How to Find Inactive Yammer Group Owners in Microsoft 365
Question details
The user needs to identify inactive users who currently hold owner roles in Yammer groups, including groups that are still active.
- Product
- Microsoft 365
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- A Yammer administrator is attempting to audit group ownership to find and replace inactive owners according to their organization's governance policy.
- Observed behavior
- The administrator is looking for a reporting method or tool to track user activity and correlate it with group ownership, as there is no direct PowerShell API available for this specific task.
Ensure you have the necessary administrator permissions in Microsoft 365, such as Global Admin or Yammer Administrator, to access organizational usage reports and audit logs.
Use Microsoft 365 Admin Center Usage Reports
Export Yammer activity data from the built-in Microsoft 365 usage reports to locate groups and identify their owners.
The most direct way to review Yammer group activity is through the Microsoft 365 admin center. By exporting the groups activity report, you can analyze the data to determine which groups have inactive owners.
Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center, navigate to the 'Reports' section on the left sidebar, and select 'Usage'.
Scroll down to locate the 'Yammer activity' card and click on 'View more'.
Click on the 'Groups activity' tab to view specific metrics regarding Yammer groups.
Click the 'Export' button to download the report as a CSV file. Open the file in a spreadsheet application to filter and identify groups with inactive owners, then manually replace or remove them in Yammer.
Investigate User Activity via Microsoft Purview Audit Log
Use the Microsoft Purview audit log to track individual Yammer events and identify when group owners were last active.
Looking for a Lightweight Alternative for Office Documents?
While managing Yammer and Microsoft 365 admin configurations requires the admin center, analyzing the exported CSV usage reports doesn't require an expensive desktop suite. WPS Office provides a free, highly compatible alternative for viewing, filtering, and managing your exported spreadsheet data.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use PowerShell to find inactive Yammer group owners?
Currently, there is no direct API call or specific PowerShell cmdlet available to identify inactive users who own Yammer groups. Administrators must rely on exporting Microsoft 365 usage reports or searching Purview audit logs.
Why do user names show as anonymous in my Yammer usage reports?
Microsoft 365 hides user, group, and site names by default in usage reports to protect privacy. To view real names, an administrator must update the privacy settings in the Microsoft 365 admin center by navigating to Settings > Org settings > Reports and unchecking the anonymous data option.
How long does it take for Yammer activity to appear in the Purview audit log?
After you enable user and administrator activity recording in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, it can take up to 24 hours for new activity data to be fully processed, indexed, and searchable within the audit log.
