Major services and features in Microsoft Graph

Microsoft Graph enables you to integrate with the best of Microsoft 365, Windows, and Enterprise Mobility + Security services in Microsoft 365, using REST APIs and client libraries. Additionally, it offers security and intelligence that can boost user productivity, creativity, and team collaboration, and protect business resources and users' data.

Users and groups

At the core of Microsoft Graph are the concepts of the user and group.

A user in Microsoft Graph is one among the millions who use Microsoft 365 cloud services. It is the focal point whose identity is protected and access is well-managed. The user's data is what drives businesses. Microsoft Graph services make this data available to businesses in rich contexts, real-time updates, and deep insights, and always only with the appropriate permissions.

A Microsoft 365 group is the fundamental entity that lets users collaborate. It integrates with other services, enabling richer scenarios in task planning, teamwork, education, and more.

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Users Microsoft Entra ID and most productivity, collaboration, intelligence, and education services The user is a core focus of Microsoft Graph, around which many Microsoft Graph services build user-centric functionality. Overview of users in Microsoft Graph
Groups Microsoft Entra ID, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, Planner A Microsoft 365 group provides the fundamental collaborative unit for users to share conversations, files, notes, calendar, plans, and more. Overview of Microsoft 365 groups in Microsoft Graph

Connecting users' data, Microsoft 365 services, and your apps

Starting with users and groups at the core, Microsoft Graph forms a network of Microsoft 365 services and features that manage, protect, and extract data to support a wide range of scenarios. Microsoft Graph lets you access this wealth of user data while always respecting proper authorization.

Microsoft Graph connects you to users' data

Services and features

Some services in Microsoft Graph make their debut there, others have been well-known as standalone services and are now converging in Microsoft Graph. Their API sets follow a streamlined design as detailed in the Microsoft REST API guidelines, and are now accessible through the single Microsoft Graph REST endpoint https://graph.microsoft.com. The rest of this article lists the major services and features by category.

Identity and access management

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Identity and access management Microsoft Entra ID Creates and manages directory resources such as users, groups, and applications. Manages access to resources and data. Gives customers access to sign-in and account risk data in Microsoft Entra ID. Microsoft Entra identity and access management overview

Productivity

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Calendar Outlook Lets users set up appointments and meetings on the web and on mobile and desktop devices. It is part of the Outlook messaging communication hub in Microsoft 365 that also lets users manage emails and contacts. Outlook calendar overview
Files OneDrive and SharePoint Manages and shares user files on OneDrive and SharePoint. OneDrive files storage overview
Mail Outlook Lets users communicate, organize messages, and manage priorities in their workflows, on the web, and on mobile and desktop devices. It is part of the Outlook communication hub in Microsoft 365 that also lets users manage contacts and schedule meetings. Outlook mail overview
Notes OneNote Lets users plan and organize ideas and information. OneNote notes overview
Personal contacts Outlook Contacts manager on the web and on mobile and desktop devices. It is part of the Outlook messaging communication hub in Microsoft 365 that also lets users manage emails and schedule meetings. Outlook personal contacts overview
To-do tasks To Do Lets users manage their personal tasks across work and life. It is also integrated with Outlook, Teams, Planner, and Cortana, which makes it the single destination for user's personal tasks in Microsoft 365. To Do tasks overview
Workbooks and charts Excel Lets users use Excel spreadsheets to do complex calculations, track, analyze, and visualize data, and generate professional reports. Excel workbooks and charts overview

Collaboration and cultivating workforce

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Calls and online meetings Microsoft Teams, Skype Lets apps and services interact with users through various communications-related features; for example, enabling bots to handle calls, integrating online meetings in line of business scenarios, showing users' presence status (preview), and looking up records for calls and online meetings (preview). Overview for using Microsoft Teams, Shifts, and Viva Learning to foster teamwork
Employee learning Viva Learning Empowers employees to make learning a natural part of the day by bringing learning into the flow of work within the tools and platforms of Microsoft 365 that they already use. Discover, share, and track learning across a variety of sources from a center of learning in Microsoft Teams. Overview for using Microsoft Teams, Shifts, and Viva Learning to foster teamwork
Shift management Microsoft Shifts Lets managers and frontline workers manage staff scheduling or capture data from workforce management systems to create optimized schedules for a business. Overview for using Microsoft Teams, Shifts, and Viva Learning to foster teamwork
Sites and lists SharePoint Web-based platform for users and Microsoft 365 groups to share, organize, manage, and discover content (including lists, files, and notes). SharePoint sites and content overview
Tasks and plans Planner Enables users in Microsoft 365 groups to create plans, assign tasks, and track progress. Planner plans and tasks overview
Teamwork platform and messaging Microsoft Teams Ultimate digital hub and chat-based workspace for teams to share files, notes, calendar, and plans. Overview for using Microsoft Teams, Shifts, and Viva Learning to foster teamwork

People and workplace intelligence

Feature Supporting services Description More information
People Microsoft Entra ID, Outlook, SharePoint, and more Gets information about persons as ordered by their relevance to a user, determined by the user's communication and collaboration patterns and business relationships. People and workplace intelligence in Microsoft Graph
Profile (preview) Profile Provides a lightweight mechanism for storing and retrieving information about people within a tenant. People and workplace intelligence in Microsoft Graph
Profile card customization Profile card Provides a lightweight mechanism for an administrator to customize the content that surfaces on the Microsoft 365 profile card within an organization. People and workplace intelligence in Microsoft Graph
Document insights Delve, OneDrive, Outlook, SharePoint Uses advanced analytics and machine learning techniques to get documents trending around, viewed, modified, or shared by a user. People and workplace intelligence in Microsoft Graph
Analytics (preview) Viva Insights Uses advanced analytics and machine-learning techniques to provide insights into how people spend their time and who they spend it with. This data can help people plan their day, gain insights into their different work patterns, and help them balance work and life. People and workplace intelligence in Microsoft Graph

Device and app management

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Browser management Microsoft Edge Microsoft Edge is one of the applications that administrators manage through the Microsoft 365 admin center. As an alternative to using the Microsoft 365 admin center, apps can use the Microsoft Graph API to manage the same Edge settings configured through the Microsoft 365 admin center. Using the Edge API in Microsoft Graph to manage browsers
Cloud printing Universal Print Universal Print is a Microsoft 365 cloud-based print infrastructure that enables a simple, rich, and secure print experience for users and reduces administrative and management effort for IT. Cloud printing using Universal Print API
Corp management of devices and apps Intune Enrolls and configures devices and manages mobile applications in your organization. Intune devices and apps overview
Cloud PC Windows 365 Windows 365 is a cloud-based service that lets administrators easily set up and manage Windows 365 Cloud PCs for users in their organization. Individual end users can securely stream their rich, personalized Windows experience from the Microsoft cloud to any device, any time, with their Cloud PC. Working with Windows 365 Cloud PCs using the Microsoft Graph API
Device updates (preview) Windows Update for Business deployment service Provides control over the approval, scheduling, monitoring, and safeguarding of content delivered from Windows Update. Windows updates in Microsoft Graph
Multi-tenant management (preview) Microsoft 365 Lighthouse Lets Managed Service Providers (MSPs) remotely manage multiple customer tenants for compliance and threat detection, and help get tenant devices in a healthy and secure state. Multi-tenant management using Microsoft 365 Lighthouse
Service health and communications Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 services Provides access to the health status and message center posts about Microsoft cloud services. A notable example that uses the service communications API is the Microsoft 365 admin center. Accessing service health and communications in Microsoft Graph

Security

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Security integration Microsoft Entra ID Protection, Azure Information Protection, Azure Security Center, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, and more Provides a unified gateway to security insights and actions across Microsoft and ecosystem partners. Security in Microsoft Graph
eDiscovery Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Premium) Provides access to eDiscovery capabilities used in the process of identifying and delivering electronic information that can be used as evidence in legal cases. Security in Microsoft Graph

Cross-device experiences

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Cross-device experiences Activity feed, device relay Enables app experiences that transcend a single device, and instead move with the user from device to device regardless of its type and platform. Overview for cross-device experiences

User notifications (deprecated)

Important

The Microsoft Graph notifications API is deprecated and stopped returning data in January 2022. For an alternative notification experience, see Microsoft Azure Notification Hubs. For more information, see this blog post.

Feature Supporting services Description More information
User notifications User notifications Enables app experiences to build user-centric and cross-platform notification experiences including user-based fan-out, universal dismiss, and accessing notification history. Enabling human-centric notification experiences using Microsoft Graph notifications

Usage reports

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Reports Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Outlook, SharePoint, Skype for Business, Yammer Gets activity and usage information of a supporting service. Usage reports overview

Education

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Education Microsoft Entra ID, Education Provides information relevant for education scenarios, including schools, classes, students, teachers, and assignment info. Enables ISVs to build applications for the classroom that save teachers time and promote teamwork and collaboration. Education overview
Industry data ETL (preview) Azure Data Lake, Education A multi-vertical, cross-industry, ETL (Extract-Transform-Load) platform that includes support for the education sector, enabling applications to manage and move user and roster data from a student information system (SIS). Industry data overview

Business applications

Feature Supporting services Description More information
Customer booking Microsoft Bookings Targets organizations to enable their users and customers to book services directly on the web or Facebook. Lets business providers manage customer preferences, services and pricing, staff lists and schedules, and other common business information. Microsoft Bookings API overview
Financials (preview) Dynamics 365 Business Central Enables management of financial data, automation and securing of the supply chain, sales management and improved customer service, management of projects, and optimization of operations with the all-in-one business management solution. Business Central API overview
Backup storage (preview) SharePoint Online, Exchange, OneDrive for Business Enables partners to build customized versions of their applications integrated with the Microsoft 365 Backup Storage platform. This helps to ensure exceptionally fast recovery from typical business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) scenarios, such as ransomware attacks or accidental or malicious deletion or overwriting of content by employees. Business continuity assurance is a critical concern for many companies. Microsoft 365 Backup Storage APIs provide peace of mind by delivering reliable, performant and at-scale backup/restore confidence. Backup Storage API overview