Employee Directory The Vitextra Employee Directory web part helps you find the right colleague and reach out at the right moment. This quick-start guide walks end users through the essentials: the list view, the search box, the quick-filter bar, and the persona card.
The directory at a glance
When a page or Microsoft Teams tab with the Employee Directory web part opens, you see every published employee at once. The interface has four main areas: the search box for typing a query, the quick-filter bar for narrowing the list in one click, the results list with a card or row for each person, and the persona card that slides in when you select someone.
📝 Note
The exact layout depends on how an administrator configured the web part. Some elements - such as the quick-filter bar or the search box - can be hidden, so your view may differ slightly from the screenshots in this article.
Finding a person
Search box
Start typing in the search box - labeled Search for employees - and the list narrows as you type. You don't need to type the full name: a part of it is enough, and letter case doesn't matter. The search looks across the name, job title, department, and the other profile fields the administrator made searchable.
If an administrator has enabled Search by skills, your query is also matched against the skills in each person's profile. Matching skills are shown first in the Skills column, which makes it easy to answer questions such as "who knows Power BI?" or "who speaks Spanish?". You can also select a skill on a persona card to find everyone who has it - see KB10316. How to Search Employees by Skills in Employee Directory.
📝 Note
When nothing matches your query, the list shows No results found. Clear the search box to return to the full directory.
Quick filters
The quick-filter bar above the list is a row of tabs that narrow the directory to a relevant group of people without typing a query. Select a tab to apply it; select All to return to the full directory.
- My department - colleagues in your own department.
- My team - your manager, the people who report to the same manager as you, and your own direct reports.
- People I work with - the colleagues you interact with most often, based on Microsoft 365 signals.
- Favorites - the people you have starred; the tab shows how many there are.
📝 Note
My department, My team, and People I work with rely on your own profile and Microsoft 365 data. When that data isn't available - for example, your profile has no department or the required permission isn't granted - the tab is simply not shown; ask your administrator to check. See KB10214. Employee Directory Quick Filters: My Department, My Team, People I Work With, Favorites for details.
Views, grouping and sorting
The directory is displayed either as Contact cards or as a Details table. The administrator chooses the view, the card size and fields, and the Group by setting, which organizes the results into sections - for example, by Department or by Last name (first letter). Grouping works together with search and quick filters, so you can, say, select My department and still see the remaining people grouped by job title.
In the Details view, select a column header to sort the list by that column; select it again to reverse the order.
💡 Tip
For the available layouts and grouping options, see KB10314. Employee Directory Layouts: Details and Cards, Card Size, Card Fields and Group By.
The persona card
Select any employee to open the persona card - a panel with the person's full details and everything you need to get in touch. Which sections appear depends on the web part configuration and on the Microsoft Graph permissions your organization has granted.
At the top you see the person's photo with a real-time Microsoft Teams presence indicator (Available, Busy, and so on), their name, job title, and department. Below that is a row of actions:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Chat in Teams | Start a chat with the person in Microsoft Teams |
| Call in Teams | Place a call in Microsoft Teams |
| Send E-mail | Open a new e-mail addressed to the person |
| Copy e-mail address | Copy the person's e-mail address to the clipboard |
| Schedule a meeting | Open a new Teams meeting invite with the person added |
| Add to favorites | Star the person so they appear under the Favorites quick filter |
| Download vCard | Save the contact as a .vcf file |
📝 Note
Administrators can enable or disable each action independently, so you may not see all of the buttons above. The same actions can also appear directly on the cards and in the row menu. Chat, call, and meeting are not offered on your own card. For details, see KB10315. Employee Actions in Employee Directory: Chat, Call, Email, Copy Email, Schedule a Meeting and vCard.
Further down, the persona card can show:
- Local time and Working hours - the person's current local time, the offset from your own time zone, and whether they are within their working hours or Outside working hours. This helps you avoid messaging a colleague in the middle of their night.
- Availability - the person's Free/Busy for today shown next to your own, so you can pick a good moment to talk.
- Manager and direct reports - links you can follow to move through the org chart.
- About, Interests, and Skills - background information from the person's profile.
💡 Tip
How local time, working hours and availability are calculated is explained in KB10317. Employee Directory: Local Time, Working Hours and Availability.
❗ Important
Favorites are saved in your browser's local storage, not in your profile. They stay in place between sessions in the same browser, but they don't follow you to another computer, browser, or Microsoft Teams client, and they are removed when you clear your browser data.
Next steps
Now that you know your way around the directory, explore the individual features in more detail:
- KB10214. Employee Directory Quick Filters: My Department, My Team, People I Work With, Favorites - how each quick filter works, when to use it, and where favorites are stored.
- KB10316. How to Search Employees by Skills in Employee Directory - how skills search works and where skills come from.
- KB10315. Employee Actions in Employee Directory: Chat, Call, Email, Copy Email, Schedule a Meeting and vCard - every action you can take on a person.
- KB10314. Employee Directory Layouts: Details and Cards, Card Size, Card Fields and Group By - the Details and card views and grouping.
- KB10317. Employee Directory: Local Time, Working Hours and Availability - what the indicators on the persona card mean and where the data comes from.
