Exchange 2013 on-premises doesn't see Exchange Online profile pictures

Hello!

We are on an hybrid deployment with some users on Exchange 2013 on-premises and others on Exchange Online (Office 365 E3 plan). We have enabled photo sync (PhotosEnabled attribute) in the organization relationship, both on-premises and online, but while Exchange Online users can see all profile pictures, Exchange on-premises can see only on-premises pictures.

It also looks like that online users can see only a low resolution version of on-premises users' pictures.

Do you have any idea how to troubleshoot or fix this, please?

Thanks!
January 19th, 2015 12:44pm

Hi,

Please double confirm whether the Exchange 2013 users can view the Photo of Exchange Online users in OWA or not.

Generally in Office 365, user photos are stored in the following locations:

  • A low-resolution photo (less than 100 KB) is stored in the users ThumbnailPhoto attribute in Active Directory.
  • A higher-resolution photo is stored in the root directory of the users Exchange Online mailbox.

The ThumbnailPhoto attribute is used in Lync 2010 and for external contacts. High-resolution photos are displayed in Exchange Online, Lync 2013, and Lync Web App. 

If the Exchange Online user photo cant be view in OWA 2013, please check the ThumbnailPhoto attribute for this Exchange Online users in AD. Additionally, hope the following KB can be helpful to you:

http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/2973171/en-us

Re

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January 20th, 2015 8:35am

Hi Winnie,

thanks for the reply.
Yes, I confirm that online users can see the photo both in OWA and in Outlook for both online adn pn-premises users, while on-premises (Exchange 2013) users can only see on-premises users' photos.
Online users must be seeing hi-res photos for online users and low-res photos for on-premises users, so I assume Exchange 2013 online saves a low-res image in AD thumbnailPhoto which is then synced with the online environment via DirSync, but Exchange Online doesn't copy his his-res photo to online AD. This would explain why on-premises users cannot see online photos, but vice versa works.

Can you please confirm? If this would be true, then it would be quite an annoying glitch in hybrid deployment.

January 20th, 2015 10:50am

Hello. Do you have any update on this issue Winnie, please? Thanks.
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January 23rd, 2015 5:05pm


... but Exchange Online doesn't copy his his-res photo to online AD. This would explain why on-premises users cannot see online photos, but vice versa works...

Hi,

Generally, if you upload a hi-res photo in Exchange Online,  Exchange will automatically create a 48 pixel by 48 pixel version of that photo and update the user's thumbnailPhoto attribute. Note, however, that the reverse is not true: if you manually update the thumbnailPhoto attribute in Active Directory, the photo in the user's Exchange 2013 mailbox will not automatically be updated.

Therefore, the user photo would be read by the following method in order:

1. The higher-resolution photo which is cached to 648 pixels by 648 pixels in Exchange Online\2013 used for Lync 2013.

2. The higher-resolution photo which is cached to 96 pixels by 96 pixels in Exchange Online\2013 used for OWA, Outlook and Lync 2013.

3. The low-resolution photo which is stored in the users ThumbnailPhoto attribute in Active Directory.

In your scenario, please upload a higher-resolution photo in OWA (Settings > Options > account > Edit information > photo > change) for a test Exchange Online user, wait for the photo updates in Exchange and AD. Then check whether this photo can be viewed by other Exchange Online users and Exchange 2013 users.

Regards,


January 26th, 2015 6:09am

Hi Winnie,

thanks for the reply. I have some users with mailbox online who have upload their high resolution picture via OWA and now all other users with mailbox online can see their picture, but users with mailbox on-premises cannot. However, online users can see thumbnailPicture of on-premises users.

Making a recap, talking about profile pictures:
- Online users can see all online users (high-res)
- Online users can see all on-premises users (low-res)
- On-premises users can see all on-premises users (high-res)
- On-premises users cannot see online users

Thanks,
Luca

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January 26th, 2015 11:26am

Hello,

if synching is not possible, how can a on-premises user add his Lync high definition picture online please? Low-def pictures are really bad to see during a Lync call :)

Thanks,
Luca

February 4th, 2015 6:05pm

Hello,

if synching is not possible, how can a on-premises user add his Lync high definition picture online please? Low-def pictures are really bad to see during a Lync call :)

Thanks,
Luca

Hi Luca,

Sorry for my delay.

The on-premises user can add high-resolution photos for Lync user by either of the following methods:

1. Use the Set-UserPhoto cmdlet to configure the user photos feature that allows users to associate a picture with their account.

2. Import high-resolution photos from OWA 2013:

a. Logon Outlook Web App in Exchange 2013.
b. Click Settings > Options > account.
c. In my account page, click Edit information.
d. In account information page, click photo option, click change to upload image.

Then the photo would be updated in AD and GAL. For more information about high-resolution photos in Microsoft Lync Server 2013 and OWA 2013, please refer to:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj688150.aspx

Regards,

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February 8th, 2015 9:13pm

Hi Winnie,

what you wrote is what I did, but the problem is that a user whose mailbox is on-premises cannot upload a high-definition profile picture to be shown in Lync Online because he doesn't have any online mailbox.
Therefore, if he access OWA, he goes to on-premises OWA. If ad admin asks for a Get-UserPhoto online (because Lync is online, not on-premises), he's told no mailbox is available for that user (because his mailbox is on-premises).

All this causes that Lync users with online mailbox can only see a very, very bad 96x96 pixels profile picture for users whose mailbox is on-premises. I think this is a thing that should be fixed to have a good user experience with Lync Online in a hybrid deployment.

Thanks,
Luca

February 9th, 2015 9:16am

Hi

have you checked in ADSI Edit that online users has thumbnail attribute?

Does precense/status work?

How long has it been since photo upload?

GAL is updated during the night,and there is no option to manually update Online GAL.So it could be delay?

Please also run this command to check (on prem and Online powershell):

Get-owamailboxpolicy | fl SetPhotoEnabled

See if its enabled or disabled.

If Exchange Online user upload picture via OWA,this wont be synced to local AD account,so means On prem users wont see the picture.Reason for this is because Exchange Online doesnt have write permission to local AD.Therefor uploading picture should be done from local AD.

What tools do you use for picture upload?

Best practise here is to disable user the option to change picture in OWA,

Does this happen to all domains or just

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February 9th, 2015 9:31am

Thanks Off2work.

SetPhotoEnabled is enabled on both sides. Presence/status works properly. ThumbnailPicture attribute is enabled in the user.
I confirm that on-premises users cannot see profile picture for online users, while online users can see a low-definition version of on-premises users' profile pictures.

I try uploading a picture via OWA and via powershell, but all I was able to do with on-premises users is having a high-def picture for other on-premises users, and a low-def, AD imported picture for online. I'd like to be able to find a way, if exists, to upload high-def images online for on-premises users.

February 9th, 2015 11:59am

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