3 Ways to Update Users in Microsoft Teams

Managing users in Microsoft Teams often spans more than one place. You might need to change profile details, assign policies, or adjust access without disrupting active work.

This guide shows three practical routes: the Teams admin center for Teams-specific settings, the Microsoft 365 admin center for core user info and licenses, and PowerShell for scale and automation. We’ll outline when to use each, required permissions, and guardrails.

Table of Contents

• Use Microsoft Teams's UI
• Use Torii
• Use Microsoft Teams's API

Use Microsoft Teams’s UI

Here, you’ll use the Microsoft Teams app to update a user’s role and membership inside a specific team. These steps follow Microsoft’s own UI guidance like “Change a team member’s role in Teams” and “Add or remove members of a team.”

Open the team’s Manage team page

• In the Teams desktop or web app, go to Teams on the left.
• Find the team name, select More options (three dots), then choose Manage team.

Change the user’s role (owner or member)

• In Manage team, stay on the Members tab.
• Find the person you want to update. In the Role column, use the dropdown to switch between Owner and Member.
• Owners can manage settings and membership. Members can collaborate but cannot change team-wide settings.
• Microsoft documents this under “Change a team member’s role in Teams.”

Add the user if they’re missing

• In Manage team, select Add member.
• Search by name or email, select the person, then choose Add.
• Set their role to Member or Owner as needed, then Close.
• Microsoft covers this under “Add or remove members of a team.”

Remove the user from the team (if needed)

• On the Members tab, select Remove (the X) next to the person’s name.
• Confirm. They lose access to channels and future messages in this team. Files remain in the team’s SharePoint site for others.
• This is also in “Add or remove members of a team.”

Update their access to private or shared channels

• In Manage team, open the Channels tab.
• For a private or shared channel, select Manage.
• Go to the Members list:
  • To add: select Add, pick the user, and confirm.
  • To remove: select Remove next to their name.
  • To change role: use the dropdown next to their name.
  • Microsoft explains this in “Private channels in Teams” and “Shared channels in Teams.”

Assign tags to the user for easier mentions

• From the team name, select More options, then Manage tags.
• Create a tag or open an existing one. Add the user to the tag so you can @mention the whole group later.
• Microsoft’s “Use tags in Teams” covers how tags work.

Save and confirm changes

• Most changes apply right away. There’s no Save button.
• Ask the user to check the team again. If updates do not show, have them refresh the app or sign out and back in.

Quick checks if you don’t see these options

• You must be a team owner to change roles or remove members in that team.
• Private and shared channels have their own membership. Channel owners control those.
• Guest accounts can be added and removed from teams, but some settings are limited by the team’s owners.

Use Torii

Instead of going into Microsoft Teams to make changes, you can leverage Torii, a SaaS Management Platform, to update user in Microsoft Teams. SMPs let you centrally manage SaaS apps and integrations, making it simple to programmatically on/offboard users, view subscription details, and more-all from one place.

Compared to doing it manually in Microsoft Teams, Torii allows you to automate the task so it runs whenever a trigger is met. Triggers might include a new employee joining, someone leaving, or a contract renewal. If this action recurs often, automation can save significant time.

To update user in Microsoft Teams directly through Torii, follow these steps:

1. Sign up for Torii

Contact Torii, and request a complimentary two-week proof-of-concept.

2. Connect your Microsoft Teams account to Torii

Once your account is active, connect Microsoft Teams to Torii (assuming you already have an account). Here are the instructions for the Microsoft Teams integration.

3. Create a Torii workflow for Microsoft Teams

Within Torii, create an automated workflow to update user in Microsoft Teams. Go to the Workflows tab, define a trigger, and then add an action that updates user in Microsoft Teams. From then on, whenever the trigger criteria are met, Microsoft Teams will be updated automatically.

Use Microsoft Teams’s API

Here, you’ll use Microsoft Graph endpoints that power Microsoft Teams to update a user’s profile and, if needed, their role in a specific team. No UI, just REST calls.

1. Get an access token for Microsoft Graph

You need a bearer token with the right permissions.

Pick the permissions you need:

• To update a user profile:
  • Delegated: User.ReadWrite or User.ReadWrite.All or Directory.AccessAsUser.All
  • Application: User.ReadWrite.All or Directory.ReadWrite.All
• To change a user’s role in a team:
  • Delegated: Group.ReadWrite.All or TeamMember.ReadWrite.All
  • Application: TeamMember.ReadWrite.All

Example client credentials token request is:

curl -X POST https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant-id}/oauth2/v2.0/token \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
-D "client_id={client-id}&client_secret={client-secret}&grant_type=client_credentials&scope=https%3A%2F%2Fgraph.microsoft.com%2F.default"

Save the access_token from the response. You will pass it as an Authorization header.

2. Update the user’s profile with Microsoft Graph

Use PATCH /v1.0/users/{id or UPN}. Only certain fields are writable. Common ones include displayName, givenName, surname, jobTitle, mobilePhone, officeLocation, preferredLanguage, and usageLocation. Some changes need admin consent and the right app type.

Example request body is:

{
    "displayName": "Alex Parker",
    "jobTitle": "Product Manager",
    "mobilePhone": "+1 425 555 0100",
    "officeLocation": "Building 3/2105",
    "preferredLanguage": "en-US"
}

Example curl is:

curl -X PATCH https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/{user-id-or-upn} \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-D '{
    "displayName": "Alex Parker",
    "jobTitle": "Product Manager",
    "mobilePhone": "+1 425 555 0100",
    "officeLocation": "Building 3/2105",
    "preferredLanguage": "en-US"
}'

You should get HTTP 204 No Content on success.

3. Change the user’s role in a specific team

Teams membership lives under the team’s members collection. You first get the membership id for the user, then PATCH the roles array.

Get the team member’s membership id:

curl -X GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/{team-id}/members \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Find the object where userId matches your user’s AAD id. Copy its id value. That is the membership id.

• Update roles:
  • To make the user an owner: roles = [“owner”]
  • To make the user a member: roles = []

Example curl is:

curl -X PATCH https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/{team-id}/members/{membership-id} \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ "roles": ["owner"] }'

A successful update returns HTTP 204 No Content.

4. Verify the changes

Check the user profile fields you changed:

curl -X GET "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/{user-id-or-upn}?$select=displayName,jobTitle,mobilePhone,officeLocation,preferredLanguage" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

Confirm the team role:

curl -X GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/teams/{team-id}/members \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

5. Troubleshooting quick hits

• 403 Forbidden:
  • The token is missing required permissions or admin consent. Check your permission set against the operations you’re calling.
• 404 Not Found:
  • The user id, UPN, team id, or membership id is wrong or out of scope for the token.
• 400 Bad Request:
  • You tried to change a read-only field, sent a bad value, or the tenant policy blocks that edit.
• Consistency:
  • Updates can take a short time to show everywhere in Teams. Read after write with a small delay if needed.