Introduction
This article describes the SharePoint Online user profile picture synchronization process in Microsoft 365. This includes information about where you should see the profile pictures and where the profile pictures are stored in SharePoint Online.
Note: The examples in the Procedure section show only two ways for the photo sync to occur. There are multiple ways to start the photo sync.
Profile picture facts
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Guest user profile pictures aren't synced to SharePoint Online.
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Each profile has a property that is named Picture (PictureUrl) and that points to the medium file (MThumb.jpg) that's located in the My Site Host site collection.
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By default, the Picture property in your profile application is editable. The property setting must be editable for picture synchronization.
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Picture sync is only attempted if the last sync attempt is over 24 hours old.
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Photo updates may take up to 24 hours to be visible in SharePoint Online.
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User photos must be present Microsoft Entra for sync to occur.
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The My Site Host site collection must have an available quota to store new pictures.
Procedure
SharePoint Online picture synchronization relies on a photo stored in Microsoft Entra
The following steps describe the synchronization process that occurs using the Microsoft Graph Image API to update photos in SharePoint Online:
Note: A user photo is evaluated for sync every time you request a profile photo of self or a profile photo of others in SharePoint Online.
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User navigates to a SharePoint Online page that holds a placeholder for a modern user photo object.
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The user photo is evaluated against the information stored in the User Profile for that user.
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For new users or users whose photo timestamp is older than 24 hours, a sync request is made.
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If there is no photo in Microsoft Entra or the photo in SharePoint Online matches Microsoft Entra no action is taken.
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If the photo in Microsoft Entra does not match the photo in SharePoint, the photo is synced to the SharePoint Online repository.
Note: The User Photo properties should never be changed manually in the User Profile.
More Information
A profile picture can be added to Microsoft Entra in multiple ways, as follows:
User actions:
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Individual users can select change under their profile picture in the suite navigation bar at the top of the page.
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Go to the Microsoft 365 Portal, select Personal info, and then select Change Photo under their profile picture. For example, see https://portal.office.com/account/#personalinfo.
Administrator actions:
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Administrators can upload a photo to Microsoft Entra using the Set-MgUserPhotoContent PowerShell cmdlet. For more information, see Set-MgUserPhotoContent.
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Administrators can change the photo from the user card in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
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The ThumbnailPhoto Active Directory attribute is synced to Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) with Azure AD Connect.
Note: This method produces low-resolution profile pictures. The ThumbnailPhoto Active Directory attribute isn't synced to SharePoint from Azure Active Directory.
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