Managing "Mail-Enabled Security Groups" with MS Graph API

Question

Managing "Mail-Enabled Security Groups" with MS Graph API

Brian 46

Is it possible to add/delete members of "Mail-Enabled Security Groups " with Graph API?

Looks like the API is limited to "security" or "M365" groups.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/group-post-members?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http

Thank you.

Accepted answer

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Answer 1

Vasil Michev 119.6K MVP Volunteer Moderator

No, not possible. Mail-enabled security groups are managed by Exchange, and Graph currently has limited (zero) support for Exchange admin operations. Use Exchange Online PowerShell instead.

Brian 46 Reputation points

2022-06-10T14:05:55.047+00:00

Thanks, is there any other API I can integrate into my application for managing members (add/del) of "Mail-Enabled Security Groups"?
Vasil Michev 119.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2022-06-10T14:33:11.527+00:00

Nope, PowerShell is the only "supported" one. If you don't care about the supported bit, you can hack something together as I explain here: https://www.michev.info/Blog/Post/3883/exchange-online-powershell-module-gets-rid-of-the-winrm-dependence
(the second part of the article)
Anindya Kumar Banerjee 75 Reputation points

2024-05-29T20:29:34.5466667+00:00
Hi @Vasil Michev I just tried the following method suggested by ChatGPT to add a member to a distribution group. I could not complete the operation due to insufficient privileges but it seems to work.

I asked

Is it possible to add members to "Mail-Enabled Security Groups" with Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK?

Response from ChatGPT as follows:

Yes, it is possible to add members to "Mail-Enabled Security Groups" using the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. Here’s how you can do it step by step:

Prerequisites

Install the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK: If you haven’t installed it yet, you can do so with the following command:
Install-Module Microsoft.Graph -Scope CurrentUser

Authenticate to Microsoft Graph: You need to authenticate using:
Connect-MgGraph

Adding Members to a Mail-Enabled Security Group

1. Get the Group ID

First, you need the ID of the mail-enabled security group to which you want to add members. You can find this using the Get-MgGroup cmdlet.

$group = Get-MgGroup -Filter "displayName eq 'Your Group Name'" $groupId = $group.Id

2. Get the User ID of the Member

Next, you need the ID of the user you want to add to the group. You can find this using the Get-MgUser cmdlet.

$user = Get-MgUser -Filter "userPrincipalName eq '******@domain.com'" $userId = $user.Id

3. Add the User to the Group

Finally, you can add the user to the group using the New-MgGroupMember cmdlet.

New-MgGroupMember -GroupId $groupId -DirectoryObjectId $userId

Example Workflow

Here is a complete example of finding a group and a user, then adding the user to the group:

# Connect to Microsoft Graph Connect-MgGraph # Retrieve the group by display name $group = Get-MgGroup -Filter "displayName eq 'Your Mail-Enabled Security Group Name'" $groupId = $group.Id # Retrieve the user by userPrincipalName $user = Get-MgUser -Filter "userPrincipalName eq '******@domain.com'" $userId = $user.Id # Add the user to the group New-MgGroupMember -GroupId $groupId -DirectoryObjectId $userId Write-Output "Added user with ID $userId to group with ID $groupId"

Notes

Ensure you have the necessary permissions to manage group memberships. You might need GroupMember.ReadWrite.All or similar permissions.

The -DirectoryObjectId parameter in New-MgGroupMember accepts user IDs, which you get from Get-MgUser.

If you need to add multiple users, you can loop through a list of user principal names and add them one by one.

For mail-enabled security groups, ensure they are correctly configured and you have appropriate rights to modify them.

By following these steps, you can manage memberships of mail-enabled security groups using the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK effectively.

Answer 2

Puchta Jaroslav 0

Does Microsoft plan to manage Mail-enabled security groups using the Graph API?"

Blood Wolf Merlin 0 Reputation points

2025-05-30T00:32:46.4533333+00:00

Based on this post and others like it it would appear that it either isn't a priority or no plans.

Answer 3

Jan Hajek 1 MVP

If you don't want to use ExchangeOnlineManagement PowerShell module and call it from Power Automate, your code or somewhere else, you can make use of the following InvokeCommand which is used behind the scenes by the management module - I recently blogged about this - https://hajekj.net/2025/06/20/working-with-exchange-online-distribution-groups-via-rest/

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Managing "Mail-Enabled Security Groups" with MS Graph API

Prerequisites

Adding Members to a Mail-Enabled Security Group

1. Get the Group ID

2. Get the User ID of the Member

3. Add the User to the Group

Example Workflow

Notes

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