Frequently Asked Questions


Why can't I access the Electronic Directory?

As of December 2020, the Electronic Directory requires log in with UT EID and password and Duo for multifactor authentication, and is only accessible to members of the university community, as defined by the following affiliations:

  • Current Faculty
  • Future Faculty
  • Current Staff
  • Future Staff
  • Current Students
  • Future Students
  • University Affiliates
  • Official Visitors
  • Retiree

This change was approved by IT governance, and is intended to increase security and privacy and combat aggressive data mining from outside organizations.

Additional information about your UT EID may be available via the UT EID Self-Service Tools.

If you believe that you have should be able to access the directory and cannot, please email help@utexas.edu and include your UT EID in the message.


How do I update/restrict my information in the Electronic Directory?

Note: the Directory is updated daily, with some exceptions.

Students:

You may update your information through the Address Update (requires EID) Web form. These updates usually appear within 24 hours.

The information provided in the Electronic Directory is based upon publicly available information. You may choose to restrict all or part of your directory information by visiting the Restrict My Info service. See What are student privacy rights?

Faculty/Staff:

Please refer to this askUS article for information about updating your information in the Electronic Directory.

Back to Top


What are UT EIDs and why do they appear in the online directory?

UT EIDs are public usernames that represent people associated with The University of Texas.

UT EIDs are displayed on the UT Directory Web page to facilitate collaboration between university constituents and to simplify the use of certain IT services, for instance file sharing applications or secure messaging.

UT EID can be suppressed from appearing in the directory in certain situations. Please refer to the FAQ How do I update/restrict my information in the Electronic Directory?

For more information on what UT EIDs are and how they are used, please see https://idmanager.its.utexas.edu/eid_self_help/

Back to Top


How can I get someone's email address if it is not listed in the Directory?

If an email address is not listed in the Directory, it means that person has not supplied us with an email address. We recommend that you place a phone call or send a letter to the phone number or address listed for that person asking for an email address. If the person is a faculty or staff member, you may contact the department for which they work or see that department's Web page. Our policies do not allow us to help locate people.

Back to Top


What are student privacy rights (relating to Directory Information)?

See Texas One Stop for information about student privacy rights and for instructions on how to restrict access to your records.

Back to Top


Where does the data come from?

The Electronic Directory receives data from several sources:

Student Data:

The student data in the Directory comes from the Office of the Registrar. Information obtained from the Registrar includes:

  • Name (displayname)
  • UT EID (utexasEduPersonEid)
  • Classification (utexasEduPersonClassification)
  • Major (utexasEduPersonMajor)
  • College (utexasEduPersonSchool), See Why am I listed under organization X?
  • Email Address (mail)

The information supplied by the Registrar CANNOT be updated through the Directory Service. Students can update their mailing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses through Texas One Stop. Contact the Office of Registrar for assistance in changing other student information. Directory information about students who have restricted access to their records will not show up in the Electronic Directory or in the Official Directory. If a student does not register for a fall or spring semester, their directory entry is removed.

Faculty/Staff Data:

The faculty and staff data in the Directory come from the Human Resource Services (HRS). Information presently obtained from HRS includes:

  • Name (displayname)
  • UT EID (utexasEduPersonEid)
  • Degree (utexasEduPersonHighestDegree)
  • Honors (utexasEduPersonHonor, utexasEduPersonPrimaryHonor)
  • Title (title, utexasEduPersonPrimaryTitle), See Where do titles come from?
  • College and Department Affiliation (utexasEduPersonOrgUnitName, utexasEduPersonPrimaryOrgUnitName), See Why am I listed under organization X?
  • Office Address (postalAddress)
  • Office Location (utexasEduPersonOfficeLocation)
  • Office Phone (telephoneNumber)
  • Office FAX (facsimileTelephoneNumber)
  • Email Address (mail)

The information supplied by HRS CANNOT be updated through the Electronic Directory Service. You may update your Employee Information System (requires EID) Web form or seek assistance from your department's personnel officer and from HRS (471-4772). The new information should appear in about 24 hours. Information checked in “Information Release -- Do Not Release My…:" will not show up in this service. Entries for faculty and staff are deleted at the beginning of the fiscal year for those individuals who no longer hold active appointments (this usually takes place in the first data feed after October 1).

Many individuals have elected not to supply information such as FAX numbers. If this information is not present in the Directory service for an entry, it is because those individuals did not supply the information. 

Back to Top


Where do titles come from?

Faculty/Staff Data:

Titles are based on the positions held by employees, as shown in Workday (requires EID). If the employee holds multiple positions, multiple titles will be shown in the directory. Please refer to this askUS article for information about updating and the origin of faculty and staff titles.

For questions or more information about your title, contact your department's personnel officer.

Back to Top


Why am I listed under a certain college/school/department?

Student Data:

This information is obtained from the college or school in which a student's major is offered.

Faculty/Staff Data

This information is based on the department that "owns" the employee's position in Workday (requires EID). If the employee holds positions from more than one department, multiple departments will be shown in the directory. Please refer to this askUS article for information about updating and the origin of faculty and staff departments.

Departmental name changes that affect the entire department can be submitted through the Office of Accounting's Signature Desk Request Form.

Back to Top


What is the vCard and how do I use it?

The vCard is a platform-neutral electronic address book entry that is stored in a file format your address book applications can read and save. Every person in the UT Directory has a vCard that you can click and save into your default address book. For Mac OS users, this is usually the Address Book program; for PC users, it is often the Outlook address book. This is an easy way for you to save contact information, including email addresses, phone numbers, and office locations so that you do not have to look them up in a separate application.

Back to Top


What is the Certificate and how do I use it?

The Certificate is a public encryption key that you can save into your contact list and then use to send encrypted email to that recipient. University faculty and staff who have been issued Digital Certificates have a Certificate entry in their directory listing.

Back to Top


How else can I access the Directory?

There are a variety of methods to access the Directory. The most common is through our Web gateway. However, the Directory is also available through the use of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

NOTE: Access to the LDAP interface is restricted to the university network as of December 2020. This interface is scheduled to be completely retired in July 2021.

  • Web: https://directory.utexas.edu
  • LDAP: various clients including email clients and browsers
    • server: directory.utexas.edu
    • port: 389
    • base: dc=directory,dc=utexas,dc=edu
    • maximum entries returned: 50

Back to Top


How can I get a copy of this database?

The information contained in the Directory is sourced from the university's administrative computing systems; the information is accessible only through that system and its interfaces and is to be used only for official university business or projects. Contact your Information Technology Services' Applications service representative for more information.

The contents of the Electronic Directory are copyrighted by The University of Texas at Austin—access or abuse is subject to criminal prosecution under both state and federal laws.

Security features have been implemented to prevent "trawling" of this directory. These features may result in searching difficulties for users but are intended to protect the privacy of university students, faculty and staff.

Back to Top


May I send unsolicited or commercial email to addresses from this directory?

This online directory service is provided by the university to facilitate the research, teaching, learning and service missions of the university community. Solicitation on university computing and network resources is prohibited by the Rules and Regulations of The University of Texas System Board of Regents. Accordingly, the contact information provided in this online directory service may not be used for transmission and distribution of unsolicited email or other commercial purposes.

The university does have an official University Group E-mail System (requires EID) which can be used by authorized persons to send email to large groups in the university community, including all students, faculty and staff.

Back to Top