Skip to main content
Most users exist in more than one connected system: your HRIS, which holds the most reliable employee data, an identity provider such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or Okta, and a communication tool such as Slack. When they disagree about a user’s name, email, or other attributes, the Source Priority ranking in Settings → Directory Integrations decides which one wins. For how user profiles are created in the first place, see Where users come from.

​
How the ranking works

  • The system at the top has priority. For each user, the highest-ranked system the user exists in sets the name, email, and profile picture.
  • Systems below fill in gaps. A lower-ranked system only writes attributes that no system above it provides.
  • Every system only touches the attributes it delivers. It never clears or overwrites an attribute it does not know about.
To see the order that currently applies to your organization, open Source Priority in Settings → Directory Integrations. It lists your connected systems from highest to lowest priority. Every entry delivers first name, last name, primary email, and profile picture. Your HRIS additionally delivers departments, teams, job title, employment type, location, and personal email. Slack additionally delivers the timezone, Microsoft 365 the personal email. A directory that AccessOwl has set up as your HRIS source, whether Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or Okta, is listed under HRIS and delivers the HR attributes as well, see Google Workspace as HRIS. The HRIS is the only entry that delivers departments, teams, job title, employment type, and location, and the only one allowed to clear them. An empty value from any other entry is ignored.
The manager and a user’s status are not decided by this ranking. The manager follows the Update Manager Information setting of your HRIS integration or a manual override. The status follows the user’s accounts in your directories, see User Statuses.

​
What changes when you reorder

The new order applies with the next directory sync. Sync Directories on the Users page runs one right away.
  • Names, emails, and profile pictures switch to the new top system. If the display name in Slack differs from the name in Google Workspace, moving Google Workspace to the top replaces the Slack name with the Google name on the next sync. Moving your HRIS to the top makes AccessOwl show the name as recorded in your HRIS.
  • A system moved down stops overwriting. Slack below an identity provider only contributes the timezone. A name change in Slack no longer reaches AccessOwl, and a name change in the identity provider does.
  • HR attributes keep coming from your HRIS. Departments, teams, job title, employment type, and location are filled in from the HRIS wherever it sits. The one overlap is the personal email, which Microsoft 365 delivers as well: whichever of the two ranks higher wins.
  • Users who are not in the top system follow the highest system they are in. A new hire without a Slack account is led by your HRIS or identity provider until the Slack account exists. From then on, Slack takes over the name, email, and profile picture if it ranks higher.
  • Reordering never deletes data. A system that moved down simply stops writing. Existing values stay until the system now above it delivers a new value.
The saved order only contains the systems that were connected when you saved it. After connecting or removing a directory integration, open Source Priority and save the order again. Until you do, a newly connected system ranks lowest, and a removed system keeps its position and continues to block the attributes it used to provide for the systems below it.

​
Manual edits in AccessOwl

Edits made on a user profile in AccessOwl always rank last. Any value that a connected system delivers is overwritten with the next sync, so a corrected name appears to come back on its own. Fix it in the system with the highest priority instead. Values no connected system delivers stay, for example a department entered by hand when no HRIS is connected. The manager can be protected with the Override toggle, see Managers and Executives.

​
Changing the order

1

Open the Source Priority settings

Go to Settings → Directory Integrations and select Source Priority.
2

Drag the systems into the order you want

The list shows your connected directories, with the highest priority at the top. Manual edits in AccessOwl are shown as a fixed last entry and cannot be moved.
3

Save

Select Save. The new order applies with the next directory sync.
Last modified on September 8, 2026