Office 365: import users with csv and powershell file

In this article, I’ll walk you through how to bulk import users into Office 365 with the use of PowerShell and the use of a csv file.

In certain cases, it is not possible to do an Active Directory directory synchronization (refusal of the client, no AD …).

Adding a large number of accounts (for my part 10) quickly becomes long and tedious.

Creation of the import file in csv

The first step is to create a file with the users. There is no “type” file.

Only two fields are required:

• UserPrincipalName : corresponds to the email address, it must be formatted as follows: alias@domain.tld
• DisplayName : corresponds to the display name of the email address, generally consisting of the person’s First and Last Name.

Most used optional fields:

• Password : allows to define the password, during the first connection the user will be invited to change it.
• FirstName : first name
• LastName : name
• City
• Department : corresponds to the service
• UsageLocation : allows you to define the country of the account and whether or not a certain service is activated.

The separator to use is the comma (,).

I advise you to edit your file with NotePad ++.

The first line of your file will contain the headers, ie the name of the fields.

UserPrincipalName,FirstName,LastName,DisplayName,UsageLocation,City,Password,Department

Then you will add your users (1 per line)

helene.detroie@rdr-it.com,Helene,DETROIE,Helene DETROIE,FR,TROIE,Password.123,Communication
jean.bon@rdr-it.com,Jean,BON,Jean BON,FR,AOSTE,Password.123,Comptabilite

Save your file. Now that it is ready we are going to import.

Import in PowerShell

Prerequisites

Pour pouvoir vous connectez en PowerShell à l’interface Office 365, vous devez avoir installer Cmdlet MSOnline d’installer

Install MSOnline Cmdlets

Start PowerShell as administrator and enter the following command:

Install-Module -Name MSOnline

At the security warning validate the installation of the module.

Import

1. Open the PowerShell command prompt and enter the following command to initiate the connection.

Connect-MsolService

2. A login window should open, enter the information for the Office 365 tenant administrator account.

3. Start the import by entering the following command:

Import-Csv -Path C:\rdrit\users.csv | foreach {New-MsolUser -DisplayName $_.DisplayName -FirstName $_.FirstName -LastName $_.LastName -UserPrincipalName $_.UserPrincipalName -UsageLocation $_.UsageLocation -Password $_.Password -City $_.City -Department $_.Department} | Export-Csv -Path C:\rdrit\result.csv

Replace C: \ rdrit \ users.csv with the location of your file to import.
Replace C: \ rdrit \ result.csv with the location of your choice to save the result file.

The following command will import your users and save a result file with a summary per user.

4. You can check the result by entering the following command:

Get-MsolUser

You should have the list of users.