How to Rename a User in Office 365: Detailed Steps to Resolve Your Queries

One of the many queries that people ask is how to rename user in Office 365. In this article, we are going to explain in detail why, and how to change a username in Office 365. 

This is a very simple process that even the most inexperienced person can carry out easily. A user may want to change a username due to many different reasons, one of which is, for example if they change their name legally. 

Before we begin, a point to note is that you must be a global admin to complete the steps mentioned in this article. 

How to Change Users Email Address in Office 365?

In order to change a user email address in Office 365, you need to be a global admin to complete the steps: 

1. In the admin center, open Users > Active users. 
2. Select the name of the user, and then in the Account section, select Manage Username and Email option.
3. In the box, type the first part of your new email address. If you want to add your own domain, you need to enter the first part of your domain and then choose the domain by clicking on the drop-down box. 
4. Select the Done option after you verify all the changes made. 

Now, we will discuss how to rename user in Office 365. 

How to Rename User in Office 365

You must be a global admin in order to complete the steps given below: 

1. In the admin center, go to the Users option, and then go to the Active users page.
2. Select the name of the user you want to change. 
3. Go to the account tab and selec Manage contact information option.  
4. Now update the username and the contact information of the user. 
5. Select the Save changes option after you have verified all the information. 

How to Set Up the Primary Email Address?

1. In the admin centre, click on users > Active users.
2. Choose the name of the user, and then in the account option, select the manage email aliases.
3. Click on Set as Primary option for the email address that you want to set as the default mail for the user.
4. You will get a warning telling you that you’re going to change the user’s sign in information. Then, you can save and close it.

Following are the points to note after you complete the steps given above:

• The change may take some time to take effect.
• The user will have to sign-in with the new information.
• If the user is using Skype for Business, they need to reschedule their meetings. They are also going to have to update all their external contacts about the change in contact information.
• If the user is using OneDrive, then let them know about the change in location of the URL. If they have OneNote books in OneDrive, then they will have to reopen them in the OneNote application.
• If the password has changed, then let them know that they are going to get a prompt to enter the new password on their device, or it will not be able to sync.

How to Change Username in Office 365 of Your Personal Account?

While signing in, if a screen pops-up and asks “Which account do you want to use?” it means that you are using two accounts with the same email addresses. For example: 

• A school or work account which probably was created by your organisation for you.
• A personal account that you use on a daily basis and probably created by you. 

You can rename a user in Office 365 for your personal account using a different email address to sign in. This will help you in simplifying your productivity as it separated work or school related activities and personal activities. However for the query of how to change username in Office 365, once you complete this process, it cannot be reversed back. 

The process to rename user in Office 365 for your personal account is now complete. 

You will also need to be a global admin to carry out the process to rename user in Office 365. For some apps, you will have to sign in from your personal account again. 

Error Message Resolutions

• A parameter could not be found that matches the parameter name

If you get this error message, it means that it is taking longer to set up your tenant. It could also mean that your custom domain is taking some time to set up if you have recently added one. It can take up to 4 hours to complete the setup process. 

• The user could not be edited. Review the information and try again

This means that you are not a global admin and you don’t have the necessary permissions to rename user in Office 365. You can find the global admin in your organisation and ask them to change username in Office 365. 

• The user’s offline address book would not sync with the global address list. 

If you are using Exchange Online, or if your account is linked to the organisation’s on premise Exchange environment, this error can pop-up. 

This is due to Microsoft Online Email Routing Address (MOERA). You can change the username in the AD, but cannot change it in MOERA. You can also run into issues while showing the changed name in the global address list. In order to fix this, sign into Microsoft Graph PowerShell and use the following syntax: 

How to Rename a User in Office 365 Using Powershell

• Go to the users in Active Directory, Attribute, ProxyAddress option. Make sure that you add the email address for the user.
• Open PowerShell as an admin. This will connect you to the Azure environment using PowerShell. You need to check for the following points and make sure that you have MSOnline installed in the PowerShell.
  • Check and install the latest version of MSOnline via PowerShell.
  • Paste the following commands: “ Get-Module  -Name MSOnline ”.
  • “ Find-Module  -Name MSOnline ”.
• If you do not have the module installed or if it is outdated, then paste this command: “ Install-Module  -Name MSOnline ”.
• Now, you can connect to the Office 365 by typing in this command: “ Connect-MsolService ”.
• Enter the credentials to the office 365 environment.
• Change the username of the Office 365 account after you have connected to the MsolService by following this command: ” Set-MsolUserPrincipalName -UserPrincipalName YourName@domain.onmicrosoft.com -NewUserPrincipalName YourName@domain.com “.

What Should Users do with Their Old Emails?

A user’s previous email address should be retained as an additional email address. You should not remove your old email address. Some people will most probably continue to send emails to the old email address and removing it would lead to NDR failures. Office 365 can automatically route those emails to the newer one. It is also advised that you should not reuse the SMTP email addresses, and apply them to the new account. This can cause delivery to unintended mailboxes or NDR failures.

Alternate way to Rename User in Office 365

If you find the steps mentioned above to be complex and are facing other issues related to your account, You can shift all your files and data to a new account and change username in Office 365 there. In order to perform the migration, you can use an automated tool that will make the entire process much simpler and help you be productive while keeping your sensitive data secure. 

One of the greatest tool available in the industry is the SysTools Office 365 to Office 365 Migration Tool. With the help of this tool, you can migrate your entire mailbox including mails, documents, calendars, and contacts. By using this tool you can also rename user in Office 365.

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Some of the advantages of this tool are:

1. Migrates mails, documents, calendars, contacts, and more. 
2. CSV import option is available to create a mapping. 
3. Priority option is available for accounts tomigrate entire mailboxes.
4. You can Transfer existing Office 365 subscription to another tenant. 
5. Delta Migration option is available for new data in the source tenant. 
6. Data based filter option is also available. 

Steps to perform the Migration: 

1. Install and Run the automated tool.
2. Select the source and destination as Office 365. 
3. Select the items you want to migrate. 
4. You can choosethe option of date-based filtering and enable permissions for the migration process. 
5. Click on the next option. 
6. Enter the admin and application ID for the source and then validate the credentials. 
7. Now, enter the admin and application ID for the destination and then validate the credentials. 
8. After validating the information, click on the start migration option to start the process. 

Conclusion

Microsoft has gained a lot of popularity over the past years, and with this popularity, the number of queries of the users have also increased. One of the most common query is how to rename user in Office 365. In this article, we have have given the steps you can follow to change username in Office 365. We also learnt that if you are having issues with the renaming process along with other problems related to your account, then you can use an automated tool to migrate to a new account which will resolve all your problems.