Forum Discussion
Origin and Synchronization of User Profile Properties in SharePoint Online
Hi everyone,
I’m trying to understand exactly where the User Profile properties in SharePoint Online come from and how (or if) they are synchronized from Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD).
I’ve extracted a complete list of the properties I see in my tenant, for example:
AboutMe
AccountName
ADGuid
Assistant
CellPhone
Country
DelveFlags
Department
Fax
FirstName
HomePhone
LastName
Manager
msOnline-ObjectId
Office
...
SPS-Responsibility
SPS-Interests
SPS-PictureExchangeSyncState
SPS-UserPrincipalName
WorkEmail
WorkPhone
I would like to understand:
- Which of these come from Microsoft Entra ID,
Which are automatically synchronized to the User Profile Application (UPA),
And which are local SharePoint or Delve properties, not connected to Entra.
So far, I’ve only found this official documentation:
About user profile synchronization in SharePoint Online
However, it only lists a limited subset of properties (“The following Microsoft Entra user attributes are synced to the UPA…”), and it does not cover all the properties present in the UPA schema.
I’m looking for a more complete or up-to-date reference — or at least an official explanation as to why there isn’t a public, full mapping between Entra ID and UPA.
Does anyone know if there is an official complete list or a way to verify the actual source of each property (Entra ID, Exchange, Delve, local SharePoint, etc.)?
Thanks in advance for any clarification or useful resources!
3 Replies
the properties in this article https://learn.microsoft.com/sharepoint/user-profile-sync?WT.mc_id=DX-MVP-5004845 will be synced from Entra ID to UPA. You can see the synced properties with a database icon in your UPA.
Other properties are only stroed in the UPA.
You can sync more properties from Entra ID to UPA with custom development and PnP PowerShell.
Best, Dave
Hi DaveMehr365 ,
Thank you for your reply. I have a few follow-up questions:
Can SharePoint profile properties come from sources other than Entra ID, for example Exchange?Is it correct that I can really tell the source just by looking at the database icon in the UPA? In other words, if a property does not have the icon, it’s a SharePoint User Profile property, while if it has the icon, it comes from Entra ID—or possibly other sources like Exchange?
Thanks again for your help!
Hi DaveMehr365 ,
Hi DaveMehr365 ,
Thank you for your reply. I have a few follow-up questions:
Can SharePoint profile properties come from sources other than Entra ID, for example Exchange?Is it correct that I can really tell the source just by looking at the database icon in the UPA? In other words, if a property does not have the icon, it’s a SharePoint User Profile property, while if it has the icon, it comes from Entra ID—or possibly other sources like Exchange?
Thanks again for your help!
