Set up notifications for changes in resource data
Change notifications enable applications to receive alerts when a Microsoft Graph resource they're interested in changes; that is, created, updated, or deleted. Microsoft Graph sends notifications to the specified client endpoint, and the client service processes the notifications according to the business requirements. For example, the service might fetch more data, update its cache and views, and so on.
Why get change notifications?
Change notifications follow an event-driven model where customers receive alerts when changes occur instead of them polling Microsoft Graph. Depending on your business logic, change notifications are suitable when:
- You're subscribing to a resource that changes frequently.
- You need to react to changes in near real-time.
- You want to avoid frequently polling Microsoft Graph which might cause you to hit the throttling limits.
The following image shows how change notifications works and compares with change tracking.
The following video provides an overview of change notifications in Microsoft Graph.
Types of change notifications
Microsoft Graph supports three types of change notifications:
- Basic notifications: Change notifications that don't contain resource data other than the id of the resource that changed. When an app receives a basic notification, the service can use the id to query the changed object.
- Rich notifications: Change notifications that include the resource data of the object that changed. For more information about rich notifications, see Rich notifications.
- Lifecycle notifications: Notifications that alert the customer when they are at risk of missing change notifications due to the lifecycle of their subscription. For more information about lifecycle notifications, see Lifecycle notifications.
Receiving change notifications
Microsoft Graph can deliver change notifications to clients via the following channels.
- Webhooks. For more information, see Receive change notifications through webhooks.
- Azure Event Hubs. For more information, see Receive change notifications through Azure Event Hubs.
- Azure Event Grid (preview). For more information, see Receive change notifications through Azure Event Grid.
Managing subscriptions
Clients can create subscriptions, renew subscriptions, and delete subscriptions. While the subscription is active and when changes occur in the subscribed resource, Microsoft Graph sends change notifications to the specified notification endpoint.
You manage the subscription using the subscription resource type and its related methods. Microsoft Graph sends change notifications in a structure defined in the changeNotificationCollection resource type.
Supported resources
An app can subscribe to changes on the Microsoft Graph resources listed in the table.
Note
Subscriptions to resources marked with an asterisk (*) are only available on the /beta endpoint.
| Resource | Supported resource paths | Limitations |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud printing printer | Changes when a print job is ready to be downloaded (jobFetchable event): /print/printers/{id}/jobs |
- |
| Cloud printing printTaskDefinition | Changes when there's a valid job in the queue (jobStarted event): /print/printtaskdefinition/{id}/tasks |
- |
| driveItem on OneDrive (personal) | Changes to content within the hierarchy of any folder: /users/{id}/drive/root |
- |
| driveItem on OneDrive for work or school | Changes to content within the hierarchy of the root folder: /drives/{id}/root , /users/{id}/drive/root |
- |
| group | Changes to all groups: /groups Changes to a specific group: /groups/{id} Changes to owners of a specific group: /groups/{id}/owners Changes to members of a specific group: /groups/{id}/members |
Maximum subscription quotas: Not supported for Azure AD B2C tenants. NOTE: Creation and soft-deletion of groups also trigger the updated changeType. |
| list under a SharePoint site | Changes to content within the list: /sites/{site-id}/lists/{list-id} |
- |
| Microsoft 365 group conversation | Changes to a group's conversations: groups/{id}/conversations |
- |
| Outlook message | Changes to all messages in a user's mailbox: /users/{id}/messages , /me/messages Changes to messages in a user's Inbox: /users/{id}/mailFolders('inbox')/messages , /me/mailFolders('inbox')/messages |
A maximum of 1,000 active subscriptions per mailbox for all applications is allowed. |
| Outlook event | Changes to all events in a user's mailbox: /users/{id}/events , /me/events |
A maximum of 1,000 active subscriptions per mailbox for all applications is allowed. |
| Outlook personal contact | Changes to all personal contacts in a user's mailbox: /users/{id}/contacts , /me/contacts |
A maximum of 1,000 active subscriptions per mailbox for all applications is allowed. |
| Security alert | Changes to a specific alert: /security/alerts/{id} Changes to filtered alerts: /security/alerts/?$filter={parameters} |
For more information, see Security API alerts. |
| Teams approvals | Changes to all approvals in a tenant: /solutions/approval/approvalItems |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams callRecord | Changes to all call records: /communications/callRecords Changes to filtered call records: /communications/callRecords?$filter={parameters} |
For more information, see Change notifications for Call Records. Maximum subscription quotas: NOTE: Creation of call records also triggers the updated changeType. |
| Teams callRecording | All recordings in an organization: communications/onlineMeetings/getAllRecordings All recordings for a specific meeting: communications/onlineMeetings/{onlineMeetingId}/recordings A call recording that becomes available in a meeting organized by a specific user: users/{id}/onlineMeetings/getAllRecordings A call recording that becomes available in a meeting where a particular Teams app is installed: appCatalogs/teamsApps/{id}/installedToOnlineMeetings/getAllRecordings * |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams callTranscript | All transcripts in an organization: communications/onlineMeetings/getAllTranscripts All transcripts for a specific meeting: communications/onlineMeetings/{onlineMeetingId}/transcripts A call transcript that becomes available in a meeting organized by a specific user: users/{id}/onlineMeetings/getAllTranscripts A call transcript that becomes available in a meeting where a particular Teams app is installed: appCatalogs/teamsApps/{id}/installedToOnlineMeetings/getAllTrancripts * |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams chat | Changes to any chat in the tenant: /chats Changes to a specific chat: /chats/{id} Changes to a specific chat with the notifyOnUserSpecificProperties query parameter: /chats/{id}?notifyOnUserSpecificProperties={Boolean} Changes to all chats in an organization where a particular Teams app is installed: /appCatalogs/teamsApps/{id}/installedToChats Changes to all chats that a particular user is part of: /users/{id}/chats Changes to all chats that a particular user is part of with the notifyOnUserSpecificProperties query parameter: /users/{id}/chats?notifyOnUserSpecificProperties={Boolean} |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams chatMessage | Changes to chat messages in all channels in all teams: /teams/getAllMessages Changes to chat messages in a specific channel: /teams/{id}/channels/{id}/messages Changes to chat messages in all chats: /chats/getAllMessages Changes to chat messages in a specific chat: /chats/{id}/messages Changes to chat messages in all chats a particular user is part of: /users/{id}/chats/getAllMessages Changes to chat messages for all chats in an organization where a particular Teams app is installed: /appCatalogs/teamsApps/{id}/installedToChats/getAllMessages |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams channel | Changes to channels in all teams: /teams/getAllChannels Changes to channel in a specific team: /teams/{id}/channels |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams conversationMember | Changes to membership in a specific team: /teams/{id}/members Changes to membership in all channels under a specific team: teams/{id}/channels/getAllMembers Changes to membership in a specific chat: /chats/{id}/members Changes to membership for all chats in an organization where a particular Teams app is installed: /appCatalogs/teamsApps/{id}/installedToChats/getAllMembers Changes to membership in all chats: /chats/getAllMembers |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams onlineMeeting * | Changes to an online meeting: /communications/onlineMeetings(joinWebUrl='{encodedJoinWebUrl}')/meetingCallEvents |
Doesn't support using $select to return only selected properties. The rich notification consists of all the properties of the changed instance. One subscription allowed per application per online meeting. For more information, see Get change notifications for Microsoft Teams meeting call event updates. |
| Teams presence | Changes to a single user's presence: /communications/presences/{id} Changes to multiple users' presence: /communications/presences?$filter=id in ({id},{id}...) |
The subscription for multiple users' presence is limited to 650 distinct users. Doesn't support using $select to return only selected properties. The rich notification consists of all the properties of the changed instance. One subscription allowed per application per delegated user. For more information, see Get change notifications for presence updates in Microsoft Teams. |
| Teams team | Changes to any team in the tenant: /teams Changes to a specific team: /teams/{id} |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams Shifts offerShiftRequest | Changes to any offer shift request in a team: /teams/{id}/schedule/offerShiftRequests |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams Shifts openShiftChangeRequest | Changes to any open shift request in a team: /teams/{id}/schedule/openShiftChangeRequests |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams Shifts shift | Changes to any shift in a team: /teams/{id}/schedule/shifts |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams Shifts swapShiftsChangeRequest | Changes to any swap shift request in a team: /teams/{id}/schedule/swapShiftsChangeRequests |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| Teams Shifts timeOffRequest | Changes to any time off request in a team: /teams/{id}/schedule/timeOffRequests |
Maximum subscription quotas: |
| todoTask | Changes to all task in a specific task list: /me/todo/lists/{todoTaskListId}/tasks |
- |
| user | Changes to all users: /users Changes to a specific user: /users/{id} |
Maximum subscription quotas: Not supported for personal Microsoft accounts like outlook.com. Not supported for Azure AD B2C tenants. NOTE: Creation and soft-deletion of users also trigger the updated changeType. |
Note
Many resources have limits or quotas on how many subscriptions can be made against that resource. When exceeding that limit, attempts to create a subscription will result in a 403 Forbidden error response. The message property of the error response will explain the limit that has been exceeded.
Some of these resources support rich notifications (notifications with resource data). For more information about resources that support rich notifications, see Set up change notifications that include resource data.
Subscription lifetime
Subscriptions have a limited lifetime. Apps need to renew their subscriptions before the expiration time; Otherwise, they need to create a new subscription. Apps can also unsubscribe at any time to stop getting change notifications.
The following table shows the maximum expiration times for subscriptions per resource in Microsoft Graph.
| Resource | Maximum expiration time |
|---|---|
| Security alert | 43,200 minutes (under 30 days) |
| Teams approvals | 43,200 minutes (under 30 days) |
| Teams callRecord | 4,230 minutes (under three days) |
| Teams callRecording | 4,320 minutes (three days) |
| Teams callTranscript | 4,320 minutes (three days) |
| Teams channel | 4,320 minutes (three days) |
| Teams chat | 4,320 minutes (three days) |
| Teams chatMessage | 4,320 minutes (three days) |
| Teams conversationMember | 4,320 minutes (three days) |
| Teams onlineMeeting | 4,320 minutes (three days) |
| Teams team | 4,320 minutes (three days) |
| Teams teamsAppInstallation | 4,320 minutes (3 days) |
| Teams Shifts offerShiftRequest | 360 minutes (6 hours) |
| Teams Shifts openShiftChangeRequest | 360 minutes (6 hours) |
| Teams Shifts shift | 360 minutes (6 hours) |
| Teams Shifts swapShiftsChangeRequest | 360 minutes (6 hours) |
| Teams Shifts timeOffRequest | 360 minutes (6 hours) |
| Group conversation | 4,230 minutes (under three days) |
| OneDrive driveItem | 42,300 minutes (under 30 days) |
| SharePoint list | 42,300 minutes (under 30 days) |
| Outlook message, event, contact | 10,080 minutes (under seven days) |
| user, group, other directory resources | 41,760 minutes (under 29 days) |
| onlineMeeting | 4,230 minutes (under three days) |
| presence | 60 minutes (1 hour) |
| Print printer | 4,230 minutes (under three days) |
| Print printTaskDefinition | 4,230 minutes (under three days) |
| todoTask | 4,230 minutes (under three days) Webhooks for this resource are only available in the global endpoint and not in the national clouds. |
| baseTask (deprecated) | 4,230 minutes (under three days) |
Note: Existing applications and new applications should not exceed the supported value. In the future, any requests to create or renew a subscription beyond the maximum value will fail.
Latency
The following table lists the latency to expect between an event happening in the service and the delivery of the change notification.
| Resource | Average latency | Maximum latency |
|---|---|---|
| alert 1 | Less than 3 minutes | 5 minutes |
| approvals | Less than 10 seconds | 40 seconds |
| calendar | Less than 1 minute | 3 minutes |
| callRecord | Less than 15 minutes | 60 minutes |
| callRecording | Less than 10 seconds | 60 minutes |
| callTranscript | Less than 10 seconds | 60 minutes |
| channel | Less than 10 seconds | 60 minutes |
| chat | Less than 10 seconds | 60 minutes |
| chatMessage | Less than 10 seconds | 1 minute |
| contact | Less than 1 minute | 3 minutes |
| conversation | Unknown | Unknown |
| conversationMember | Less than 10 seconds | 60 minutes |
| driveItem | Less than 1 minute | 5 minutes |
| event | Unknown | Unknown |
| group | Unknown | Unknown |
| list | Less than 1 minute | 5 minutes |
| message | Less than 1 minute | 3 minutes |
| offerShiftRequest | Less than 1 minute | 60 minutes |
| onlineMeeting | Less than 10 seconds | 1 minute |
| openShiftChangeRequest | Less than 1 minute | 60 minutes |
| presence | Less than 10 seconds | 1 minute |
| printer | Less than 1 minute | 5 minutes |
| printTaskDefinition | Less than 1 minute | 5 minutes |
| shift | Less than 1 minute | 60 minutes |
| swapShiftsChangeRequest | Less than 1 minute | 60 minutes |
| team | Less than 10 seconds | 60 minutes |
| teamsAppInstallation | Less than 10 seconds | 60 minutes |
| timeOffRequest | Less than 1 minute | 60 minutes |
| todoTask | Less than 2 minutes | 15 minutes |
| user | Unknown | Unknown |
1 The latency provided for the alert resource is only applicable after the alert is created. It doesn't include the time it takes for a rule to create an alert from the data.
Code samples
The following code samples are available on GitHub.
- Microsoft Graph Training Module - Using Change Notifications and Track Changes with Microsoft Graph
- Microsoft Graph Webhooks Sample for Node.js
- Microsoft Graph Webhooks Sample for ASP.NET Core
- Microsoft Graph Webhooks Sample for Java Spring