How to sync Microsoft 365 contacts in 8x8 Work for Microsoft Teams

Overview

8x8 Work for Microsoft Teams can sync your personal Microsoft 365 contacts so contact names appear across SMS, voicemail, and call recordings instead of raw phone numbers. Your 8x8 administrator makes the sync available in 8x8 Admin Console and grants the required Microsoft 365 permission, and you then enable the sync for your own account in Preferences & Help.

Applies to

• 8x8 Work for Microsoft Teams on Desktop, Web and Mobile version 8.34 and later

• 8x8 Admin Console, Work Apps Settings

• Roles: 8x8 administrator and end user

• A Microsoft 365 account with personal contacts

Before you begin

• An administrator role in 8x8 Admin Console is required for the administrator steps.

• A Microsoft 365 administrator must grant consent for the Contacts.Read Microsoft Graph delegated permission for the 8x8 application in Microsoft Entra. Without this permission, no contacts are imported.

• Enable Contacts management in the MS Teams 8x8 Work app must be enabled in 8x8 Admin Console > Work Apps Settings.

• Users must be signed in to 8x8 Work for Microsoft Teams with the Microsoft 365 account that holds the contacts.

Note: The sync uses Microsoft Graph delegated permissions only. Contacts.Read is the one permission that reaches contact data, and it is read-only, so 8x8 cannot create, edit, or delete contacts in Microsoft 365. The remaining permissions (User.Read, profile, email, and offline_access) are standard sign-in permissions and do not grant access to contact data. If Contacts.Read consent is not granted, the sync toggle has no effect and contacts do not appear.

Steps

Grant the Microsoft 365 permission

1. Sign in to Microsoft Entra as a Microsoft 365 administrator.

2. Open the 8x8 application registration.

3. Grant admin consent for the Contacts.Read delegated permission.

4. Confirm that User.Read, profile, email, and offline_access are also consented. These permissions enable sign-in.

Make contacts sync available to users

1. Sign in to 8x8 Admin Console as an administrator.

2. Go to Work Apps Settings > Contacts.

3. Enable Enable Contacts management in the MS Teams 8x8 Work app.

4. Save your changes. Users can now see the Sync personal contacts from Microsoft 365 toggle in 8x8 Work for Microsoft Teams and enable it themselves.

Set the sync default for a group of users, or lock it

The Microsoft 365 sync toggle is visible to all users in the 8x8 for Microsoft Teams plugin who hav the Contacts tab enabled. Use this setting to control which of them can enable it and import their contacts.

1. In 8x8 Admin Console, go to Work Apps Settings > Contacts.

2. Select the profile policy you want to apply the setting to, or select All Profile Policies.

3. Enable Sync Personal Contacts from M365 in the MS Teams 8x8 Work app to enable the sync for all users in that profile policy. The user toggle is on by default for those users.

4. To prevent users from importing contacts, disable the setting and lock it. On the user side, the import toggle appears greyed out and users cannot import their contacts. Save your changes.

   

   

The table below shows what users see for each combination.

Allow users to create contacts in 8x8

When a user imports contacts from Microsoft 365, the option to create personal contacts inside the 8x8 plugin is disabled by default, so Microsoft 365 remains the only source of truth for that user's contacts. A separate setting re-enables contact creation in 8x8.

Note: This setting applies only to users who have Microsoft 365 sync enabled. Enabling it means a user's personal contacts can come from both Microsoft 365 and 8x8.

1. In 8x8 Admin Console, go to Work Apps Settings > Contacts.

2. Enable Allow users to create contacts in 8x8 Work for MS Teams when M365 sync is enabled.

3. Save your changes. Users with Microsoft 365 sync enabled now see an Add a new contact to 8x8 button on the My Contacts tab.

Enable the sync for your own account

1. Open 8x8 Work for Microsoft Teams.

2. Click Preferences & Help.

3. Under Microsoft 365, enable Sync personal contacts from Microsoft 365. Your contacts begin importing.

4. Click Contacts > My Contacts to view the imported contacts. Synced contacts show a Microsoft icon on the avatar.

5. Click Refresh contacts to import your latest changes from Microsoft 365 without waiting for the automatic refresh.

Expected result

Your 500 most recently created or updated Microsoft 365 personal contacts appear on the My Contacts tab with a Microsoft icon. 8x8 Work for Microsoft Teams matches these contacts against phone numbers, so contact names appear in SMS threads, voicemails, and call recordings instead of numbers. You can disable the sync at any time unless your administrator has locked the setting.

Additional information

• The sync imports your 500 most recently created or updated personal contacts. The limit is cumulative, so contacts outside that set are not imported.

• Only your own personal contacts in your Microsoft 365 account are imported. The sync does not reach other users' contacts, shared mailboxes, or the organizational directory.

• Contacts refresh automatically the next time you open the 8x8 plugin. A manual Refresh contacts option is also available.