Attributes manager & My user info

The Attributes manager app gives you complete control of your users' details stored in CodeTwo Azure AD cache and added to email signatures and auto replies. You can bulk edit all user attributes, add custom attributes (not available in Azure AD) and decide which attributes can be edited by end users themselves (by using the My user info app).

The changes you or end users make do not impact your original Azure AD data - attributes are updated in the CodeTwo cache only (and, consequently, in users' email signatures and automatic replies only).

Use a link below to learn more about a particular topic:

• Examples of use
• How to start
• Attributes manager: manage attribute visibility for end users
• My user info: how end users can manage their personal information
• Add custom attributes
• Bulk manage attributes
  • Restore default Azure AD attribute values
• Frequently asked questions

Examples of use

Attribute management gives admins and end users a wide range of possibilities. See our list of Examples of use articles.

How to start?

If you own an active subscription of CodeTwo Email Signatures 365, you can use the Attributes manager and My user info apps for free.

• Admins can use Attributes manager to manage attributes after signing in to attributes.codetwo.com with Microsoft 365 global admin credentials.
• End users can edit their personal information using the My user info app at user.codetwo.com (they also need to sign in with their Microsoft 365 account).

You can access both apps quickly from CodeTwo Admin Panel by using the Apps menu (), as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. App launcher in CodeTwo Admin Panel.

Watch this short video to see how admins and end users can edit their attributes:

Attributes manager: manage attribute visibility (admins)

The Attribute visibility tab (at attributes.codetwo.com) is where you can select attributes whose values your end users can edit (at user.codetwo.com).

To let your end users edit the value of a particular attribute, select the Editable checkbox next to it. Selecting Visible only will make an attribute visible but non-editable (grayed out) for your users. When you're done, click Save for the changes to take effect (Fig. 2.).

Fig. 2. Choosing attributes whose values can be edited or viewed by your end users.

My user info: how end users can manage their personal information

Now, when an end user signs in on the My user info app (user.codetwo.com), they can see and modify their attributes except the attributes that are grayed out (Fig. 3.). End users can also restore the default value (the value set in your tenant's Azure AD) of each editable attribute by clicking the Restore icon next to it (Fig. 3.). The changes usually take effect immediately (new values are shown in email signatures), but in rare cases it may take some time for everything to propagate correctly (from several minutes to several hours).

Fig. 3. End users can edit all the attributes that are not grayed out.

Users can also remove attribute values to remove them from their email signatures, add out-of-office information, and more. See our examples of use.

Add custom attributes

The Attribute visibility tab also lets you create your own custom attributes to use them in email signature and autoreplies.

To create a new custom attribute, first click the Add button in the CodeTwo custom attributes section. In the window that opens, type the name of your attribute and click ADD. To apply the change, click Save (Fig. 4.).

Fig. 4. Adding a new custom attribute.

By default, the newly created attribute becomes available:

• for end users to edit at user.codetwo.com;
• in the signature management app, where you can use it to build rule conditions based on the Azure AD filter option;
• in the signature/autoresponder editor, where it can be added to signature and auto-reply templates as a placeholder (under Placeholder > Sender > Additional attributes); and
• in the Conditional placeholders manager, where you can use it to build conditions for conditional placeholders. 

To delete a custom attribute, click the Delete (trashcan) icon next to it, as shown in Fig. 5. Confirm the action and click Save to apply your change.

Fig. 5. Deleting a custom attribute.

Import/Export attributes (bulk management)

On the Import/Export tab, you can bulk manage & change attribute values for multiple users (including shared mailboxes). See the guidelines below or watch our short video to learn how to do so.

To bulk edit Azure AD attributes stored in CodeTwo Azure AD cache, first click the Export to CSV button, download the CSV file and open it.

The CSV file includes a list of end users and the attributes they changed. Empty cells mean the values have not been changed and are the same as in your Azure Active Directory (Fig. 6.).

Fig. 6. CSV file with a list of users and modified attributes.

If you want to change the attributes for users listed in the file, just edit any value and type anything you want.

• Clear values (cells) and leave them blank to restore the original values for these users from your tenant’s Azure Active Directory.
• Type #empty# as the cell value if you want this field to have no value (and stay empty).

If you want to change attributes for other users, just add them in new rows. Make sure you use the correct UPN address of each user.

For a sample updated CSV file, see Fig. 7. below. 

Fig. 7. The updated CSV file.

When you're done, save the file, click the Import from CSV button and choose an option that suits you (Fig. 8.):

• Selective import updates the attributes of users who are found in the CSV file and leaves the attributes of other users unchanged.
• Import & overwrite updates the attributes of users who are found in the CSV file and restores all original AAD attribute values for users who are not found in the CSV.

Fig. 8. Choosing how to import bulk edited attributes into CodeTwo Azure AD cache.

Click IMPORT to finish. Usually, users' details will be updated in a few minutes. In very rare cases, the process may take up to several hours.

How to restore the original Azure Active Directory attribute values for all users?

If you want to restore all original values (i.e. values from your organization's Azure Active Directory) to CodeTwo Azure AD cache, clear all the values (cells) in the CSV file except the first row with attribute names. Then import the file to the CodeTwo cache by clicking Import from CSV and selecting the Import & overwrite option. From now on, your organization's email signatures will include the same attributes that are present in your tenant's Azure Active Directory.

To restore an original value from your Azure AD, simply clear an appropriate cell in the CSV file.

FAQ

1. Microsoft Excel incorrectly displays my data exported into the CSV file (e.g. all data is in one column). How can I fix it?

This problem is most likely related to an incorrect character used to separate values in a CSV file which is set according to your locale settings. Instead of changing the locale settings (not recommended), you can try to open the exported CSV file using the following alternative method:

1. Launch Microsoft Excel and choose Blank workbook.
2. Go to the Data tab on the ribbon, and click From Text/CSV (Fig. 9.).

Fig. 9. The alternative method to open a CSV file in Microsoft Excel.

3. Navigate to your CSV file exported from the Attributes manager and click Import.
4. From the Delimiter drop down list, select Semicolon. Use the preview to make sure that the values are now displayed correctly in separate columns. Finally, click the Load button (Fig. 10.). 

Fig. 10. Setting semicolon as the correct delimiter character for the CSV file.

5. Now, the file should open correctly. Microsoft Excel may add certain color formatting, but it does not impact the data whatsoever.
6. Finally, once you update the file, remember to save it as CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited). If you leave the default Excel format (xlsx), you won't be able to import your updated CSV file back to the Attributes manager.

2. Data import from the CSV file fails. Why?

To successfully import attributes from CSV, the file must include the UPN column. If the column doesn't exist, the import will fail.

The import will be also unsuccessful if you make the file unreadable for our software by heavily tampering with its contents.

3. What happens if I add/remove columns in the CSV file and then attempt to import it?

If you remove a column (e.g. City) from the CSV file, the remaining attributes will be imported as usual and the values from the deleted column will be restored to the defaults from your tenant's Azure Active Directory.

If you add a column (e.g. Alternative city) to the CSV file, it will not affect the import process in any way (no data will be imported from the new column nor there'll be import errors). 

4. How to restore the original Azure Active Directory attribute values for selected users only?

To restore the original values from your tenant's Azure Active Directory for specific users, leave only their UPNs in the UPN column of the CSV file and clear the remaining values in the rows that correspond to these users. Then import the file to CodeTwo by clicking Import from CSV and choosing the Selective import option.

5. What happens if I make any changes in my Azure AD data? Will this update the attributes in the CodeTwo cache?

Once the value of an attribute is modified at attributes.codetwo.com or user.codetwo.com, it will not be changed (updated) by any subsequent changes in your tenant's Azure AD (or local AD for hybrid environments syncing via Azure AD Connect). If you want to restore the original attribute values from your AAD, see instructions in this section.

6. Does the Attributes manager work with shared mailboxes?

Yes. Follow the steps described in this section to learn how to import a CSV file that is used to bulk edit attribute values. Be sure to provide an email address of your shared mailbox(es) in the UPN column of the CSV file.

Moreover, by using the Attributes manager, you can set values to attributes such as First name or Last name for shared mailboxes. This feature is especially helpful if you use the same signature templates across your organization and don’t want the signatures added to emails sent from shared mailboxes to be missing any information.