FAQ: directory

home / faq / directory

How do I change the affiliation field in my directory entry?
What's the difference between bind and login?
How does email forwarding work?
How do I add people to a directory group?
How do I modify my directory entry?
Why can I find my uniqname in a directory search, but not my full name?
Can I remove myself from a directory group?

How do I change the affiliation field in my directory entry?

The "Affiliation" field is generated by either the Registrars Office (students) or the Human Resources Info Service (faculty/staff) and should be updated approximately once a month, so there can be a delay before a change is reflected in your directory entry.

You can contact HRRIS at:

Human Resource Records and Information Services
4073 Wolverine Tower
3003 South State Street
Ann Arbor MI 48109-1281
(734) 764-9250 Fax (734) 763-1283
email: hrris.info@umich.edu

The registrar is available via:

Student Services (Central Campus)
413 E. Huron St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1520
Phone: (734) 763-5174
FAX: (734) 763-9053

Student Services (North Campus)
B430 Pierpont Commons
2101 Bonisteel Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2090
Phone: (734) 763-7650
FAX: (734) 763-7961

What's the difference between bind and login?

Bind and Login are not the same thing. You must login in order to bind, but once you are logged in you can bind and unbind as much as you like, and then logout when you are finished completely.

directory.umich.edu is an interface to an LDAP directory. LDAP directories have only a few commands, search, modify, delete, bind and unbind. bind is the command used to create a mapping between an authenticated user and an entry in the directory. unbind breaks this mapping. In LDAP directories, unlike for instance, COW, unbound access is as important as bound access.

For example, in the unbound interface, search for uniqname. Note your E-Mail Address. Bind. Note that uniqname is still displayed. However, now you can see your E-Mail Forwarding Address. If you had a private entry, more information would be suppressed on the unbound interface.

If you do this same unbound-search-bind sequence on my entry, it won't tell you anything different. Over the next 6-18 months more privacy features will be enabled causing your status as bound/unbound to be even more important.

Any suggestions you have for improving the help text would be great, as bind vs. login is a very important distinction.

Email sent to your uniqname@umich.edu is delievered to the address listed in the "E-mail Forwarding Address" field of your UM online directory entry. The contents of this field vary, based on where you get your email. If you use the UMCE IMAP service (e.g., pine, mail.umich.edu, etc), the correct value for this field is:

uniqname@firstletter.imap.itd.umich.edu

If you read your mail elsewhere, for example, via a departmental mail server, your local system administrator should be able to tell you the correct value for this field.

To delete or change information in your UM online directory entry,

• bind to the directory at https://directory.umich.edu/
• click the link "Bound as: UNIQNAME, People"
• click the "Modify" button
• Change your "E-mail Forwarding Address" to the address where your mail should be delivered, as described above
• click "Save Changes" to make your modifications permanent

How do I add people to a directory group?

There are two places to add members to an email group:

"Directory Members" is for people who are part of the UM community (and have an entry in the Online Directory). In this field, you can enter uniqnames or full names and the directory will look up their records.

There is also the "E-mail Members" field, which is intended for people outside the University; in this field, you must enter a fully qualified email address (for example: some.user.name@aol.com).

To delete or change information in your UM online directory entry,

• bind to the directory at https://directory.umich.edu
• click the link "Bound as: UNIQNAME, People"
• click the "Modify" button
• add, modify, or delete information as appropriate
• set the field "Prevent Batch Updates From Changing My Settings" to "True", to prevent changes being overwritten from registrar or human resources records in the future
• click "Save Changes" to make your modifications permanent

Why can I find my uniqname in a directory search, but not my full name?

The "Private" flag in your UM online directory entry will prevent your information from being displayed unless someone searches on your uniqname, and even then the information displayed will be very limited. To change this, modify the value of the "Private" setting in your directory entry.

Can I remove myself from a directory group?

At the present time, this feature is not supported. The only people who can modify the membership of a group are the owners of the group; the ability to remove oneself from a group would require administrative priveledges for that group. (The exception is groups that allow subscribers; subcribers can remove themselves from such groups without administrative intervention).

If you feel you were added to a group maliciously, you can direct a complaint to user.advocate@umich.edu.

To request removal from a group, you can send a message to either groupname-requests@umich.edu, or groupname-owner@umich.edu, where groupname is the particular group you want to be removed from.