Show User Images from Active Directory thumbnailphoto to SharePoint, Outlook & Lync

Many a times it is required to sync user images from one central source. In a corporate Active Directory is the best source to keep all user images also along with his credentials and other properties.

thumbnailphoto attribute is where normally we put the binary data of images.

Now the first challenge is how to update images in this attribute manually for so many users. This problem is solved by a free tool called as

CodeTwo Active Directory Photos

You can download this tool from

http://www.codetwo.com/freeware/active-directory-photos-thanks

Necessary documentation for this tool can be found with the installer. its very simple to use and can update bulk images stored in a folder.

Now once you have uploaded all the images in this attribute, Outlook and Lync will automatically start showing you the user images in some time.

Now another challenge is how to make these pictures sync with SharePoint Intranet portals.

For that we need to do following steps

STEP 1 : Check if Forefront Identity Manager Service is up and running

STEP 2 : Map thumbnailphoto attribute with picture user profile property


STEP 3 : Now run full crawl

STEP 4 : Once full crawl is done then run this command in SharePoint 2013 management shell as administrator 

Update-SPProfilePhotoStore -MySiteHostLocation <http://mysites address>


Wait for couple of minutes and check your SharePoint Site