Troubleshoot the Office 365 Users Connector

  • 7 minutes

While the Office 365 Users Connector is straightforward to use, issues can arise due to misconfigurations or data limitations. The following sections provide common challenges and their solutions to help you diagnose and resolve problems effectively.

Permission issues

Problem - Actions, such as Get manager (V2) or Search for users (V2), fail due to insufficient permissions.

Solution - Various approaches are available to address this issue:

  • Ensure that the user account that's connected to the flow has adequate permissions in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory). The account should have at least read access to user profile information.
  • If Conditional Access policies are applied in your organization, check with your IT administrator to confirm that the connector has access to the required data.
  • Verify that the flow isn't being run under a user account with limited access, such as a guest account.

Empty or incorrect search results

Problem - The Search for users (V2) action returns no results or incorrect results.

Solution - Various approaches are available to address this issue:

  • Double-check the search term that's used in the flow. For example, searching for "Sales" only returns results if users in the organization have "Sales" explicitly listed in their department field or other searchable attributes.
  • If you're using dynamic content as the search term, confirm that the value being passed to the action is accurate. Use a Compose action to test and display the value of the dynamic content before it's passed to the Search for users (V2) action.
  • Verify that user data in Microsoft Entra ID is properly maintained. For example, missing or outdated department or job title information could result in incomplete searches.

Incorrect or missing manager information

Problem - The Get manager (V2) action fails or returns unexpected results.

Solution - Various approaches are available to address this issue:

  • Confirm that the user whose manager is being retrieved has a manager defined in Microsoft Entra ID. If no manager is listed, the action fails or returns a null value.
  • Use a condition after the Get manager (V2) action to handle cases where no manager is found. For example:
    • Add a Condition to check if the Mail field from the Get manager (V2) action is empty.
    • If the Mail field is empty, take alternative action, such as sending a notification to a default recipient or skipping the step.

Connection errors

Problem - Actions fail due to connection errors or token expiration.

Solution - Various approaches are available to address this issue:

  • Reauthenticate the connector by selecting Edit Connection on the affected action and then signing in with a valid account.
  • If tokens frequently expire, review the flow's run frequency. Reducing unnecessary flow runs can help avoid authentication issues.
  • Check with IT if Conditional Access policies or multifactor authentication are impacting the connector's ability to authenticate.

Performance or flow time-outs

Problem - Flows take too long to run or they fail when you're dealing with large user directories.

Solution - Various approaches are available to address this issue:

  • Narrow your searches by using specific and concise search terms. For example, searching for "John" might take longer or return too many results, while searching for "John Doe" narrows the search significantly.
  • If you need to process large datasets, consider splitting the workflow into smaller chunks or using pagination to limit the number of results that the connector retrieves.

By addressing these common challenges, you can ensure that your flows that use the Office 365 Users Connector run smoothly and reliably. Remember to test each step thoroughly and use debugging tools, such as Compose actions and a flow run history, to identify and resolve issues.