Get a user

Article
10/02/2024

Namespace: microsoft.graph

Retrieve the properties and relationships of user object.

This operation returns by default only a subset of the more commonly used properties for each user. These default properties are noted in the Properties section. To get properties that are not returned by default, do a GET operation for the user and specify the properties in a $select OData query option. Because the user resource supports extensions, you can also use the GET operation to get custom properties and extension data in a user instance.

Customers through Microsoft Entra ID for customers can also use this API operation to retrieve their details.

This API is available in the following national cloud deployments.

Global service	US Government L4	US Government L5 (DOD)	China operated by 21Vianet
✅	✅	✅	✅

Permissions

Choose the permission or permissions marked as least privileged for this API. Use a higher privileged permission or permissions only if your app requires it. For details about delegated and application permissions, see Permission types. To learn more about these permissions, see the permissions reference.

Permission type	Least privileged permissions	Higher privileged permissions
Delegated (work or school account)	User.Read	User.ReadWrite, User.ReadBasic.All, User.Read.All, User.ReadWrite.All, Directory.Read.All, Directory.ReadWrite.All
Delegated (personal Microsoft account)	User.Read	User.ReadWrite
Application	User.Read.All	User.ReadWrite.All, Directory.Read.All, Directory.ReadWrite.All

Note

Calling the /me endpoint requires a signed-in user and therefore a delegated permission. Application permissions are not supported when using the /me endpoint.
The User.Read permission allows the app to read the profile, and discover relationships such as the group membership, reports and manager of the signed-in user only.
To read the employeeLeaveDateTime property:
- In delegated scenarios, the admin needs at least one of the following Microsoft Entra roles: Lifecycle Workflows Administrator (least privilege), Global Reader; the app must be granted the User-LifeCycleInfo.Read.All delegated permission.
- In app-only scenarios with Microsoft Graph permissions, the app must be granted the User-LifeCycleInfo.Read.All permission.
To read the customSecurityAttributes property:
- In delegated scenarios, the admin must be assigned the Attribute Assignment Administrator role and the app granted the CustomSecAttributeAssignment.Read.All permission.
- In app-only scenarios with Microsoft Graph permissions, the app must be granted the CustomSecAttributeAssignment.Read.All permission.

HTTP request

For a specific user:

GET /me
GET /users/{id | userPrincipalName}

Tip

When the userPrincipalName begins with a $ character, the GET request URL syntax /users/[email protected] fails with a 400 Bad Request error code. This is because this request URL violates the OData URL convention, which expects only system query options to be prefixed with a $ character. Remove the slash (/) after /users and enclose the userPrincipalName in parentheses and single quotes, as follows: /users('[email protected]'). For example, /users('[email protected]').
To query a B2B user using the userPrincipalName, encode the hash (#) character. That is, replace the # symbol with %23. For example, /users/AdeleVance_adatum.com%23EXT%[email protected].

For the signed-in user:

GET /me

Optional query parameters

This method supports the $select OData query parameter to retrieve specific user properties, including those that aren't returned by default.

By default, only a limited set of properties are returned ( businessPhones, displayName, givenName, id, jobTitle, mail, mobilePhone, officeLocation, preferredLanguage, surname, userPrincipalName ).

To return an alternative property set, you must specify the desired set of user properties using the OData $select query parameter. For example, to return displayName, givenName, and postalCode, add the following expression to your query $select=displayName,givenName,postalCode.

Extension properties also support query parameters as follows:

Extension type	Comments
onPremisesExtensionAttributes 1-15	Returned only with `$select`.
Schema extensions	Returned only with `$select`.
Open extensions	Returned only through the Get open extension operation.
Directory extensions	Returned only with `$select`.

Request headers

Header	Value
Authorization	Bearer {token}. Required. Learn more about authentication and authorization.

Request body

Don't supply a request body for this method.

Response

If successful, this method returns a 200 OK response code and user object in the response body. It returns the default properties unless you use $select to specify specific properties. This method returns 202 Accepted when the request has been processed successfully but the server requires more time to complete related background operations.

If a user with the ID doesn't exist, this method returns a 404 Not Found error code.

Examples

Example 1: Standard users request

Request

By default, only a limited set of properties are returned ( businessPhones, displayName, givenName, id, jobTitle, mail, mobilePhone, officeLocation, preferredLanguage, surname, userPrincipalName ). This example illustrates the default request and response.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Users["{user-id}"].GetAsync();



mgc users get --user-id {user-id}



// Code snippets are only available for the latest major version. Current major version is $v1.*

// Dependencies
import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go"
	  //other-imports
)


// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=go
users, err := graphClient.Users().ByUserId("user-id").Get(context.Background(), nil)


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

User result = graphClient.users().byUserId("{user-id}").get();


const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

let user = await client.api('/users/87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd')
	.get();


<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\GraphServiceClient;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);


$result = $graphServiceClient->users()->byUserId('user-id')->get()->wait();


Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Users

Get-MgUser -UserId $userId


# Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 1.x
from msgraph import GraphServiceClient
# To initialize your graph_client, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=python

result = await graph_client.users.by_user_id('user-id').get()

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
  "businessPhones": [
       "+1 425 555 0109"
   ],
   "displayName": "Adele Vance",
   "givenName": "Adele",
   "jobTitle": "Retail Manager",
   "mail": "[email protected]",
   "mobilePhone": "+1 425 555 0109",
   "officeLocation": "18/2111",
   "preferredLanguage": "en-US",
   "surname": "Vance",
   "userPrincipalName": "[email protected]",
   "id": "87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd"
}

Example 2: Signed-in user request

You can get the user information for the signed-in user by replacing /users/{id | userPrincipalName} with /me.

Request

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Me.GetAsync();



mgc users get --user-id {user-id}



// Code snippets are only available for the latest major version. Current major version is $v1.*

// Dependencies
import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go"
	  //other-imports
)


// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=go
me, err := graphClient.Me().Get(context.Background(), nil)


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

User result = graphClient.me().get();


const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

let user = await client.api('/me')
	.get();


<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\GraphServiceClient;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);


$result = $graphServiceClient->me()->get()->wait();


Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Users

# A UPN can also be used as -UserId.
Get-MgUser -UserId $userId


# Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 1.x
from msgraph import GraphServiceClient
# To initialize your graph_client, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=python

result = await graph_client.me.get()

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
  "businessPhones": [
       "+1 425 555 0109"
   ],
   "displayName": "Adele Vance",
   "givenName": "Adele",
   "jobTitle": "Retail Manager",
   "mail": "[email protected]",
   "mobilePhone": "+1 425 555 0109",
   "officeLocation": "18/2111",
   "preferredLanguage": "en-US",
   "surname": "Vance",
   "userPrincipalName": "[email protected]",
   "id": "87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd"
}

Example 3: Use $select to retrieve specific properties of a user

To retrieve specific properties, use the OData $select query parameter. For example, to return displayName, givenName, postalCode, and identities, you would use the add the following to your query $select=displayName,givenName,postalCode,identities

Request

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd?$select=displayName,givenName,postalCode,identities


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Users["{user-id}"].GetAsync((requestConfiguration) =>
{
	requestConfiguration.QueryParameters.Select = new string []{ "displayName","givenName","postalCode","identities" };
});



mgc users get --user-id {user-id} --select "displayName,givenName,postalCode,identities"



// Code snippets are only available for the latest major version. Current major version is $v1.*

// Dependencies
import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go"
	  graphusers "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go/users"
	  //other-imports
)

requestParameters := &graphusers.UserItemRequestBuilderGetQueryParameters{
	Select: [] string {"displayName","givenName","postalCode","identities"},
}
configuration := &graphusers.UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration{
	QueryParameters: requestParameters,
}

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=go
users, err := graphClient.Users().ByUserId("user-id").Get(context.Background(), configuration)


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

User result = graphClient.users().byUserId("{user-id}").get(requestConfiguration -> {
	requestConfiguration.queryParameters.select = new String []{"displayName", "givenName", "postalCode", "identities"};
});


const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

let user = await client.api('/users/87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd')
	.select('displayName,givenName,postalCode,identities')
	.get();


<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\GraphServiceClient;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Users\Item\UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);

$requestConfiguration = new UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration();
$queryParameters = UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration::createQueryParameters();
$queryParameters->select = ["displayName","givenName","postalCode","identities"];
$requestConfiguration->queryParameters = $queryParameters;


$result = $graphServiceClient->users()->byUserId('user-id')->get($requestConfiguration)->wait();


Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Users

Get-MgUser -UserId $userId -Property "displayName,givenName,postalCode,identities"


# Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 1.x
from msgraph import GraphServiceClient
from msgraph.generated.users.item.user_item_request_builder import UserItemRequestBuilder
from kiota_abstractions.base_request_configuration import RequestConfiguration
# To initialize your graph_client, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=python
query_params = UserItemRequestBuilder.UserItemRequestBuilderGetQueryParameters(
		select = ["displayName","givenName","postalCode","identities"],
)

request_configuration = RequestConfiguration(
query_parameters = query_params,
)

result = await graph_client.users.by_user_id('user-id').get(request_configuration = request_configuration)

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users(displayName,givenName,postalCode,identities)/$entity",
    "displayName": "Adele Vance",
    "givenName": "Adele",
    "postalCode": "98004",
    "identities": [
        {
            "signInType": "userPrincipalName",
            "issuer": "contoso.com",
            "issuerAssignedId": "[email protected]"
        }
    ]
}

Example 4: Get the value of a schema extension for a user

In this example, the ID of the schema extension is ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses.

Request

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/4562bcc8-c436-4f95-b7c0-4f8ce89dca5e?$select=ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Users["{user-id}"].GetAsync((requestConfiguration) =>
{
	requestConfiguration.QueryParameters.Select = new string []{ "ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses" };
});



mgc users get --user-id {user-id} --select "ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses"



// Code snippets are only available for the latest major version. Current major version is $v1.*

// Dependencies
import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go"
	  graphusers "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go/users"
	  //other-imports
)

requestParameters := &graphusers.UserItemRequestBuilderGetQueryParameters{
	Select: [] string {"ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses"},
}
configuration := &graphusers.UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration{
	QueryParameters: requestParameters,
}

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=go
users, err := graphClient.Users().ByUserId("user-id").Get(context.Background(), configuration)


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

User result = graphClient.users().byUserId("{user-id}").get(requestConfiguration -> {
	requestConfiguration.queryParameters.select = new String []{"ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses"};
});


const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

let user = await client.api('/users/4562bcc8-c436-4f95-b7c0-4f8ce89dca5e')
	.select('ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses')
	.get();


<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\GraphServiceClient;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Users\Item\UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);

$requestConfiguration = new UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration();
$queryParameters = UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration::createQueryParameters();
$queryParameters->select = ["ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses"];
$requestConfiguration->queryParameters = $queryParameters;


$result = $graphServiceClient->users()->byUserId('user-id')->get($requestConfiguration)->wait();


Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Users

Get-MgUser -UserId $userId -Property "ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses"


# Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 1.x
from msgraph import GraphServiceClient
from msgraph.generated.users.item.user_item_request_builder import UserItemRequestBuilder
from kiota_abstractions.base_request_configuration import RequestConfiguration
# To initialize your graph_client, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=python
query_params = UserItemRequestBuilder.UserItemRequestBuilderGetQueryParameters(
		select = ["ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses"],
)

request_configuration = RequestConfiguration(
query_parameters = query_params,
)

result = await graph_client.users.by_user_id('user-id').get(request_configuration = request_configuration)

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users(ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses)/$entity",
    "ext55gb1l09_msLearnCourses": {
        "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.ComplexExtensionValue",
        "courseType": "Developer",
        "courseName": "Introduction to Microsoft Graph",
        "courseId": 1
    }
}

Example 5: Get the custom security attribute assignments for a user

The following example shows how to get the custom security attribute assignments for a user.

Attribute #1

Attribute set: Engineering
Attribute: Project
Attribute data type: Collection of Strings
Attribute value: ["Baker","Cascade"]

Attribute #2

Attribute set: Engineering
Attribute: CostCenter
Attribute data type: Collection of Integers
Attribute value: [1001]

Attribute #3

Attribute set: Engineering
Attribute: Certification
Attribute data type: Boolean
Attribute value: true

Attribute #4

Attribute set: Marketing
Attribute: EmployeeId
Attribute data type: String
Attribute value: "QN26904"

To get custom security attribute assignments, the calling principal must be assigned the Attribute Assignment Reader or Attribute Assignment Administrator role and must be granted the CustomSecAttributeAssignment.Read.All or CustomSecAttributeAssignment.ReadWrite.All permission.

For more examples of custom security attribute assignments, see Examples: Assign, update, list, or remove custom security attribute assignments using the Microsoft Graph API.

Request

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/{id}?$select=customSecurityAttributes


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 5.x

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=csharp
var result = await graphClient.Users["{user-id}"].GetAsync((requestConfiguration) =>
{
	requestConfiguration.QueryParameters.Select = new string []{ "customSecurityAttributes" };
});



mgc users get --user-id {user-id} --select "customSecurityAttributes"



// Code snippets are only available for the latest major version. Current major version is $v1.*

// Dependencies
import (
	  "context"
	  msgraphsdk "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go"
	  graphusers "github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-go/users"
	  //other-imports
)

requestParameters := &graphusers.UserItemRequestBuilderGetQueryParameters{
	Select: [] string {"customSecurityAttributes"},
}
configuration := &graphusers.UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration{
	QueryParameters: requestParameters,
}

// To initialize your graphClient, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=go
users, err := graphClient.Users().ByUserId("user-id").Get(context.Background(), configuration)


// Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 6.x

GraphServiceClient graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

User result = graphClient.users().byUserId("{user-id}").get(requestConfiguration -> {
	requestConfiguration.queryParameters.select = new String []{"customSecurityAttributes"};
});


const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

let user = await client.api('/users/{id}')
	.select('customSecurityAttributes')
	.get();


<?php
use Microsoft\Graph\GraphServiceClient;
use Microsoft\Graph\Generated\Users\Item\UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration;


$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);

$requestConfiguration = new UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration();
$queryParameters = UserItemRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration::createQueryParameters();
$queryParameters->select = ["customSecurityAttributes"];
$requestConfiguration->queryParameters = $queryParameters;


$result = $graphServiceClient->users()->byUserId('user-id')->get($requestConfiguration)->wait();


Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Users

Get-MgUser -UserId $userId -Property "customSecurityAttributes"


# Code snippets are only available for the latest version. Current version is 1.x
from msgraph import GraphServiceClient
from msgraph.generated.users.item.user_item_request_builder import UserItemRequestBuilder
from kiota_abstractions.base_request_configuration import RequestConfiguration
# To initialize your graph_client, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/sdks/create-client?from=snippets&tabs=python
query_params = UserItemRequestBuilder.UserItemRequestBuilderGetQueryParameters(
		select = ["customSecurityAttributes"],
)

request_configuration = RequestConfiguration(
query_parameters = query_params,
)

result = await graph_client.users.by_user_id('user-id').get(request_configuration = request_configuration)

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users(customSecurityAttributes)/$entity",
    "customSecurityAttributes": {
        "Marketing": {
            "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.customSecurityAttributeValue",
            "EmployeeId": "QN26904"
        },
        "Engineering": {
            "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.customSecurityAttributeValue",
            "[email protected]": "#Collection(String)",
            "Project": [
                "Baker",
                "Cascade"
            ],
            "[email protected]": "#Collection(Int32)",
            "CostCenter": [
                1001
            ],
            "Certification": true
        }
    }
}

If there are no custom security attributes assigned to the user or if the calling principal doesn't have access, the following will be the response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users(customSecurityAttributes)/$entity",
    "customSecurityAttributes": null
}

Share via

Get a user

Permissions

HTTP request

Optional query parameters

Request headers

Request body

Response

Examples

Example 1: Standard users request

Request

Response

Example 2: Signed-in user request

Request

Response

Example 3: Use $select to retrieve specific properties of a user

Request

Response

Example 4: Get the value of a schema extension for a user

Request

Response

Example 5: Get the custom security attribute assignments for a user

Request

Response

Feedback

Additional resources