I'm trying to find Microsoft's official method for sharing external contacts in Microsoft 365, specifically within Exchange and Outlook. In the past, we used public folders with on-premises Exchange, but I've heard that this method is becoming outdated. I'm concerned about future support for it. What I'm really looking for is a streamlined way for everyone in our organization to access these external contacts without too much hassle. Adding over 100 vendor contacts to the Global Address List (GAL) seems tedious, especially since some users prefer classic Outlook while others are on the New Outlook and Outlook on the web. I've also considered creating a shared mailbox for these contacts, but that might involve some manual setup for users if automatic syncing doesn't work. I'd love to hear how others have managed this without too many headaches. Any insights or solutions you've found effective? Thanks!
3 Answers
Using third-party services could also be a solution. For instance, we previously used Cirasync, which syncs a contact list to users' Outlook contacts. Currently, we’ve created an Azure runbook script to automate this process for our organization, and it runs on a schedule.
You might want to check the M365 admin center under users for the contacts feature. It could be the solution you’re looking for!
Thanks for the tip! I found that option, but it adds the contacts to the GAL by default. Is there a way to hide them from the GAL but still have them available in the "People" section in Outlook? I’m testing it out now.
For managed contacts organization-wide, M365 can be utilized. Although adding them to the address book includes them in the GAL, you can create them as Mail Contacts and label the Department or Company field as 'VENDOR'. Following that, you can make a custom address list, filtering by Company = VENDOR.
Interesting! Can you share more details about the Azure runbook? Are you using it to import contacts from a CSV file with EXO Powershell?