User photos aren't synced from the on-premises environment to Exchange Online in a hybrid deployment

  • Article
  • Applies to:
    Exchange Online, Exchange Server 2013 Enterprise, Exchange Server 2013 Standard Edition

Symptoms

You have a hybrid deployment of on-premises Microsoft Exchange Server and Exchange Online in Microsoft 365. When you change a Microsoft 365 user's photo by accessing that user's on-premises information, the change isn't synced to Exchange Online. For example, when the user views the photo in Outlook, Outlook on the web (formerly known as Outlook Web App), or Microsoft Teams, the user's previous Exchange Online profile photo is still displayed.

Cause

Although the thumbnailPhoto attribute is synced from the on-premises environment to Microsoft Entra ID, the following behaviors could cause this problem:

  • The thumbnailPhoto attribute can store a user photo as large as 100 kilobytes (KB).
  • Exchange Online accepts only a photo that's no larger than 10 KB from Microsoft Entra ID.

Resolution

Use the Microsoft 365 admin center or Microsoft Graph PowerShell to change the user's photo. These methods enable admins to upload a photo that's as large as 4 MB. For instructions, see Change user profile photos.

References

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