This release focuses on making the People web part simpler to configure and more predictable in how it behaves. We’ve reduced fragmentation across panels and brought key decisions into a single place — Field Layout & Sort — so editors can define how data works once and rely on it across layouts, filters, categories, and actions. The result is a more consistent setup experience, regardless of whether you’re working with Entra ID, SharePoint lists, or manually selected users.

In practice, this means less trial and error during configuration. Fields are easier to understand, dependencies are clearer, and updates — like new list columns or mapped attributes — are reflected more reliably in the experience. Enabling actions, or configuring filters can now be completed faster, with fewer surprises between what is configured and what end users see.

People Web Part (v.3.1.2.34)

Category-based visual organization is more aligned with mapped people data

The People web part now supports category color customization based on mapped fields, helping editors visually organize people information in a way that is more consistent with how other modern web parts handle category settings.

Add to SharePoint List - Unified and Consistent Flow

Users using “SharePoint list” as data source, can now add and manage people through the same modern interface used across other web parts. A new “add/edit” panel was added grouping user metadata into media, content, links & actions, and dates. This enables users with edit permissions to the site to edit the information displayed without leaving context.

New “Is agent (yes/no)” filter when data source is “Entra ID”

When using Entra ID as a data source, editors can now filter users based on the “Is agent” attribute, allowing them to include, exclude, or display only users marked as agents. This filter reflects the same attribute available in the Microsoft Entra ID directory, ensuring the People web part supports scenarios where agents need to be identified or separated from other users.

Text color now configurable

Editors can now define the text color used in the People web part instead of being limited to the default color applied by the component. This provides greater flexibility when customizing layouts, making it easier to align the web part with site branding, contrast requirements, or specific visual styles, and allowing for a more tailored and consistent user experience.

Teams Chat Action Toggle

A new action allows authors to enable or disable the ability for users to start a Teams chat from a person card, providing more control over available interactions.

SharePoint list add/edit is smoother for editors working with custom fields

When editors add new columns directly to the SharePoint list, those fields now become available more quickly in the configuration experience. This makes it easier to map, search, filter, and use newly added columns without waiting or manually refreshing as often.

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Default Data Source — Entra ID as Primary Connection

The web part now connects to Entra ID by default, replacing the previous default of Users and Groups. This aligns the People web part with modern identity-based scenarios and simplifies initial configuration.

Data Source Configuration — Standardized Controls and Clearer Structure

All data sources now use a unified “Configure data source” entry point with consistent UI patterns. Additional improvements include:

Entra ID Filters — Clearer Naming and Expanded Options

Filter configuration for Entra ID has been improved:

Refresh & Cache Handling — Simplified Controls

The previous “Force cache rebuild” option, which was available under “Configure entra ID” has been moved to the web part top right corner, as an option under the“Refresh” icon labeled “Hard refresh”.
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Centralized Field Mapping and Mapping-Driven Layout configuration

Field mapping has been removed from data source configuration and is now fully centralized in the “Field Layout & Sort” panel.

Key benefits:

This update also ensures that existing configurations are preserved when moving between versions of the web part, so it is expected that previously defined layouts continue to behave as expected without requiring reconfiguration.

Layout Customization — Expanded Visual Controls

Enhanced layout options provide more control over appearance:

Search, Filter & Sort - Cleaner Field Organization

Field selection in search, filter, and sort is now structured into clear groups- editors now encounter a structured separation between Layout fields, Other fields, and source-specific fields, helping them understand what can be searched, filtered, sorted, or grouped without having to interpret different classification patterns for each source. Irrelevant fields have been removed to simplify configuration and reduce noise. This aligns with the “Search Filter & Sort” pattern and behavior across other web parts.

Default Sort moved to “Field Layout & Sort”

Default sorting is now configured in the Field Layout & Sort panel:

Date Format - simplified and aligned with Site Settings

Date formatting is no longer configurable within the People web part. The previous Format section has been removed, and all date values are now automatically displayed in relative time (for example, “x years ago”).

Sorting is more flexible for people directories

Sorting options were expanded so administrators can sort by Last Name even when using “Users and Groups” and “SharePoint list” as data source addressing a long-standing limitation in People directory scenarios when first and last names are stored separately.

Shuffle sorting is now clearly separated from data source fields

In previous versions, the option to randomize results (“shuffle”) was listed alongside fields from the data source in the default sorting configuration. This made it unclear whether it was a system behavior or a field coming from the data source, leading to confusion during setup. The shuffle option is now positioned at the top of the default sort dropdown, clearly separated from data source fields. This makes its purpose more explicit and helps editors understand it as a sorting behavior, not as part of their data.

Actions are easier to understand and configure before publishing

The Actions section was reviewed with clearer labels and more explicit descriptions so editors understand exactly what each action enables for end users. This includes actions such as showing a profile preview on hover, sending email, or starting a call. The configuration also makes dependencies more visible — for example, when actions rely on fields such as Email or Phone being mapped under Field layout & sort, editors now get clearer guidance before publishing.

Exporting people data to CSV now gives users more control over what is delivered

To give end users more control over the final export output, The “Export to CSV” experience was improved with:

When clicking “Export » Choose fields”, a refreshed modal allows users to choose which columns to include and define a custom file name before downloading. This makes it easier to create focused exports for reporting, sharing, or further analysis, without needing to clean or restructure the file afterward.

In previous versions, the “start a call” action (phone icon) was only available when the Business Phone attribute was populated, limiting how calling could be enabled across different data sources. The People web part now determines this action based on field mapping, allowing editors to control which field provides the phone information. This gives more flexibility when working with custom data sources or alternative phone fields, ensuring the calling action can be enabled wherever relevant contact information exists. To ensure a reliable experience, the action is only displayed when a valid phone number is provided through the mapped field. Additionally, initiating a call requires a supported web protocol on the user’s device, so the action behaves consistently with the calling capabilities available in their environment.

The People web part now provides clearer warning messages and helper guidance throughout the configuration experience, helping editors understand when a field requires mapping, when a data source is not fully configured, or when an action depends on specific fields such as Email or Phone. These messages make it easier to anticipate what will happen when the web part is published, increasing confidence during setup and reducing trial-and-error when configuring layouts, filters, categories, and actions.

Empty and no-results states are more informative

The source-specific empty states were reviewed so editors and visitors get clearer guidance when there are no selected lists, no matching people, or no manually added profiles yet. This makes the People web part easier to interpret before configuration is complete and when a source returns no content.

Skype Mail removed from SharePoint list mappings

Following Microsoft’s announcement in 2025 to “retire Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams” the People web part was updated to reflect how communications work today across Microsoft 365. Skype Mail was removed from SharePoint list mappings in favor of modern communication patterns such as Teams.

This ensures that editors only see options that are still relevant, reducing confusion during configuration and aligning the web part with how users interact with people and communication tools today.

Custom data sources now provide better compatibility with People layouts

When using a custom SharePoint list as a data source, adding new items through the People web part now ensures the required People fields are created automatically in the list. Previously, custom lists without the expected schema could lead to incomplete or incompatible data when using the add form. Now, the web part aligns the list structure during item creation, so new entries work correctly with People layouts from the moment they are added. Editors can still map these fields to their original columns when needed, maintaining flexibility while avoiding additional setup or manual adjustments.

Legacy Alerts section removed from Settings Panel

The Alerts section, which was only relevant to classic experiences and related to legacy system message availability, has been removed from the Settings Panel. It is no longer used in modern experiences, so removing it helps simplify configuration and reduces confusion.

Entra ID connection issues were resolved

An issue affecting the Entra ID option was addressed together with the platform team, resolving the connection error described in the release source material.
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Adding new files now respects cancel actions in upload flows

When adding new images in the Media Gallery web part, the upload and preview experience was reviewed to behave more predictably. Previously, if a user started adding a file and then clicked Cancel, the file could still be uploaded to the library, even though it was not shown in the web part. This created unnecessary cleanup work, as users needed to manually delete unwanted files. Now, canceling the process discards the file as expected, ensuring that no item is added unless the action is completed. This makes the add experience more reliable and avoids unintended uploads to the library.

Adding new files now respects cancel actions in upload flows

When adding new images in the Media Gallery web part, the upload and preview experience was reviewed to behave more predictably. Previously, if a user started adding a file and then clicked Cancel, the file could still be uploaded to the library, even though it was not shown in the web part. This created unnecessary cleanup work, as users needed to manually delete unwanted files. Now, canceling the process discards the file as expected, ensuring that no item is added unless the action is completed. This makes the add experience more reliable and avoids unintended uploads to the library.

When adding or editing items in SharePoint list-based experiences, fields that were intentionally left without mapping in the layout configuration could fail to be created after saving. This resulted in missing columns and incomplete data for content editors and end users. This behavior has been corrected so that all fields configured in the add/edit flow are reliably created, regardless of their mapping state, ensuring that saved data appears consistently across supported web parts.

Fields set with no mapping are now consistently created when adding new items

When adding or editing items in SharePoint list-based experiences, fields that were intentionally left without mapping in the layout configuration could fail to be created after saving. This resulted in missing columns and incomplete data for content editors and end users. This behavior has been corrected so that all fields configured in the add/edit flow are reliably created, regardless of their mapping state, ensuring that saved data appears consistently across supported web parts.

Fields set with no mapping are now consistently created when adding new items

When adding or editing items in SharePoint list-based experiences, fields that were intentionally left without mapping in the layout configuration could fail to be created after saving. This resulted in missing columns and incomplete data for content editors and end users. This behavior has been corrected so that all fields configured in the add/edit flow are reliably created, regardless of their mapping state, ensuring that saved data appears consistently across supported web parts.

Fields set with no mapping are now consistently created when adding new items

When adding or editing items in SharePoint list-based experiences, fields that were intentionally left without mapping in the layout configuration could fail to be created after saving. This resulted in missing columns and incomplete data for content editors and end users. This behavior has been corrected so that all fields configured in the add/edit flow are reliably created, regardless of their mapping state, ensuring that saved data appears consistently across supported web parts.

Fields set with no mapping are now consistently created when adding new items

When adding or editing items in SharePoint list-based experiences, fields that were intentionally left without mapping in the layout configuration could fail to be created after saving. This resulted in missing columns and incomplete data for content editors and end users. This behavior has been corrected so that all fields configured in the add/edit flow are reliably created, regardless of their mapping state, ensuring that saved data appears consistently across supported web parts.

Event information now displays correctly across supported views

An issue causing incorrect or inconsistent information to appear in Calendar Events has been resolved. This ensures that event details reflect the expected data and can be trusted when used for scheduling and communication scenarios.

Visual styles for calendar views and events are now consistent

Calendar View and event styling issues were addressed to ensure information is displayed in a consistent and readable way across the calendar experience, reducing confusion when scanning or interacting with events.

Event links now remain correct when calendar overlays are enabled

When calendar overlays were enabled, copying or opening an event link could generate an incorrect URL, pointing to a different event source. This happened because the generated link changed depending on whether overlays were active, leading to inconsistent and unreliable event links. This behavior has been corrected so event links now consistently reference the correct event, regardless of overlay settings. Sharing or opening events now behaves predictably, even when multiple calendars are combined in the same view.

Primary action now uses the correct label and behavior when no list is selected

When no list was selected in the Calendar Events web part, the primary action button could display an incorrect label and trigger an unexpected action. Clicking the button could open the web part properties instead of guiding the editor to connect a calendar source, creating confusion during setup. This behavior has been corrected so the button label and action now accurately reflect the expected next step, making the initial configuration of Calendar Events clearer and more intuitive.

Visual styles for calendar views and events are now consistent

Calendar View and event styling issues were addressed to ensure information is displayed in a consistent and readable way across the calendar experience, reducing confusion when scanning or interacting with events.

Event links now remain correct when calendar overlays are enabled

When calendar overlays were enabled, copying or opening an event link could generate an incorrect URL, pointing to a different event source. This happened because the generated link changed depending on whether overlays were active, leading to inconsistent and unreliable event links. This behavior has been corrected so event links now consistently reference the correct event, regardless of overlay settings. Sharing or opening events now behaves predictably, even when multiple calendars are combined in the same view.

Primary action now uses the correct label and behavior when no list is selected

When no list was selected in the Calendar Events web part, the primary action button could display an incorrect label and trigger an unexpected action. Clicking the button could open the web part properties instead of guiding the editor to connect a calendar source, creating confusion during setup. This behavior has been corrected so the button label and action now accurately reflect the expected next step, making the initial configuration of Calendar Events clearer and more intuitive.

Together, these changes make the People web part more reliable and easier to work with. Configuration is clearer, behavior is more consistent, and editors have better visibility into how their setup translates into the final experience. This is a step forward in our broader approach: simplifying complexity while strengthening control. We’ll continue refining this balance — making it easier to configure once, reuse confidently, and deliver experiences that behave exactly as expected.