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User name change, updating Office applications?

Iron Contributor

Hi,


In the past changing a users name i.e. they got married was a hassle but things are getting better.  I've been doing some testing to see what still doesn't work or at least needs tweaking.  In my test environment I have a local AD that is using AD Connect to sync to Office 365.  The PCs are joined to AzureAD (not local AD) and users login with their Office 365 user names.  Nothing to complicated.

 

In the local AD I rename the user name (Joe Bloggs to Joe Blog), update the display name, email address and change the proxy address so the old email address is added as a alias and the primary email address is now the users new name.  This sync's and unlike in the past everything is perfectly updated in AzureAD...happy days.

 

Next is the PC (Windows 10 1803) that is AD joined.  Here I simply logged off and logged back in with the users new user name.  The user profile is maintained and along with all customisations, even happier days!

 

OneDrive, this was a quick case of unlinking the PC and then signing in with the new username.  Ok this is going far to well.

 

Now onto the Office applications.  Excel, Word etc I was able to get the apps to update by signing out, restarting the app then signing in with the new account name. However the license info is still showing the old user name, I don't know if that will be an issue?

 

officelicense.jpg

 

Outlook moaned about needing a password, however it was still using the old username.  Simple answer was to sign out of Outlook and sign back in with the new username...that connected to Exchange and didn't need to re-create profiles or OSTs.

 

All great so far, but here the issue appears.  Within Outlook the account name at the top of the screen is still the old one:

 

outlookheading.jpg

 

When I compose a new message it shows the old email address:

 

outlook-sendmail.jpg

 So is there an easy way around this or is it just easier to create a new Outlook profile with the new username?

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks

Rob

6 Replies
The Outlook one is finicky and usually won't update without a new profile and haven't seen or heard about a way to fix it directly.

The login name in 365 might be due to UPN still needing updated in Office 365? Suprised your logins work with the new login without changing that unless you are using passthrough auth or ADFS.

Can you go to this user in 365 admin portal and see what the login name is set to there?
best response confirmed by Rob-CTL (Iron Contributor)
Solution

The issue with Outlook is a "known" one, if you want the new name to be displayed you need to recreate the profile. It's actually connected to the primary SMTP, not the UPN, but same story: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3040795/smtp-address-in-user-s-profile-doesn-t-change-when-...

 

For Office activation, you can reset it as detailed here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/odsupport/2015/05/01/how-to-reset-an-office-365-install-to-the-i...

I was as surprised as you re the logins, but it looks like the more recent versions of AD connect actually deal with it properly now.  No need for additional powershell…..which is nice 🙂

Thanks, you've confirmed what I was thinking.  Appreciate the links as well.  Ah well if I "only" need to recreate the user profile and everything else works that isn't too bad.

 

Cheers

Rob

Does anyone have any guidance on how to address this with OneNote for Windows? I've successfully updated in all other programs, but my name is appearing incorrectly in OneNote for Windows. I've tried removing my work account and adding it again, but it is keeping the old name.

 

Thank you!

Update: I think I stumbled upon a resolution:

1) Remove the work/school account from OneNote
2) Close OneNote
3) Visit Apps & Settings in Windows 10 and select "Repair" for OneNote
4) Open OneNote and add account
1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Rob-CTL (Iron Contributor)
Solution

The issue with Outlook is a "known" one, if you want the new name to be displayed you need to recreate the profile. It's actually connected to the primary SMTP, not the UPN, but same story: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3040795/smtp-address-in-user-s-profile-doesn-t-change-when-...

 

For Office activation, you can reset it as detailed here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/odsupport/2015/05/01/how-to-reset-an-office-365-install-to-the-i...

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