When we type the first three letters of a person's first or last name into a people picker column using a SharePoint new/modern form in O365, we get results that include users that have those first three letters in their first or last names. However, when we do that same search using the same list that is set to classic mode, the people picker search results only return results for users that have those first three letters in their last name or email address. It doesn't include any users with those three letters in their first name.
We tried a similar search with our SharePoint 2016 on-prem servers (we're using both SharePoint on-prem and Online) and the first and last names are searchable in the people picker for lists that appear to be using classic mode. We know there are ways to configure the people picker with filters for on-prem. We're not aware of how to do that for SharePoint Online and don't think anyone in our shop made related changes.
We have reports from other agencies their people picker search results in classic mode are finding users by first and last name. Our understanding is the modern people picker is using Microsoft Graph to retrieve names and the classic people picker is using SCOM. We don't think we have a custom claims provider for SharePoint Online. Maybe it's something with our Azure AD configuration or permissions?
We've opened a ticket with Microsoft, but it's been almost a month and they haven't made any progress on fixing this. We'd like to figure out how to ensure both first and last names are searchable in SharePoint Online for lists that are set to classic mode. Our users keep trying to select employees by first name and end up with an incomplete list to choose from.
Thanks for any tips you can pass along ;)
