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Bulk remove group members in Microsoft Entra ID

You can remove a large number of members from a group by using a comma-separated values (CSV) file to remove group members in bulk using the portal for Microsoft Entra ID.

Understand the CSV template

Download and fill in the bulk upload CSV template to successfully remove Microsoft Entra group members in bulk. Your CSV template might look like this example:

Screenshot that shows the spreadsheet for upload and call-outs explaining the purpose and values for each row and column.

CSV template structure

The rows in a downloaded CSV template are:

  • Column headings: The format of the column headings is <Item name> [PropertyName] <Required or blank>. An example is Member object ID or user principal name [memberObjectIdOrUpn] Required. Some older versions of the template might have slight variations. For group membership changes, you can use either the member object ID or the user principal name (UPN).
  • Examples row: The template includes a row of example values (for example, Example: 9832aad8-e4fe-496b-a604-95c6eF01ae75). You must remove the examples row and replace it with your own entries.

Note

CSV template formats vary by operation. Some templates (like bulk create or delete users) include a version:v1.0 row as the first row, while others (like group member operations) start directly with the column headers. Always use the template downloaded directly from the portal for your specific operation, and don't modify the first row(s).

More guidance

  • The first row(s) of the upload template must not be removed or modified, or the upload can't be processed.
  • The required columns are listed first.
  • We don't recommend adding new columns to the template. Any additional columns you add are ignored and not processed.
  • We recommend that you download the latest version of the CSV template as often as possible.
  • Enter one member per row. Don't use semicolons or other delimiters to separate multiple members in a single row.

Example CSV file

Here's an example of a completed CSV file ready for upload:

Member object ID or user principal name [memberObjectIdOrUpn] Required
alain@contoso.com
isabella@contoso.com
joseph@contoso.com

Tip

To get a list of current group members that you can edit, use the Download members bulk operation first. This gives you a CSV file with all current members that you can modify to include only the members you want to remove.

Bulk remove group members

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Groups Administrator.

  2. Browse to Entra ID > Groups > All groups.

  3. Open the group from which you're removing members and then select Members.

  4. On the Members page, select Remove members.

  5. On the Bulk remove group members page, select Download to get the CSV file template with required group member properties.

    Screenshot that shows the Remove Members command is on the profile page for the group.

  6. Open the CSV file and add a line for each group member you want to remove from the group. For each member, enter either their User principal name (UPN, such as user@contoso.com) or their Object ID (a GUID like 00aa00aa-bb11-cc22-dd33-44ee44ee44ee). Enter one member per row. Then save the file.

    Screenshot that shows the CSV file contains names and IDs of the group members to remove.

  7. On the Bulk remove group members page, under Upload your csv file, browse to the file. When you select the file, validation of the CSV file starts.

  8. When the file contents are validated, the bulk import page displays File uploaded successfully. If there are errors, you must fix them before you can submit the job.

  9. When your file passes validation, select Submit to start the bulk operation that removes the group members from the group.

  10. When the removal operation finishes, a notification states that the bulk operation succeeded.

If you experience errors, you can download and view the results file on the Bulk operation results page. The file contains the reason for each error. The file submission must match the provided template and include the exact column names.

For more information about bulk operations limitations, see Bulk removal service limits.

Check removal status

You can see the status of all of your pending bulk requests in the Bulk operation results page.

Screenshot that shows the Check status option on the Bulk operation results page.

For details about each line item within the bulk operation, select the values under the # Success, # Failure, or Total Requests columns. If failures occurred, the reasons for failure are listed.

Bulk removal service limits

Note

When performing bulk operations, such as import or create, you can encounter a problem if the bulk operation doesn't complete within the hour. To work around this issue, we recommend splitting the number of records processed per batch. For example, before starting an export you could limit the result set by filtering on a group type or user name to reduce the size of the results. By refining your filters, essentially you limit the data returned by the bulk operation. For more information, see Bulk operations service limitations.

Next steps

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