Bulk operations
Bulk operations in Microsoft Entra ID enable you to perform actions on multiple entities, such as users, groups, and devices, at once. This can include creating, deleting, or updating multiple records in a single operation, which can greatly streamline administrative tasks and improve efficiency.
Bulk operations in the Microsoft Entra admin portal could time out and fail on very large tenants. This limitation is a known issue due to scaling limitations. The Microsoft engineering team is working on a new service that will eventually address this limitation.
Note
When performing bulk operations, such as import or create, you may encounter a problem if the bulk operation does not complete within the hour. To work around this issue, we recommend splitting the number of records processed per batch. For example, before starting an export you could limit the result set by filtering on a group type or user name to reduce the size of the results. By refining your filters, essentially you are limiting the data returned by the bulk operation.
Bulk operations workaround
A workaround for this issue is to use PowerShell to make direct Microsoft Graph API calls. For bulk download users and groups failure, we recommend using the PowerShell cmdlets GET-MgGroup -All
and GET-MgUser -All
.
The following PowerShell code examples are for bulk operations related to:
Users
Bulk download all users
# Import the Microsoft Graph module
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph
# Authenticate to Microsoft Graph (you may need to provide your credentials)
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "User.Read.All"
# Get all users using Get-MgUser
$users = Get-MgUser -All -ConsistencyLevel eventual -Property Id, DisplayName, UserPrincipalName,UserType,OnPremisesSyncEnabled,CompanyName,CreationType
# Specify the output CSV file path
$outputCsvPath = "C:\\Users\\YourUsername\\Documents\\Users.csv"
# Create a custom object to store user data
$userData = @()
# Loop through each user and collect relevant data
foreach ($user in $users) {
$userObject = [PSCustomObject]@{
Id = $user.Id
DisplayName = $user.DisplayName
UserPrincipalName = $user.UserPrincipalName
UserType = $user.UserType
OnPremisesSyncEnabled = $user.OnPremisesSyncEnabled
CompanyName = $user.CompanyName
CreationType = $user.CreationType
}
$userData += $userObject
}
# Export user data to a CSV file
$userData | Export-Csv -Path $outputCsvPath -NoTypeInformation
# Disconnect from Microsoft Graph
Disconnect-MgGraph
Write-Host "User data exported to $outputCsvPath"
Bulk create users
# Import the Microsoft Graph module
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph
# Authenticate to Microsoft Graph (you may need to provide your credentials)
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "User.ReadWrite.All"
# Specify the path to the CSV file containing user data
$csvFilePath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\Users.csv"
# Read the CSV file (adjust the column names as needed)
$usersData = Import-Csv -Path $csvFilePath
# Loop through each row in the CSV and create users \
foreach ($userRow in $usersData) {
$userParams = @{
DisplayName = $userRow.'Name [displayName] Required'
UserPrincipalName = $userRow.'User name [userPrincipalName] Required'
PasswordProfile = @{
Password = $userRow.'Initial password [passwordProfile] Required'
}
AccountEnabled = $true
MailNickName = $userRow.mailNickName
}
try {
New-MgUser @userParams
Write-Host "User $($userRow.UserPrincipalName) created successfully."
} catch {
Write-Host "Error creating user $($userRow.UserPrincipalName): $($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
# Disconnect from Microsoft Graph
Disconnect-MgGraph
Write-Host "Bulk user creation completed."
Note
Make sure your CSV file contains the necessary columns (for example; DisplayName
, UserPrincipalName
, and so on). Also, adjust the script to match the actual column names in your CSV file.
Bulk delete users
# Import the Microsoft Graph module
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph
# Authenticate to Microsoft Graph (you may need to provide your credentials)
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "User.ReadWrite.All"
# Specify the path to the CSV file containing user data
$csvFilePath = "C:\\Path\\To\\Your\\Users.csv"
# Read the CSV file (adjust the column names as needed)
$usersData = Import-Csv -Path $csvFilePath
# Loop through each row in the CSV and delete users
foreach ($userRow in $usersData) {
try {
Remove-MgUser -UserId $userRow.UserPrincipalName -Confirm:$false
Write-Host "User $($userRow.UserPrincipalName) deleted successfully."
} catch {
Write-Host "Error deleting user $($userRow.UserPrincipalName): $($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
# Disconnect from Microsoft Graph
Disconnect-MgGraph
Write-Host "Bulk user deletion completed."
Note
Make sure your CSV file contains the necessary columns (for example, UserPrincipalName
). Also, adjust the script to match the actual column names in your CSV file.
Groups
Bulk download all groups
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Groups
# Authenticate to Microsoft Graph (you may need to provide your credentials)
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Group.Read.All"
# Get the group members
$groups = Get-MgGroup -All | Select displayName, Id, groupTypes,mail
# Create a custom object to store group data
$groupData = @()
# Loop through each group and collect relevant data
foreach ($group in $groups) {
if ($group.groupTypes -contains "Unified"){$groupType = "Microsoft 365"}
else {$groupType = "Security"}
if ($group.groupTypes -contains "DynamicMembership"){$membershipType = "Dynamic"}
else {$membershipType = "Assigned"}
$groupObject = [PSCustomObject]@{
Id = $group.Id
DisplayName = $group.displayName
Mail = $group.mail
GroupType = $groupType
MemebershipType = $membershipType
}
$groupData += $groupObject
}
# Specify the output CSV file path
$outputCsvPath = "C:\\Users\\<YourUsername>\\Documents\\Groups.csv"
$groupData| Export-Csv -Path $outputCsvPath -NoTypeInformation
Write-Host "Group members exported to $outputCsvPath"
Bulk download members of a group
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Groups
# Authenticate to Microsoft Graph (you may need to provide your credentials)
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Group.Read.All,GroupMember.Read.All"
# Set the group ID of the group whose members you want to download
$groupId = "your_group_id"
# Get the group members
$members = Get-MgGroupMember -GroupId $groupId -All | select * -ExpandProperty additionalProperties | Select-Object @(
'id'
@{ Name = 'userPrincipalName'
Expression = { $_.AdditionalProperties["userPrincipalName"] }
}
@{ Name = 'displayName'
Expression = { $_.AdditionalProperties["displayName"] }
}
)
# Specify the output CSV file path
$outputCsvPath = "C:\\Users\\YourUserName\\Documents\\GroupMembers.csv"
$members| Export-Csv -Path $outputCsvPath -NoTypeInformation
# Disconnect from Microsoft Graph
Disconnect-MgGraph
Write-Host "Group members exported to $outputCsvPath"
Add members in bulk
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Groups
# Authenticate to Microsoft Graph (you may need to provide your credentials)
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "GroupMember.ReadWrite.All"
# Import the CSV file
$members = Import-Csv -Path "C:\path\to\your\file.csv"
# Define the Group ID
$groupId = "your-group-id"
# Iterate over each member and add them to the group
foreach ($member in $members) {
try{
New-MgGroupMember -GroupId $groupId -DirectoryObjectId $member.memberObjectId
Write-Host "Added $($member.memberObjectId) to the group."
}
Catch{
Write-Host "Error adding member $($member.memberObjectId):$($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
# Disconnect from Microsoft Graph
Disconnect-MgGraph
Remove members in bulk
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph.Groups
# Authenticate to Microsoft Graph (you may need to provide your credentials)
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "GroupMember.ReadWrite.All"
# Import the CSV file
$members = Import-Csv -Path "C:\path\to\your\file.csv"
# Define the Group ID
$groupId = "your-group-id"
# Iterate over each member and add them to the group
foreach ($member in $members) {
try{
Remove-MgGroupMemberByRef -GroupId $groupId -DirectoryObjectId $member.memberObjectId \
Write-Host "Removed $($member.memberObjectId) from the group."
}
Catch{
Write-Host "Error removing member $($member.memberObjectId):$($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
# Disconnect from Microsoft Graph
Disconnect-MgGraph
Devices
Bulk download all devices
Import-Module Microsoft.Graph
# Authenticate to Microsoft Graph (you may need to provide your credentials)
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Device.Read.All"
# Get all devices
$devices = Get-MgDevice -All |select displayName,deviceId,operatingSystem,operatingSystemVersion,isManaged,isCompliant,mdmAppId,registeredOwners,TrustType
# Specify the output CSV file path
$outputCsvPath = "C:\\Users\\YourUserName\\Documents\\Devices.csv"
$devices| Export-Csv -Path $outputCsvPath -NoTypeInformation
Write-Host "Devices exported to $outputCsvPath"