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Text file | Create Microsoft 365 Contacts rule

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Rule description

This rule queries the specified text file data source that is in a comma-separated value format (CSV) and provisions new Exchange Online contacts according to the Action section settings.

Note: CSV-file should be in UTF-8 format in case of using letters with an accent: á, ä, é, í, ö, ü and etc.

 

When to use this rule

Use this rule when you need to perform bulk Microsoft 365 contacts provisioning from HR/ERP/SIS system into Microsoft Office 365. 

 

This rule requires a source text file in the comma-separated variable format (CSV). You can use the template CSV file provided with the rule, or create a file in Microsoft Excel and export it as CSV.

To use a template CSV file:

  1. In the Query section, click the [...] button next to the Select Data Source setting

  2. Open Templates folder 

  3. Select Create Office 365 Contacts - Template CSV file

  4. Click Open 

The Query source text file requires the following CSV (comma-separated value) format:

Email,FirstName,LastName
joe@domain.com,Joe,Smith
kelly@domain.com,Kelly,Jones

 

Rule Settings

Query Section

Setting name Description

Select Data Source

Specifies the text file to be imported.

The […] button allows the user to browse for the file and the Create/Edit button allows the creation or editing of the existing file in the built-in Data Source editor.

More Options

 

Filter CSV Data

This setting specifies the filter that can remove data rows from the imported text file that satisfies the specific condition.

Properties to display

This setting specifies the columns that will be displayed during Preview and in the output file.

Skip user if anchor attribute already exists

The anchor attribute must be unique in the Data Source. Using the defined Anchor attribute, the rule checks to see if the anchor is already present in Microsoft 365. If the anchor is present, then this object was previously created, and the row in the Data Source is skipped.

Data source anchor attribute

Defines the column in the Data Source that will be used to determine if the Microsoft 365 contact already exists. This value is compared to the Contact Anchor Attribute.

Contact anchor attribute

Defines the contact attribute in Microsoft 365 to which the Data Source anchor attribute is to be compared. 

Initialization Script

 

Script

Usually, rules use query criteria to limit the query search scope. It improves the performance of the executed rule.

Due to PowerShell limitations, it is not possible to use calculated expressions in query criteria. That is the point where the initialization script can help. You can initialize a global variable in this setting and then use it in query criteria. 

Important: To use a variable, declared in the initialization script, in the query scope, it must be global: $global:<variable name>. 

Example: Update AD users, created in the last ten days.

  1. Add this initialization script:
{$global:DatePeriod = (Get-Date).AddDays(-10)}
  1. Use $DatePeriod variable in the query criteria builder:

 

 

Action Section

Setting name Description
Account  

Email address

 

Specify a column with a contact email address.

First Name (FirstName)

If the Data Source contains a field named FirstName, do nothing. Otherwise, use the Selector button to choose a field from the Data Source. 

Last Name (LastName)

If the Data Source contains a field named LastName, do nothing. Otherwise, use the Selector button to choose a field from the Data Source. 

Display Name

 

Specify DislpayName format.

Initials

Specify a column with contact initials.

Name

The internal name of a contact must be unique.  The name is not shown in the Microsoft 365 UI.

Select one of the following options:

  1. Create GUID
  2. Use DisplayName
  3. Name from CSV file
  4. Column with the contact name from the CSV file.

Name conflict resolution

This option determines how the system should react when the name of a contact being created already exists:

  1. On the duplicate name, suffix the name with a numeric counter.
  2. Record error in rule Execution History and go on.

Alias

The following values are possible:

  1. Default (autogenerate)
  2. A column with the contact alias from the CSV file.
Note: The default Microsoft behavior is to use the name with spaces and other unsupported symbols removed. 

Hide from GAL

Specify if the created contact should be hidden from GAL.

Mail tip

Specify a column with a contact mail tip.

Organization

 

Company

Job Title (Title)

Department

 

Specify a static text value or use the Selector button to choose a field from the Data Source.

Manager

Specify contact manager. Use any supported contact/user value for the manager (email, username, ID, etc.).

Contact Info

 

Country

Office Phone (telephoneNumber)

Mobile Phone (mobile)

Street Address

City

State

Postal Code

Fax 

Web site

Specify a static text value or use the Selector button to choose a column from the Data Source.

Custom Attributes

 

Custom attribute1 - Custom Attribute 15

If you use Exchange Online custom attributes to store additional information for contact accounts, you could select these attributes and map them to Custom Attributes.

To set labels or default values for these attributes, please use Attribute Policies.

Note: Only Exchange Online attributes can be assigned to custom attributes.

 

Output Section

This section defines the output format of this rule.

To get more information about this section, please see the Output section article.

 

Enforce/Schedule section

This section defines the schedule for how often to run the rule.

To get more information about this section, please see the Enforce/Schedule section article. 

 

 Change History

Version Notes
10.3.0 The rule has been introduced in the product.

 

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