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Manage address lists in Exchange Online

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An address list is a collection of mail-enabled recipient objects in Exchange Online. Address lists are based on recipient filters. For more information about address lists, see Address lists in Exchange Online.

For additional management tasks related to manage address lists, see Address list procedures in Exchange Online.

Looking for the Exchange Server version of this topic? See Create address lists.

What do you need to know before you begin?

  • Estimated time to complete each procedure: 5 minutes.

  • By default, the Address List role isn't assigned to any role groups in Exchange Online. To use any cmdlets that require the Address List role, you need to add the role to a role group. For more information, see Modify role groups.

  • You can only use Exchange Online PowerShell to perform virtually all of the procedures in this topic (everything except hiding recipients from address lists). To connect to Exchange Online PowerShell, see Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

Tip

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at Exchange Online or Exchange Online Protection.

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to create address lists

You can create address lists with or without recipient filters. For details about recipient filters, see Recipient filters for address lists in Exchange Online PowerShell.

To create an address list, use the following syntax:

New-AddressList -Name "<Address List Name>" [-Container <ExistingAddressListPath>] [<Precanned recipient filter | Custom recipient filter>] [-RecipientContainer <OrganizationalUnit>]

This example creates an address list with a precanned recipient filter:

  • Name: Southeast Offices

  • Location: Under the root (" \", also known as All Address Lists) because we didn't use the Container parameter, and the default value is " \".

  • Precanned recipient filter: All users with mailboxes where the State or province value is GA, AL, or LA (Georgia, Alabama, or Louisiana).

New-AddressList -Name "Southeast Offices" -IncludedRecipients MailboxUsers -ConditionalStateorProvince "GA","AL","LA"

This example creates an address list with a custom recipient filter:

  • Name: Northwest Executives

  • Location: Under the existing address list named North America.

  • Custom recipient filter: All users with mailboxes where the Title value contains Director or Manager, and the State or province value is WA, OR, or ID (Washington, Oregon, or Idaho).

New-AddressList -Name "Northwest Executives" -Container "\North America"-RecipientFilter "(RecipientType -eq 'UserMailbox') -and (Title -like '*Director*' -or Title -like '*Manager*') -and (StateOrProvince -eq 'WA' -or StateOrProvince -eq 'OR' -or StateOrProvince -eq 'ID')"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-AddressList.

This example creates the address list named Oregon and Washington Users by using the RecipientFilter parameter and includes recipients that are mailbox users and have StateOrProvince set to Washington or Oregon.

New-AddressList -Name "Oregon and Washington" -RecipientFilter "((RecipientType -eq 'UserMailbox') -and ((StateOrProvince -eq 'Washington') -or (StateOrProvince -eq 'Oregon')))"

This example creates the child address list Building 34 Meeting Rooms in the All Rooms parent container, using built-in conditions.

New-AddressList -Name "Building 34 Meeting Rooms" -Container "\All Rooms" -IncludedRecipients Resources -ConditionalCustomAttribute1 "Building 34"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-AddressList.

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you've successfully created an address list, replace <AddressListIdentity> with the path\name of the address list, and run the following command in Exchange Online Powershell to verify the property values:

Get-AddressList -Identity "<AddressListIdentity>" | Format-List Name,RecipientFilterType,RecipientFilter,IncludedRecipients,Conditional*

Use Exchange Online Powershell to view members of address lists

Technically, this procedure returns all recipients (including hidden recipients) that match the recipient filters for the address list. The recipients that are actually visible in the address list have the HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled property value False.

To view the members of an address list, use the following syntax:

$<VariableName> = Get-AddressList -Identity <AddressListIdentity>; Get-Recipient -ResultSize unlimited -RecipientPreviewFilter $<VariableName>.RecipientFilter | select Name,PrimarySmtpAddress,HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled

This example returns the members of the address list named Southeast Offices.

$AL = Get-AddressList -Identity "Southeast Offices"; Get-Recipient -ResultSize unlimited -RecipientPreviewFilter $AL.RecipientFilter | select Name,PrimarySmtpAddress,HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled

This example exports the results to the file C:\My Documents\Southeast Offices Export.csv.

$AL = Get-AddressList -Identity "Southeast Offices"; Get-Recipient -ResultSize unlimited -RecipientPreviewFilter $AL.RecipientFilter | select Name,PrimarySmtpAddress,HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation -Path "C:\My Documents\Southeast Offices Export.csv"

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to update address lists

The Update-AddressList cmdlet (or Update-GlobalAddressList) isn't available in Exchange Online PowerShell. If recipients that should appear an address list do not, you need to change the required property value for those users to a temporary value, and then back to the value that's required by the address list. You can update the user property values in the Exchange admin center (EAC) or Exchange Online PowerShell, but it's quicker to do bulk operations in PowerShell.

For example, suppose the address list named Oregon and Washington Users uses the filter "((RecipientType -eq 'UserMailbox') -and ((StateOrProvince -eq 'Washington') -or (StateOrProvince -eq 'Oregon')))", but the address list doesn't include everyone whose StateOrProvince property values are set correctly. To update the address list, perform the following steps:

  1. Use the query from the address list to find all users that should be in the address list. For example:

    $Before = Get-User -Filter "((RecipientType -eq 'UserMailbox') -and ((StateOrProvince -eq 'Oregon') -or (StateOrProvince -eq 'Washington')))" -ResultSize Unlimited

  2. Change the required property to a temporary value. For example, change the StateOrProvince values from Oregon to OR, and Washington to WA:

    $Before | where {$_.StateOrProvince -eq 'Oregon'} | foreach {Set-User $_.Identity -StateOrProvince OR}

    $Before | where {$_.StateOrProvince -eq 'Washington'} | foreach {Set-User $_.Identity -StateOrProvince WA}

  3. Find those same users again by using the temporary property values. For example:

    $After = Get-User -Filter "((RecipientType -eq 'UserMailbox') -and ((StateOrProvince -eq 'OR') -or (StateOrProvince -eq 'WA')))" -ResultSize Unlimited

  4. Change the temporary value back to the required value. For example, change the StateOrProvince values from OR to Oregon, and WA to Washington:

    $After | where {$_.StateOrProvince -eq 'OR'} | foreach {Set-User $_.Identity -StateOrProvince Oregon}

    $After | where {$_.StateOrProvince -eq 'WA'} | foreach {Set-User $_.Identity -StateOrProvince Washington}

Notes:

  • Title, department and address properties require the Get-User and Set-User cmdlets. CustomAttribute1 through CustomAttribute15 properties require the Get-Mailbox and Set-Mailbox cmdlets. For more information about what properties are available on which cmdlet, see the following topics:

  • If a only small number of users don't appear in the address list, you can modify the required property value for each user. For example:

    1. Set a temporary property value for the user:

      Set-User -Identity <UserIdentity> -StateOrProvince WA

    2. Change the temporary value back to the required value:

      Set-User -Identity <Identity> -StateOrProvince Washington

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you've successfully updated an address list, replace <AddressListIdentity> with the name of the address list, and run the following command in Exchange Online PowerShell to verify the RecipientFilterApplied property value:

Get-AddressList -Identity <AddressListIdentity> | Format-Table Name,RecipientFilterApplied -Auto

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to modify address lists

The same basic settings are available as when you created the address list. For more information, see the Use Exchange Online PowerShell to create address lists section in this topic.

To modify an existing address list, use the following syntax:

Set-AddressList -Identity <AddressListIdentity> [-Name <Name>] [<Precanned recipient filter | Custom recipient filter>] [-RecipientContainer <OrganizationalUnit>]

When you modify the Conditional parameter values, you can use the following syntax to add or remove values without affecting other existing values: @{Add="<Value1>","<Value2>"...; Remove="<Value1>","<Value2>"...}.

This example modifies the existing address list named Southeast Offices by adding the State or province value TX (Texas) to the precanned recipient filter.

Set-AddressList -Identity "Southeast Offices" -ConditionalStateOrProvince @{Add="TX"}

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-AddressList.

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you've successfully modified an address list, replace <AddressListIdentity> with the path\name of the address list, and run the following command in Exchange Online Powershell to verify the property values:

Get-AddressList -Identity "<AddressListIdentity>" | Format-List Name,RecipientFilterType,RecipientFilter,IncludedRecipients,Conditional*

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to delete address lists

To remove an address list, use the following syntax:

Remove-AddressList -Identity "<AddressListName>"

This example removes the address list Sales Department, which doesn't contain child address lists.

Remove-AddressList -Identity "Sales Department"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Remove-AddressList.

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you've successfully removed an address list, run the following command in Exchange Online Powershell to verify that the address list isn't listed:

Get-AddressList

Hide recipients from address lists

Hiding a recipient from address lists doesn't prevent the recipient from receiving email messages; it prevents users from finding the recipient in address lists. The recipient is hidden from all address lists and GALs (effectively, they're exceptions to the recipient filters in all address lists). If you want to selectively include the recipient in some address lists but not others, you need to adjust the recipient filters in the address lists to include or exclude the recipient.

Hiding a recipient from address lists can also prevent users from being found through an address book search. For example, (Auto Attendant service voice recognition) [/microsoftteams/dial-voice-reference] won't be able to find and redirect calls to this recipient.

Use the new EAC to hide recipients from address lists

To open the new EAC, see Exchange admin center in Exchange Online.

You can't use the new EAC to hide Microsoft 365 groups from address lists.

  1. In the new EAC, go to one of the following locations based on the recipient type:

    • Recipients > Mailboxes: User mailboxes.

    • Recipients > Groups: Distribution groups, mail-enabled security groups, and dynamic distribution groups.

    • Recipients > Resources: Room and equipment mailboxes.

    • Recipients > Contacts: Mail users and mail contacts.

    • Public folders > Public folders: Mail-enabled public folders.

  2. Select the recipient that you want to hide from address lists.

  3. The recipient properties window opens. What you do next depends on the recipient type:

    • Mailboxes: On the Account tab, select Manage contact information. Then select Hide from global address list.

    • Groups: On the Settings tab, select Hide this group from the global address list.

    • Resources: Click the pencil and select Hide from address lists (GAL).

    • Contacts: Select Hide this from the global address list.

    • Public folders: On the General mail properties tab, select Hide from Exchange address list.

  4. When you're finished, click Save.

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to hide recipients from address lists

To hide a recipient from address lists, use the following syntax:

Set-<RecipientType> -Identity <RecipientIdentity> -HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled $true

<RecipientType> is one of these values:

  • DistributionGroup

  • DynamicDistributionGroup

  • Mailbox

  • MailContact

  • MailPublicFolder

  • MailUser

  • UnifiedGroup

This example hides the distribution group named Internal Affairs from address lists.

Set-DistributionGroup -Identity "Internal Affairs" -HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled $true

This example hides the mailbox michelle@contoso.com from address lists.

Set-Mailbox -Identity michelle@contoso.com -HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled $true

Note: To make the recipient visible in address lists again, use the value $false for the HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled parameter.

How do you know this worked?

You can verify that you've successfully hidden a recipient from address lists by using any of the following procedures:

  • In the EAC, select the recipient, click Edit (Edit icon.) and verify the hide from address lists setting is selected.

  • In Exchange Online PowerShell, run the following command and verify the recipient is listed:

    Get-Recipient -ResultSize unlimited -Filter 'HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled -eq $true'

  • Open the GAL in Outlook or Outlook on the web (formerly known as Outlook Web App), and verify the recipient isn't visible.