directoryObject: delta

Namespace: microsoft.graph

Get newly created, updated, or deleted directory objects without performing a full read of the entire directoryObject collection. For more information about the delta function, see Use delta query to track changes in Microsoft Graph data for details.

This API is supported in the following national cloud deployments.

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

Permissions

The following table shows the least privileged permission that's required by each resource type when calling this API. To learn more, including how to choose permissions, see Permissions.

Supported resource	Delegated (work or school account)	Application	Delegated (personal Microsoft account)
application	Application.Read.All	Application.Read.All	Not supported
administrativeUnit	AdministrativeUnit.Read.All	AdministrativeUnit.Read.All	Not supported
appRoleAssignment	User.Read.All	User.Read.All	Not supported
device	Device.Read.All	Device.Read.All	Not supported
directoryRole	RoleManagement.Read.Directory	RoleManagement.Read.Directory	Not supported
group	Group.Read.All	Group.Read.All	Not supported
orgContact	OrgContact.Read.All	OrgContact.Read.All	Not supported
servicePrincipal	Application.Read.All	Application.Read.All	Not supported
user	User.Read.All	User.Read.All	Not supported

HTTP request

Track changes for a collection of a directory object type.

GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.application')
GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.administrativeUnit')
GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.appRoleAssignment') or isof('microsoft.graph.user')
GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.device')
GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.directoryRole')
GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.group')
GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.orgContact')
GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.servicePrincipal')
GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.user')

Track changes for a directory object. This request isn't supported on the appRoleAssignment resource.

GET /directoryObjects/delta?$filter=id eq '{id}'

OData query parameters

This method supports optional OData query parameters to help customize the response.

• You can use a $select query parameter as in any GET request to specify only the properties your need for best performance. The id property is always returned.
• When filtering multiple objects, for example, /directoryObjects/delta/?$filter= id eq '477e9fc6-5de7-4406-bb2a-7e5c83c9ffff' or id eq '004d6a07-fe70-4b92-add5-e6e37b8affff', there's a limit of 50 filter expressions.
• You can combine the $filter syntaxes. For example, $filter=isof('{resource type}') or id eq '{id}'. This provides an intersection of objects specified by matching {resource type} and the resource type of {id}.

Request headers

Name	Description
Authorization	Bearer <token>
Content-Type	application/json
Prefer	return=minimal Specifying this header with a request that uses a @odata.deltaLink returns only the object's properties that have changed since the last round. Optional.

Request body

Don't supply a request body for this method.

Response

If successful, this method returns 200 OK response code and directoryObject collection object in the response body. The response also includes a state token that is either a @odata.nextLink URL or a @odata.deltaLink URL.

• If a @odata.nextLink URL is returned:

  • This indicates there are more pages of data to be retrieved in the session. The application continues making requests by using the @odata.nextLink URL until a @odata.deltaLink URL is included in the response.
  • The response includes the same set of properties as in the initial delta query request. This allows you to capture the full current state of the objects when initiating the delta cycle.

• If a @odata.deltaLink URL is returned:

  • This indicates there's no more data about the existing state of the resource to be returned. Save and use the @odata.deltaLink URL to learn about changes to the resource in the next round.
  • You have a choice to specify the Prefer:return=minimal header, to include in the response values for only the properties that have changed since the time the @odata.deltaLink was issued.

Default: return the same properties as initial delta request

By default, requests using a @odata.deltaLink or @odata.nextLink return the same properties as selected in the initial delta query in the following ways:

• If the property has changed, the new value is included in the response. This includes properties being set to null value.
• If the property hasn't changed, the old value is included in the response.
• If the property has never been set before it will not be included in the response at all.

Note: With this behavior, by looking at the response it is not possible to tell whether a property is changing or not. Also, the delta responses tend to be large because they contain all property values - as shown in Example 3.

Alternative: return only the changed properties

Adding an optional prefer:return=minimal request header results in the following behavior:

• If the property has changed, the new value is included in the response. This includes properties being set to null value.
• If the property hasn't changed, the property isn't included in the response at all. This is different from the default behavior.

Note: The header can be added to a @odata.deltaLink request at any point in time in the delta cycle. The header only affects the set of properties included in the response and it does not affect how the delta query is executed. See Example 4.

Examples

Example 1: Retrieve changes for a collection of users and groups

Request

Here's an example of the request using the $filter=isof('{resource type}') parameter on users and groups. There's no $select parameter, so a default set of properties is tracked and returned.

HTTP

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/directoryObjects/delta?filter=isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')

C#

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

CLI

// THE CLI IS IN PREVIEW. NON-PRODUCTION USE ONLY
mgc directory-objects delta get

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Go

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Java

GraphServiceClient graphClient = GraphServiceClient.builder().authenticationProvider( authProvider ).buildClient();

LinkedList<Option> requestOptions = new LinkedList<Option>();
requestOptions.add(new QueryOption("filter", "isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')"));

DirectoryObjectDeltaCollectionPage delta = graphClient.directoryObjects()
	.delta()
	.buildRequest( requestOptions )
	.filter("isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')")
	.get();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

JavaScript

const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

let delta = await client.api('/directoryObjects/delta?filter=isof(\'microsoft.graph.user\') or isof(\'microsoft.graph.group\')')
	.filter('isof(\'microsoft.graph.user\') or isof(\'microsoft.graph.group\')')
	.get();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PHP

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PowerShell

Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.DirectoryObjects

Get-MgDirectoryObjectDelta -Filter "isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')" 

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Python

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Response

Here's an example of the response when using @odata.deltaLink obtained from the query initialization with $filter=isof('{resource type}'). Note the presence of the members@delta property that includes the ids of member objects in the group.

Note: The response object shown here might be shortened for readability.

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

{
  "@odata.context":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#directoryObjects","@odata.nextLink":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/directoryObjects/delta?$skiptoken=pqwSUjGYvb3jQpbwVAwEL7yuI3dU1LecfkkfLPtnIjvY1FSSc_",
  "value":[
    {
      "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.user",
      "displayName": "Adele Vance",
      "givenName": "Adele",
      "jobTitle": "Retail Manager",
      "surname": "Vance",
      "userPrincipalName": "AdeleV@contoso.onmicrosoft.com",
      "id": "87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd"
    },
    {
      "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.group",
      "createdDateTime":"2021-03-12T10:36:14Z",
      "description":"This is the default group for everyone in the network",
      "displayName":"All Company",
      "groupTypes": [
        "Unified"
      ],
      "mail": "allcompany@contoso.com",
      "id": "72052a9a-c466-4995-8210-95a1c1221995",
      "members@delta": [
        {
          "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.user",
          "id": "693acd06-2877-4339-8ade-b704261fe7a0"
        },
        {
          "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.user",
          "id": "49320844-be99-4164-8167-87ff5d047ace"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Example 2: Retrieve a collection of changes for a directory object

Request

Here's an example shows the request using the $filter=id eq '{id}' parameter. There's no $select parameter, so a default set of properties is tracked and returned.

HTTP

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/directoryObjects/delta?$filter=id eq '87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd'

C#

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

var graphClient = new GraphServiceClient(requestAdapter);

var result = await graphClient.DirectoryObjects.Delta.GetAsync((requestConfiguration) =>
{
	requestConfiguration.QueryParameters.Filter = "id eq '87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd'";
});

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

CLI

// THE CLI IS IN PREVIEW. NON-PRODUCTION USE ONLY
mgc directory-objects delta get --filter "id eq '87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd'"

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Go

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

graphClient := msgraphsdk.NewGraphServiceClientWithCredentials(cred, scopes)



requestFilter := "id eq '87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd'"

requestParameters := &graphdirectoryobjects.DirectoryObjectsDelta()RequestBuilderGetQueryParameters{
	Filter: &requestFilter,
}
configuration := &graphdirectoryobjects.DirectoryObjectsDelta()RequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration{
	QueryParameters: requestParameters,
}

delta, err := graphClient.DirectoryObjects().Delta().Get(context.Background(), configuration)

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Java

GraphServiceClient graphClient = GraphServiceClient.builder().authenticationProvider( authProvider ).buildClient();

DirectoryObjectDeltaCollectionPage delta = graphClient.directoryObjects()
	.delta()
	.buildRequest()
	.filter("id eq '87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd'")
	.get();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

JavaScript

const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

let delta = await client.api('/directoryObjects/delta')
	.filter('id eq \'87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd\'')
	.get();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PHP

<?php

// THIS SNIPPET IS A PREVIEW VERSION OF THE SDK. NON-PRODUCTION USE ONLY
$graphServiceClient = new GraphServiceClient($tokenRequestContext, $scopes);

$requestConfiguration = new DeltaRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration();
$queryParameters = DeltaRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration::createQueryParameters();
$queryParameters->filter = "id eq '87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd'";
$requestConfiguration->queryParameters = $queryParameters;


$result = $graphServiceClient->directoryObjects()->delta()->get($requestConfiguration)->wait();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PowerShell

Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.DirectoryObjects

Get-MgDirectoryObjectDelta -Filter "id eq '87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd'" 

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Python

# THE PYTHON SDK IS IN PREVIEW. FOR NON-PRODUCTION USE ONLY

graph_client = GraphServiceClient(request_adapter)

query_params = DeltaRequestBuilder.DeltaRequestBuilderGetQueryParameters(
		filter = "id eq '87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd'",
)

request_configuration = DeltaRequestBuilder.DeltaRequestBuilderGetRequestConfiguration(
query_parameters = query_params,
)

result = await graph_client.directory_objects.delta.get(request_configuration = request_configuration)

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Response

Here's an example of the response when using @odata.deltaLink obtained from the query initialization with $filter=id eq '{id}'.

Note: The response object shown here might be shortened for readability.

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

{
  "@odata.context":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#directoryObjects",
  "@odata.nextLink":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/directoryObjects/delta?$skiptoken=pqwSUjGYvb3jQpbwVAwEL7yuI3dU1LecfkkfLPtnIjsXoYQp_dpA3cNJWc",
  "value": [
    {
      "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.group",
      "createdDateTime":"2021-03-12T10:36:14Z",
      "description":"This is the default group for everyone in the network",
      "displayName":"All Company",
      "groupTypes": [
        "Unified"
      ],
      "mail": "allcompany@contoso.com",
      "id": "72052a9a-c466-4995-8210-95a1c1221995",
      "members@delta": [
        {
          "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.user",
          "id": "693acd06-2877-4339-8ade-b704261fe7a0"
        },
        {
          "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.user",
          "id": "49320844-be99-4164-8167-87ff5d047ace"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Example 3: Retrieve changes to specific properties for a collection of users and groups

Request

The following example shows the initial request selecting one property each from a user and group for change tracking, with default response behavior:

HTTP

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')&$select=microsoft.graph.user/surname,microsoft.graph.group/displayName

C#

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

CLI

// THE CLI IS IN PREVIEW. NON-PRODUCTION USE ONLY
mgc directory-objects delta get --filter "isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')" --select "microsoft.graph.user/surname,microsoft.graph.group/displayName"

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Go

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Java

GraphServiceClient graphClient = GraphServiceClient.builder().authenticationProvider( authProvider ).buildClient();

DirectoryObjectDeltaCollectionPage delta = graphClient.directoryObjects()
	.delta()
	.buildRequest()
	.filter("isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')")
	.select(",")
	.get();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

JavaScript

const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

let delta = await client.api('/directoryObjects/delta')
	.filter('isof(\'microsoft.graph.user\') or isof(\'microsoft.graph.group\')')
	.select(',')
	.get();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PHP

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PowerShell

Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.DirectoryObjects

Get-MgDirectoryObjectDelta -Filter "isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')" -Property "microsoft.graph.user/surname,microsoft.graph.group/displayName" 

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Python

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Response

Here's an example of the response when using @odata.deltaLink obtained from the query initialization. Both properties are included in the response and it isn't known which ones have changed since the @odata.deltaLink was obtained.

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

{
  "@odata.context":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#directoryObjects",
  "@odata.nextLink":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/directoryObjects/delta?$skiptoken=pqwSUjGYvb3jQpbwVAwEL7yuI3dU1LecfkkfLPtnIjsXoYQp_dpA3cNJWc",
  "value": [
    {
      "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.user",
      "surname": "Vance",
      "id": "87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd"
    },
    {
      "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.group",
      "displayName":"All Company",
      "id": "72052a9a-c466-4995-8210-95a1c1221995",
    }
  ]
}

Example 4: Retrieve specific properties only if they changed for a collection of users and groups

Request

The following example shows the initial request selecting one property each from a user and group for change tracking, with alternative minimal response behavior:

HTTP

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/directoryObjects/delta?$filter=isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')&$select=microsoft.graph.user/surname,microsoft.graph.group/displayName
Prefer: return=minimal

C#

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

CLI

// THE CLI IS IN PREVIEW. NON-PRODUCTION USE ONLY
mgc directory-objects delta get --filter "isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')" --select "microsoft.graph.user/surname,microsoft.graph.group/displayName"

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Go

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Java

GraphServiceClient graphClient = GraphServiceClient.builder().authenticationProvider( authProvider ).buildClient();

LinkedList<Option> requestOptions = new LinkedList<Option>();
requestOptions.add(new HeaderOption("Prefer", "return=minimal"));

DirectoryObjectDeltaCollectionPage delta = graphClient.directoryObjects()
	.delta()
	.buildRequest( requestOptions )
	.filter("isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')")
	.select(",")
	.get();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

JavaScript

const options = {
	authProvider,
};

const client = Client.init(options);

let delta = await client.api('/directoryObjects/delta')
	.header('Prefer','return=minimal')
	.filter('isof(\'microsoft.graph.user\') or isof(\'microsoft.graph.group\')')
	.select(',')
	.get();

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PHP

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

PowerShell

Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.DirectoryObjects

Get-MgDirectoryObjectDelta -Filter "isof('microsoft.graph.user') or isof('microsoft.graph.group')" -Property "microsoft.graph.user/surname,microsoft.graph.group/displayName" 

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Python

Snippet not available

For details about how to add the SDK to your project and create an authProvider instance, see the SDK documentation.

Response

Here's an example of the response when using @odata.deltaLink obtained from the query initialization. The microsoft.graph.user/surname property isn't included, which means it hasn't changed since the last delta query; microsoft.graph.group/displayName is included which means its value has changed.

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

{
  "@odata.context":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#directoryObjects",
  "@odata.nextLink":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/directoryObjects/delta?$skiptoken=pqwSUjGYvb3jQpbwVAwEL7yuI3dU1LecfkkfLPtnIjsXoYQp_dpA3cNJWc",
  "value": [
    {
      "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.group",
      "displayName":"Everyone",
      "id": "72052a9a-c466-4995-8210-95a1c1221995",
    }
  ]
}

See also

• Use delta query to track changes in Microsoft Graph data.
• Get incremental changes for groups.
• Get incremental changes for users.