How to Get Employee Manager Names and Emails in Microsoft 365
Question details
Retrieve manager names and email addresses associated with specific employee emails.
- Product
- Microsoft 365
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Administrators need to look up or extract manager contact information based on an existing list of employee email addresses, often for thousands of users.
- Observed behavior
- Users require a method to efficiently map employee email addresses to their respective managers' names and email addresses, whether individually or in bulk.
Ensure you are signed in with a Global Administrator or User Administrator account in Microsoft 365, as standard user accounts do not have permission to view or edit directory-level organizational structures for all employees.
View Manager Information via Microsoft 365 Admin Center
Best for checking manager details for a small number of users quickly without using scripts.
If you only need to look up the manager for a handful of employees, the Microsoft 365 Admin Center provides a direct interface to view and edit organizational relationships.
Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin portal at https://admin.microsoft.com/ using your administrator credentials.
On the left navigation menu, click on 'Users' and then select 'Active users' to display the directory.
Search for the employee's name or email address in the search bar, then click on their display name to open the user details pane.
In the user details pane, navigate to the 'Account' or 'Profile' tab, locate the 'Manager' section, and choose 'Edit manager'. The manager's name and email address will be displayed here.
Automate Bulk Retrieval with Microsoft Graph API or Power Automate
Ideal for scenarios involving thousands of users where manual lookup is impractical.
Need to Analyze Exported Directory Data? Try WPS Office
After exporting your employee and manager lists from Microsoft 365, you'll need a reliable spreadsheet tool to analyze and filter the data. WPS Office provides a free, lightweight, and robust suite that handles large datasets with ease.
- 1. Download and Install: Visit the official WPS Office website to download the free installation package for your operating system.
- 2. Open Exported Data: Launch WPS Spreadsheets and open the CSV or Excel file containing your Microsoft 365 user export.
- 3. Analyze the Hierarchy: Use built-in sorting, filtering, and VLOOKUP functions to match employee emails with their respective managers seamlessly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can standard users view their manager in Microsoft 365?
Yes, standard users can usually view their own manager and the organizational chart through Microsoft Teams or the Outlook contact card, provided the admin has configured the directory structure.
Why is the manager email address blank for some employees?
The manager field relies on manual input or active directory synchronization. If it is blank, it means an administrator has not assigned a manager to that specific user profile in Microsoft Entra ID.
Can I export a list of all employees and their managers to Excel?
Yes, administrators can use PowerShell commands like 'Get-MgUser' or Azure AD export features to download a CSV file containing all users and their manager properties, which can then be opened in any spreadsheet software.
