Get pupil and staff photos from the MIS into Realsmart and Google

4 steps 3 min Updated 4 November 2026

Realsmart can copy the photos your MIS holds onto each person's Realsmart profile picture and their Google account photo, so staff see real faces in Realsmart, Gmail and Google Classroom. You can turn it on for pupils, for staff, or both.

Before you start

You must be an admin with sync settings access, with the school picked in the switcher.
Your MIS must share photos with Realsmart. Photos come from your MIS through Wonde. If no photos ever arrive, ask whoever manages your school's Wonde connection to check that photos are shared with Realsmart.
Google Workspace sync must be on and Live. Photos go to Google and Realsmart in the same step, so while Google sync is off or in Preview, no photos are copied at all — not even into Realsmart. Check School settings → Sync services — see Enable or disable sync services.

Steps

Step 1: Open School settings → Sync

In the sidebar, open School settings → Sync. The MIS & provisioning card is at the top.

Step 2: Turn on the photo sync

Tick one or both:

Sync MIS profile picture (learners) — pupils' photos.
Sync MIS profile picture (mentors) — staff photos.

Then select Save sync.

Step 3: Wait for the evening run

Photos are copied each weekday evening, so expect them the next morning. To check, look at a few people's pictures on the Users page, or ask a colleague to look at their Google account.

After the first run, only photos that have changed in your MIS are sent again.

Step 4: Optional: stop people changing their own picture

By default, pupils and staff can change their own picture on their Realsmart profile page. To stop that:

Open School settings → Profile.
Tick Disable student profile pictures (pupils), Disable teacher profile pictures (everyone who isn't a pupil: staff, admins, governors and so on), or both.
Select Save profile.

This stops them changing or removing their own picture, wherever they'd do it: the My profile page in ADAdmin (old and new) and the Profile page on Realsmart sign-in. The picture section explains that the school manages pictures instead. An admin can still set anyone's picture from their edit page — see Edit a user.

Good to know

You don't need the Google Workspace picture switches for MIS photos. Google Workspace → Settings → Sync has Sync learner profile pictures and Sync mentor profile pictures under Profile details. Those are for copying pictures that were added in Realsmart itself. Turning them on doesn't start an automatic copy: Realsmart runs that copy when needed. Ask Realsmart support if you want those pictures sent to Google.
Turning the photo sync off stops new copies. Photos already copied stay where they are.
Who gets a photo. Only people the MIS sync has matched to their MIS record get one. An account you created by hand that isn't linked to the MIS won't get a photo. Someone with no photo in the MIS is left as they are.
When it runs. On Sync status, the schedule lists it as Process profile pictures — see The sync schedule.

Troubleshooting

No photos have appeared

Check these in order:

Has a weekday evening passed since you saved? Nothing is copied at the weekend.
Is Google Workspace sync on and Live? On School settings → Sync services, Google Workspace must show Enabled — live. On — preview only means nothing is copied.
Is the right switch ticked? The learners and mentors switches are separate.
Does your MIS share photos with Realsmart through Wonde? If your school's MIS doesn't connect through Wonde, or photos aren't shared, nothing arrives.

If all of these are right and there are still no photos after a weekday evening, contact Realsmart support with your school name and the username of one person whose photo is missing.

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