user: delta

Namespace: microsoft.graph

Get newly created, updated, or deleted users without having to perform a full read of the entire user collection. See change tracking for details.

Note

Changes to the licenseAssignmentStates property are currently not tracked.

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.All Directory.Read.All, Directory.ReadWrite.All, User.ReadWrite.All
Delegated (personal Microsoft account) Not supported. Not supported.
Application User.Read.All Directory.Read.All, Directory.ReadWrite.All, User.ReadWrite.All

HTTP request

To begin tracking changes, you make a request by including the delta function on the users resource.

GET /users/delta

Query parameters

Tracking changes in users incurs a round of one or more delta function calls. If you use any query parameter (other than $deltatoken and $skiptoken), you must specify it in the initial delta request. Microsoft Graph automatically encodes any specified parameters into the token portion of the @odata.nextLink or @odata.deltaLink URL provided in the response.

You only need to specify any desired query parameters once upfront.

In subsequent requests, copy and apply the @odata.nextLink or @odata.deltaLink URL from the previous response, as that URL already includes the encoded, desired parameters.

Query parameter Type Description
$deltatoken string A state token returned in the @odata.deltaLink URL of the previous delta function call for the same user collection, indicating the completion of that round of change tracking. Save and apply the entire @odata.deltaLink URL including this token in the first request of the next round of change tracking for that collection.
$skiptoken string A state token returned in the @odata.nextLink URL of the previous delta function call, indicating there are further changes to be tracked in the same user collection.

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.
  • There's limited support for $filter:
    • The only supported $filter expression is for tracking changes on a specific object: $filter=id+eq+{value}. You can filter multiple objects. For example, https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/delta/?$filter= id eq '477e9fc6-5de7-4406-bb2a-7e5c83c9ffff' or id eq '004d6a07-fe70-4b92-add5-e6e37b8affff'. There's a limit of 50 filtered objects.

Request headers

Name Description
Authorization Bearer {token}. Required. Learn more about authentication and authorization.
Content-Type application/json
Prefer return=minimal

Specifying this header with a request that uses a @odata.deltaLink would return only the object 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 user collection object in the response body. The response also includes a @odata.nextLink URL or a @odata.deltaLink URL.

  • If a @odata.nextLink URL is returned:

    • This indicates there are additional 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 2.

Alternative: return only the changed properties

Adding an optional request header - prefer:return=minimal - 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. (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 3.

Examples

Example 1: Default properties

Request

The following example shows a request. There's no $select parameter, so a default set of properties is tracked and returned.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/delta

Response

Here's an example of the response when using @odata.deltaLink obtained from the query initialization.

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/$metadata#users",
  "@odata.nextLink":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/delta?$skiptoken=pqwSUjGYvb3jQpbwVAwEL7yuI3dU1LecfkkfLPtnIjsXoYQp_dpA3cNJWc",
  "value": [
    {
      "businessPhones": [
          "+1 425 555 0109"
      ],
      "displayName": "Adele Vance",
      "givenName": "Adele",
      "jobTitle": "Retail Manager",
      "mail": "AdeleV@contoso.com",
      "mobilePhone": "+1 425 555 0109",
      "officeLocation": "18/2111",
      "preferredLanguage": "en-US",
      "surname": "Vance",
      "userPrincipalName": "AdeleV@contoso.com",
      "id": "87d349ed-44d7-43e1-9a83-5f2406dee5bd"
    }
  ]
}

Example 2: Selecting three properties

Request

The next example shows the initial request selecting three properties for change tracking, with default response behavior.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/delta?$select=displayName,jobTitle,mobilePhone

Response

Here's an example of the response when using @odata.deltaLink obtained from the query initialization. All three 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/$metadata#users",
  "@odata.nextLink":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/delta?$skiptoken=pqwSUjGYvb3jQpbwVAwEL7yuI3dU1LecfkkfLPtnIjsXoYQp_dpA3cNJWc",
  "value": [
    {
      "displayName": "Adele Vance",
      "jobTitle": "Retail Manager",
      "mobilePhone": "+1 425 555 0109"
    }
  ]
}

Example 3: Alternative minimal response behavior

Request

The next example shows the initial request selecting three properties for change tracking, with alternative minimal response behavior.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/delta?$select=displayName,jobTitle,mobilePhone
Prefer: return=minimal

Response

Here's an example of the response when using @odata.deltaLink obtained from the query initialization. The mobilePhone property isn't included, which means it hasn't changed since the last delta query; displayName and jobTitle are included which means their values have changed.

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

{
  "@odata.context":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users",
  "@odata.nextLink":"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/delta?$skiptoken=pqwSUjGYvb3jQpbwVAwEL7yuI3dU1LecfkkfLPtnIjsXoYQp_dpA3cNJWc",
  "value": [
    {
      "displayName": "Vance Adele",
      "jobTitle": "Product Marketing Manager"
    }
  ]
}