the Impact on User Profiles for Microsoft 365 Tenants

Microsoft announced the demise of the Delve browser app in December 2023 and on October 1, they issued a reminder in MC902780 that December 16, 2024 is when the curtain finally descends on Delve. Microsoft’s formal guidance on the Delve retirement is available online along with a support document.

The Microsoft 365 User Profile

I think it’s undeniable that the management of user profile information, including photos, within Microsoft 365 has been a mess for a long time. The underlying reason is simple: Microsoft 365 is built from the foundation of on-premises servers like Exchange and SharePoint, each of which had its own directory and method to store profile photos. Throw in cloud services like Yammer (Viva Engage) and Teams and the water became even muddier.

It’s also fair to say that Microsoft has taken far too long to rationalize the situation. At one point, Delve seemed to be a potential solution, but things didn’t work out with the app. However, it’s disappointing that Microsoft didn’t see the issue and do something about the problem more quickly.

One thing is obvious. Entra ID is the directory of record for Microsoft 365. If you want to store information about people, store it in Entra ID, which supports a wide range of properties for user accounts that can be surfaced on the profile card. If you want to store custom information about people that’s specific to your tenant, use the predefined custom attributes for the job. If you need more than fifteen custom attributes, consider using Entra ID custom security attributes. The downside is that these attributes can’t be added to the profile card.

The Microsoft 365 User Profile Card

Even as different services competed to store profile data, Microsoft 365 introduced the user profile card. This is a common component used across Microsoft 365 to display properties of user accounts, including customizable properties. After December 16, Microsoft will redirect from Delve profiles to the Microsoft 365 search experience, which displays the same data as user profiles. The sample URLs described in the document seem more complex than what’s needed. I use the following format. Figure 1 shows the result

https://www.microsoft365.com/search/?q=sean.landy@office365itpros.com

The redirects will take care of casual browsing for user information. What it won’t do is allow users to upload their preferred choice of profile photos, nor will it allow users to update profile details in the same way as is possible with Delve.

Updating User Profiles

Microsoft says that they are working on a new “edit profile experience” that is “tightly coupled with the profile card.” This work is due for release in November 2024 and should allow users to edit their profile information “across Microsoft 365.” Only properties that can be edited today with Delve will be exposed and editable via an Update your profile button in the profile card.

Other details that can be set in SharePoint profiles today won’t appear in the Microsoft 365 profile card because the profile card is designed to work across the service. It’s time to move this kind of information about people out of SharePoint and into Entra ID.

Of course, it will take time for the upgraded profile card to appear in apps, but at least we know the direction in which Microsoft is going.

User Profile Photos

Microsoft doesn’t mention user profile photos in their guidance for the Delve retirement. This is odd because Delve is one of the places where Microsoft 365 users can upload profile photos.

My assumption is that the new edit profile experience will include the ability to upload photos. We won’t know if this is the case until the new UI is available. I hope that the current controls over who can upload photos will be used rather than the non-granular Entra ID Photo Update Settings policy that’s coming into view. I’ve no doubt that the photo update settings policy will be the long-term control for Microsoft 365, but it would be nice if Microsoft made it optional until the policy works in the way that it should.

And a Mention for Copilot

It seems like Microsoft sometimes operates an edict that Copilot for Microsoft 365 should be mentioned in all documentation. Copilot appears in the support documentation, which solemnly informs the reader that Copilot can find information about your colleagues, possibly as a replacement for browsing Delve. The thing is that Delve was free to tenants with Office 365 E3 and Copilot costs $30/user/month. It’s hardly a comparison.

In any case, the summary of the Delve retirement is that Entra ID is the directory of record, the user profile card feeds off Entra ID and will have a way for users to update their details. The new profile card will appear in apps gradually. After all these things happen, we will forget about Delve and its retirement next December.

So much change, all the time. It’s a challenge to stay abreast of all the updates Microsoft makes across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Subscribe to the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook to receive monthly insights into what happens, why it happens, and what new features and capabilities mean for your tenant.