Unable to tag new ADO group with multiple members

Question

Unable to tag new ADO group with multiple members

Chris Collins 20

Hello, I am trying to create a single group in ADO where a user can use the @ symbol to tag all its members. However, anytime I try to tag them, I keep getting the same error message via email that says, "The identity is not configured to receive notifications." So far, I tried the following:

Existing ADO group with licensed ADO users as members.
Existing ADO group with one member, a new AD security group who's members are same users in #1.
New ADO group with a single member, myself.

The person doing the tagging gets the email with the error. Am I doing something incorrectly? It seems it should email all users belonging to the ADO group. Please advise.

Thanks in advance

Pravallika KV 18,850 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-16T17:35:03.8133333+00:00
Hi @Chris Collins ,

Here's a professional response you can post:

Based on the behavior you're seeing, this is typically not a membership issue but rather a limitation of the identity being mentioned.

The error "The identity is not configured to receive notifications," usually indicates that Azure DevOps cannot send notifications to the group identity itself. This can occur even when all members of the group are licensed Azure DevOps users.

A few points to consider:

Azure DevOps does not support notifications for all group types. While users can be mentioned directly, generic Azure DevOps groups, Active Directory security groups, or Azure AD security groups may not be configured as notification recipients.

If your Azure DevOps group contains an AD/Azure AD security group as a member, Azure DevOps may not be able to expand that membership for notification delivery.

The fact that the issue also occurs with a newly created Azure DevOps group containing only yourself suggests that the problem is related to the group identity rather than the users within it.

If your goal is to notify multiple users with a single @mention, using an Azure DevOps Team and mentioning the team may be a more reliable approach, as teams are generally supported notification targets.
Chris Collins 20 Reputation points

2026-06-16T21:07:47.9966667+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I tried mentioning the default team for a team project, which had two members, myself and another license user. I got exactly the same response. Is there any way to define a group that will tag all members in a work item?

Answer accepted by question author

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Your answer

Pravallika KV 18,850 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-16T17:35:03.8133333+00:00

Hi @Chris Collins ,

Here's a professional response you can post:

Based on the behavior you're seeing, this is typically not a membership issue but rather a limitation of the identity being mentioned.

The error "The identity is not configured to receive notifications," usually indicates that Azure DevOps cannot send notifications to the group identity itself. This can occur even when all members of the group are licensed Azure DevOps users.

A few points to consider:

Azure DevOps does not support notifications for all group types. While users can be mentioned directly, generic Azure DevOps groups, Active Directory security groups, or Azure AD security groups may not be configured as notification recipients.

If your Azure DevOps group contains an AD/Azure AD security group as a member, Azure DevOps may not be able to expand that membership for notification delivery.

The fact that the issue also occurs with a newly created Azure DevOps group containing only yourself suggests that the problem is related to the group identity rather than the users within it.

If your goal is to notify multiple users with a single @mention, using an Azure DevOps Team and mentioning the team may be a more reliable approach, as teams are generally supported notification targets.
Chris Collins 20 Reputation points

2026-06-16T21:07:47.9966667+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I tried mentioning the default team for a team project, which had two members, myself and another license user. I got exactly the same response. Is there any way to define a group that will tag all members in a work item?

Answer 1

@Chris Collins I hope you are doing well,

Try this please this guide tell us if it work for you...

To make your @<TeamName> mention work, you need to change the team's notification delivery preference so that ADO knows to expand the membership and email everyone individually.

Navigate to Project Settings (the gear icon in the bottom left corner).

Under the General section, select Teams.

Click on the specific Team you are trying to tag.

Click on the Notifications link/tab for that team.

Click on Delivery Settings near the top of the page.

Change the delivery preference to Deliver to individual members.

Click Save.

Once this is updated, tagging the Team in a work item will successfully trigger an email to all licensed users within that team.

If you do not want to create an ADO Team and prefer to use a standard group, you must use a mail-enabled security group or Microsoft 365 group originating from your Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD).

If the AD security group you mentioned in your initial tests was not mail-enabled (meaning it does not have a valid email address in Exchange), ADO cannot send an email to it.

If you sync a mail-enabled group into ADO, tagging that group's name will push the notification to the group's email address, and your Exchange server will handle distributing it to the individual members.

Try adjusting the Delivery Settings on your test Team first. That is the most reliable, native way to achieve what you are trying to do without having to request new mail-enabled groups from your IT department!Here is how you can configure a Team or a Group to successfully notify all members when tagged.

😊 If my answer helped you resolve your issue, please consider marking it as the correct answer. This helps others in the community find solutions more easily. Thanks!

Chris Collins 20 Reputation points

2026-06-16T23:21:36.1+00:00

Hello Jose Benjamin Solis Nolasco! The team option worked above! This was the only one that worked. I tried making all of the AD security groups mail-enabled and none of them worked. I keep getting a single email back that says, "The identity is not configured to receive notifications". If you know why they don't work, please let me know. Does it have anything to do with the groups not being mail-enabled initially? Is using a Team the only way to create a group that can receive notifications using tags? In any case, I will mark this as the answer this the team option did work.
Pravallika KV 18,850 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-17T00:32:36.94+00:00

@Chris Collins , Glad to hear the Team option worked. The issue is likely not related to the groups being mail-enabled after creation.

Afaik, Azure DevOps simply doesn't appear to support @mention notifications for AD security groups in the same way it does for Teams. Based on your testing, Teams seem to be the only reliable way to notify multiple users with a single @mention.