General Information About Pronouns in Microsoft 365 (Spartan 365)

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Pronouns on Your Profile in Microsoft 365
End User Experience
Implementation Limitations
Helpful Links and FAQ

Pronouns on Your Profile in Microsoft 365

In a hybrid multicultural workplace, the simple act of using the right pronouns for one another can help build trust and improve communication among colleagues.

Whether or not to share or publicly display pronouns is always up to an individual. Pronouns should never be assigned to one person by another person. It should be up to the person using them to decide when, where, and which pronouns are used – including whether to use this feature. Knowing someone’s pronouns does not always equate to knowing their gender identity. Importantly, choosing to leverage the pronouns feature as an individual user should be optional, not mandatory.

It is important to consider that for transgender and non-binary people, covering demands in the workplace, at school, or in other contexts, may make it more comfortable not to share their pronouns. Please be aware of any applicable local laws, regulations, or cultural norms that may pose additional risks to transgender or non-binary people as you consider whether to leverage the pronouns feature.

End User Experience

Enabling pronouns in an organization facilitates associating users with their preferred pronouns within the organization. This includes the following end user experiences:

When pronouns are enabled, a user can optionally add and manage pronouns in the profile card in Outlook on the web and Teams.
Pronouns appear by the user's name on the profile card in Outlook and Teams.
Pronouns are displayed only internally within the organization.
Anyone that has an account in the organization, including guest accounts, can see pronouns on profile cards.

The end user experience with pronouns might evolve over time. For current information about the end user experience with pronouns, see Pronouns in Microsoft 365 (link).

Pronouns are stored with other data in the user's Exchange mailbox.

Implementation Limitations

When you turn the pronouns feature on or off, it can take up to seven hours for users to see changes. For example, if you turn on the pronouns feature, users can't see the option to add pronouns on their profile for up to seven hours. If you turn off the pronouns feature, any previously set pronouns might stay visible in Microsoft 365 (for example, on profiles) for up to seven hours.

When you turn the pronouns feature off, all the pronouns data created by users is deleted. The data deletion process could take up to 30 days to complete. If you turn the pronouns feature back on within that period, any hidden pronouns that haven't yet been deleted from Microsoft servers become visible in Microsoft 365 experiences, such as profiles.

After a user adds pronouns to their profile, the pronouns are visible to everyone in your organization. Users can't control who can see their pronouns in Microsoft 365 in your organization. However, pronouns aren't visible to people outside the organization.