Now in public preview: Pronouns in the Profile card

[Jan_Steberl]

Description

In a hybrid multicultural workplace, the simple act of using the right pronouns for one another can help build trust and improve communication among colleagues. If your Admin has turned on pronouns in your organization, you have the option to include them on your profile card.  

Pronouns are the words we use to replace someone's name in a sentence, such as “he,” “she,” or “they” in English.

  Examples: 

• They asked for directions 
• I told them the meeting is at 9 am 
• This office is hers 
• He will attend 

Flighting status

Enabled in Public Preview. See more details below how to enable the feature.

 

How to enable

For Admins

Note: By default, the pronouns setting is OFF. 

Important!

Before you decide to turn pronouns on or off, please consider the following:

• When you turn pronouns on or off, it can take up to six hours for users to see changes. For example, if you turn pronouns on, users won’t be able to see the option to add pronouns on their profile for up to six (6) hours. If you turn pronouns off, any previously set pronouns might stay visible in Microsoft 365 (for example, on profile cards) for up to six (6) hours.
• When you turn pronouns off, all the pronouns' data created by users will be deleted. The data deletion process could take up to thirty (30) days to complete. If you decide to turn pronouns back on within that period, any hidden pronouns that have not yet been deleted from Microsoft servers will be made visible in Microsoft 365 experiences, such as profile cards.

Here are steps for how to turn pronouns on or off in the Admin Center. (Please note that you tenant needs to be in Targeted release to see the settings.)

1. Log into the Microsoft 365 Admin Center as a global administrator.
2. Go to the Settings > Org settings > Security & privacy page, and then select Pronouns.
3. Check the box to turn pronouns on. Uncheck the box to turn pronouns off.
4. Select Save.

For more information for Admins see: Pronouns in Microsoft 365

For end users

Your pronouns are available to people at your work or school when they use Microsoft 365. Once you add your pronouns, anyone that has an account at your work or school, including guest accounts, can see the information.

1. Go to Teams and open your profile card. To open your profile card in Teams, you can select your profile picture in the upper right corner in Teams.
2. On your profile, select + Pronouns or the pronouns listed below your name.  
   

   

   
   
3. To add or change your pronouns, select from the examples (only available in English), or enter your own. To delete, remove your pronouns. In the example below, Elvia Atkins has added She/Her.
   

   

   
   
4. Select Save and then Got it. Changes are updated immediately.

For end users: Pronouns on your profile in Microsoft 365

Note 1: If you need information about enabling the public preview itself, see “Enable the public preview for Teams” below.

Note 2: To be able to use this feature, users need to be in Public Preview and the feature needs to be enabled in their tenant.

Supported clients and platforms

Windows	macOS	iOS	Android	Linux	Chrome	Firefox	Safari	Edge
Yes	Yes	-	-	-	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Known issues

None

 

Known limitations

None

Enable your Teams client for the public preview 

1. First, IT admins need to set an update policy that turns on Show preview features. Learn how at  Public preview in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs.  
2. Users then choose to join the public preview individually. See  Get early access to new Teams features - Office Support (microsoft.com) for instructions. 

 

Summary of public preview features

For a history of features in the Teams public previews, see Microsoft Teams Public Preview - Microsoft Tech Community

Send us your feedback 

Got feedback on features in the public preview or other areas of Teams? Let us know straight from Teams via Help > Give feedback.  This is on the bottom left of your client.

Thank you,

Preview Team

Quality & Customer Obsession, Microsoft Teams

[#2]

@Jan_Steberl Will there be an ability to audit pronouns that users enter? One concern from our DE&I department was they didn't want someone "to identify themselves as a firetruck," and I'd like to be able to provide a control in the form of a report showing what pronouns were entered by the users. 

[#3]

Yes, we would also like an usage report. Our DEI team would like the ability to track adoption within our organization.

[#4]

@Jan_Steberl We would like to know if the pronouns a user entered can be retrieved through the graph API or through Azure AD authentication claims to be able to use in custom applications.

[#5]

Do you know if this will have its own attribute in Azure AD - so it can be included in Email signatures?

[#6]

According to Tony Redmond:
https://office365itpros.com/2023/03/08/microsoft-365-pronoun-profile-card/
Microsoft 365 stores user pronouns in a hidden folder in user Exchange Online mailboxes.

[#7]

This is a wonderful addition to Teams, but it would be even better if the pronouns were also displayed next to the person's name in a Teams meeting. Is that planned? That way, we can quickly and easily get people's pronouns correct while speaking with them in live meetings. Thanks!

[#8]

@Katscasa Was coming in here to make the same suggestion. Currently there is no way to edit the name display to include pronouns for meetings and this is an issue. I was hoping enabling this feature would have the pronouns show in meetings as well.

[#9]

Anyone know if this is enabled in the new teams desktop client preview?

[#10]

@dyhallsop 

Yes it is enabled there too

[#11]

@Jan_Steberl is this available in Canada yet? We've been waiting on this for a while and would love some insight. TY!

[#12]

@Ena_DAltroy According to the Message Center announcement, the general availability roll-out of the feature is expected to be completed by "early April". As I'm sure you're aware, early April arrives in Canada around mid-June, so we may have a few weeks to wait yet. 

[#13]

Hi Jan,

Assuming all the pronouns are set in a the MS365 Tenant. When drafting a message will the pronouns setting act as a kind of spell check to ensure the correct pronouns are used when messaging that person? 

Thanks.

[#14]

Is this kind of like the prompt that you get from Outlook that asks you if you forgot an attachment? If so, that feature would be awesome and would go a long way in supporting all employees.

[#15]

@Katscasa 

I've created a message on the feedback portal for this if you, and others on this thread, would like to upvote it!   Seems others have asked and MS keep coming back with the roadmap item for the pronouns being available on profile cards (and not reading the part about it being visible during a meeting!)

Include Pronouns next to name during a Teams Meeting · Community (microsoft.com)

[#16]

Thanks! I upvoted it and added a comment of support! 🙂

[#17]

Is there going to be a way for users to add pronouns via a mobile device? I see that iOS/ Android and marked as "-", which I interperate to mean not available, but having tried to add pronouns via the Teams, Outlook & M365 Android apps the functionality isnt available - nor is it via the browser on mobile. This massively limits the ability for mobile device only users in my organisation being able to use this feature.

[#18]

Any update on this subject matter? Demand is growing fast and the options are very limited. I find it surprising MS has not implemented simple Get and Set API calls for this yet. This would solve most peoples needs imo.
We have a dedicated HR system that acts as our golden source for anything staff related and it already has pronoun options. All we want to do is sync this to M365/EntrId via api calls of which we have a few tools to do this with already.
Why is this taking so long to open up when the api is obviously there hidden in the background.