Retrieve Followers or Following Users From SharePoint User Profile Using CSOM PowerShell

In this article, you will learn how to retrieve people following (followed by user) or followers information from SharePoint user profile programmatically in different ways using CSOM with PowerShell on SharePoint 2013 / SharePoint 2016 / SharePoint online.

SharePoint My Sites should be configured on the environment as a prerequisite.

Steps Involved:

The following prerequisites need to be executed before going for any operations using CSOM PowerShell on SharePoint sites.

1. Add the references using the Add-Type command with the necessary reference paths. The necessary references are Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll, Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll and UserProfile dll.
   
   1. Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"  
   2. Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"  
   3. Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.UserProfiles.dll"  
2. Initialize client context object with the site URL.
   
   1. $siteURL = ""  
   2. $ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($siteURL)  
3. If you are trying to access SharePoint Online site then you need to setup the site credentials with credentials parameter and load it to the client context. 
   
   1. #Setting Credentials for o365 - Start  
   2. $userId = ""  
   3. $pwd = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter password" -AsSecureString  
   4. $creds = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($userId, $pwd)  
   5. $ctx.credentials = $creds  
   6. #Setting Credentials for o365 - End  
4. If you are trying to access the SharePoint on premise site then the credentials parameter is not required to be set to the context but you need to run the code on the respective SharePoint Server or you need to pass the network credentials and set the context.
   
   1. #Credentials for on premise site - Start  
   2. $pwd = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter password" -AsSecureString  
   3. $creds = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential("domain\userid", $pwd)  
   4. $ctx.Credentials = $creds  
   5. #Credentials for on premise site - End  

Retrieve Current User Followers:

• Initialize the people manager object with the context to get the user profile data.
• With people manager object, use GetMyFollowers() method to retrieve current user (User running the script) followers information.
• Load the object and execute query to get the data.
• In the below code snippet, $follower will hold the basic profile information of user and $follower.UserProfileProperties will hold the entire property set of a particular user.
  
  1. # Get My Follower Profiles & Properties  
  2. function GetMyFollowers(){  
  3.      try{  
  4.         $peopleManager = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.UserProfiles.PeopleManager($ctx)  
  5.         $myFollowers = $peopleManager.GetMyFollowers()  
  6.         $ctx.Load($myFollowers)  
  7.         $ctx.ExecuteQuery()  
  8.         Write-Host "I have " $myFollowers.Count " followers"  
  9.         foreach($follower in $myFollowers){  
  10.             Write-Host "Display Name : " $follower.DisplayName  
  11.             Write-Host "Title : " $follower.Title  
  12.             $followerProfProp = $follower.UserProfileProperties  
  13.             # Other User Profile properties can be retrieved from $follower.UserProfileProperties using foreach loop  
  14.             Write-Host "Interests : " $follower.UserProfileProperties["SPS-Interests"]  
  15.         }  
  16.           
  17.     }  
  18.     catch{  
  19.         Write-Host "$($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red  
  20.     }  
  21. }  

Retrieve Current user following data:

In the above section, we have seen that how we can get current user followers. Now we will see how we can retrieve following (people followed by user) information of a user who is running the script. The steps followed are very similar to the above section. Only the method is changed to get the target user properties.

1. # Get People current user is following  
2. function GetMyFollowing(){  
3.     try{  
4.         $peopleManager = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.UserProfiles.PeopleManager($ctx)  
5.         $myfollowingUsers = $peopleManager.GetPeopleFollowedByMe()  
6.         $ctx.Load($myfollowingUsers)  
7.         $ctx.ExecuteQuery()  
8.         Write-Host "I am following " $myfollowingUsers.Count " People"  
9.         foreach($myfollowingUser in $myfollowingUsers){  
10.               
11.             Write-Host "Display Name : " $myfollowingUser.DisplayName  
12.             Write-Host "Title : " $myfollowingUser.Title  
13.  
14.             # Other User Profile properties can be retrieved from $follower.UserProfileProperties using foreach loop  
15.             Write-Host "Interests : " $myfollowingUser.UserProfileProperties["SPS-Interests"]  
16.         }  
17.     }  
18.     catch{  
19.         Write-Host "$($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red  
20.     }  
21. }   

Retrieve Followers for Target User:

In the above sections, we have seen that how we can retrieve followers or following information of user who is running the script. Now, we will see, how we can get the follower information for target users.

• Initialize the people manager object with the context to get the user profile data.
• User GetFollowersFor(user) method with user ID and people manager to retrieve followers information about target user.
• Load the object and execute query to get the data.
  
  1. # Get Followers for target user  
  2. function GetFollowers(){  
  3.     try{  
  4.         $peopleManager = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.UserProfiles.PeopleManager($ctx)  
  5.         $followers = $peopleManager.GetFollowersFor("domain\userid")  
  6.         $ctx.Load($followers)  
  7.         $ctx.ExecuteQuery()  
  8.         Write-Host "User is followed by " $followers.Count " People"  
  9.         foreach($follower in $followers){  
  10.               
  11.             Write-Host "Display Name : " $follower.DisplayName  
  12.             Write-Host "Title : " $follower.Title  
  13.  
  14.             # Other User Profile properties can be retrieved from $follower.UserProfileProperties using foreach loop  
  15.             Write-Host "Interests : " $follower.UserProfileProperties["SPS-Interests"]  
  16.         }  
  17.     }  
  18.     catch{  
  19.         Write-Host "$($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red  
  20.     }  
  21. }  

Retrieve Following User Information for Target User:

In the above section, we have seen that how we can retrieve followers information for target user. Now, we will see, how we can get the following information for target users.

• The logic is same as that of above section. But use GetPeopleFollowedBy(UserID) method to get the target user's following data (people followed by user).
  
  1. # Get People following  
  2. function GetFollowing(){  
  3.     try{  
  4.         $peopleManager = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.UserProfiles.PeopleManager($ctx)  
  5.         $followingUsers = $peopleManager.GetPeopleFollowedBy("domain\userid")   # Login id of SharePoint account       
  6.         $ctx.Load($followingUsers)  
  7.         $ctx.ExecuteQuery()  
  8.         Write-Host "User is following " $followingUsers.Count " People"  
  9.         foreach($followingUser in $followingUsers){  
  10.               
  11.             Write-Host "Display Name : " $followingUser.DisplayName  
  12.             Write-Host "Title : " $followingUser.Title  
  13.  
  14.             # Other User Profile properties can be retrieved from $follower.UserProfileProperties using foreach  
  15.             Write-Host "Interests : " $followingUser.UserProfileProperties["SPS-Interests"]  
  16.         }  
  17.     }  
  18.     catch{  
  19.         Write-Host "$($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red  
  20.     }  
  21. }   

Note - The above set of operations needs to be called to get it executed.

1. GetMyFollowers # Get my followers  
2. GetFollowers # Get Followers  
3. GetMyFollowing # Get my following  
4. GetFollowing # Get Following  

Update User Profile Properties On SharePoint Online Using CSOM PowerShell

In this article, you will learn how to update SharePoint user profile properties programmatically in different ways using CSOM with PowerShell on SharePoint online - Office 365 sites. The update property option is available only on Office 365 sites as of now and it is not available on on-premise versions.

Steps Involved:

The following prerequisites need to be executed before going for any operations using CSOM PowerShell on SharePoint sites.

1. Add the references using the Add-Type command with necessary reference paths. The necessary references are Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll, Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll and UserProfile dll. The references should be from 16 folder, since these are latest updates from Microsoft.
   
   1. Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"  
   2. Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"  
   3. Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.UserProfiles.dll"  
2. Initialize client context object with the site URL.
   
   1. $siteURL = ""  
   2. $ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($siteURL)  
3. If you are trying to access SharePoint Online site, then you need to setup the site credentials with credentials parameter and get it set to the client context. 
   
   1. #Setting Credentials for o365 - Start  
   2. $userId = ""  
   3. $pwd = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter password" -AsSecureString  
   4. $creds = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($userId, $pwd)  
   5. $ctx.credentials = $creds  
   6. #Setting Credentials for o365 - End  
4. There are multiple ways of updating the properties of SharePoint user profile. There will be properties with just a value or line of text and properties with collection of values. Two different methods are used to update those properties. Following tells us with examples. 
• Single Value properties - WorkPhone, Mobile, FirstName, LastName, etc. 
• Multi Valued properties - Ask Me About, Skills, Interests, etc. 

Update Single Value Properties:

• Initialize the people manager object with the context to get the user profile data.
• Using SetSingleValueProfileProperty method set the property for any target user.
• Load the object and execute query to get the data.
  
  1. # Update User Profile property (office 365)  
  2. function SetSingleValueProperty(){  
  3.     try{  
  4.         $peopleManager = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.UserProfiles.PeopleManager($ctx)                  
  5.         $peopleManager.SetSingleValueProfileProperty("i:0#.f|membership|abc@abc.onmicrosoft.com", "AboutMe", "Your description")  
  6.         $ctx.Load($peopleManager)  
  7.         $ctx.ExecuteQuery()  
  8.         Write-Host "Property updated"  
  9.     }  
  10.     catch{  
  11.         Write-Host "$($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red  
  12.     }  
  13. }  

You can update as many properties as possible. 

1. $peopleManager = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.UserProfiles.PeopleManager($ctx)                  
2. $peopleManager.SetSingleValueProfileProperty("i:0#.f|membership|abc@abc.onmicrosoft.com", "AboutMe", "Your description")  
3. $peopleManager.SetSingleValueProfileProperty("i:0#.f|membership|abc@abc.onmicrosoft.com", "SPS-Location", "Bangalore")  
4. $ctx.Load($peopleManager)  
5. $ctx.ExecuteQuery()  
6. Write-Host "Properties updated"   

Update Multi Valued Properties:

In the above section, we have seen how we can set the single value profile properties for target user. Now we will see how we can set user profile multi valued properties for target user.

• Initialize the people manager object with the context to get the user profile data.
• Then initialize the list collection object and set the values in the collection variable.
• Using SetMultiValuedProfileProperty method, set the multi valued property for any target user. (Here updated ask me about - Responsibility field).
• Load the object and execute query to get the data.
  
  1. # Update User Profile Multi Valued properties (office 365)  
  2. function SetMultiValuedProperty(){  
  3.     try{  
  4.         $peopleManager = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.UserProfiles.PeopleManager($ctx)                  
  5.         $propertyValues =New-Object "System.Collections.Generic.List``1[System.string]"  
  6.         # My responsibilities  
  7.         $propertyValues.Add("SharePoint")  
  8.         $propertyValues.Add("Project1")          
  9.         $propertyValues.Add("Project2")          
  10.         #update value  
  11.         $peopleManager.SetMultiValuedProfileProperty("i:0#.f|membership|abc@abc.onmicrosoft.com", "SPS-Responsibility", $propertyValues)  
  12.         $ctx.Load($peopleManager)  
  13.         $ctx.ExecuteQuery()  
  14.     }  
  15.     catch{  
  16.         Write-Host "$($_.Exception.Message)" -foregroundcolor Red  
  17.     }  
  18. }  

The above operation will override (set) the existing property values. If you want to update the existing property values, you need to retrieve the existing value using get operation and then set the properties along with new values.

Note: The above set of operations needs to be called to get it executed.

1. SetSingleValueProperty # Update User Profile properties (office 365)  
2. SetMultiValuedProperty # Update User Profile Multi Valued properties (office 365)