Remove a global address list in Exchange Online

The built-in global address list (GAL) that's automatically created by Exchange Online includes every mail-enabled object in the organization. You can create additional GALs to separate users by organization or location, but a user can only see and use one GAL. For more information about address lists, see Address lists in Exchange Online.

You can use the procedures in this topic to remove any custom GALs that you've created. You can't remove:

• The GAL named Default Offline Address Book, which is the built-in GAL that's available in Exchange Online, and the only GAL that has the IsDefaultGlobalAddressList property value True.

• A GAL that's defined in an offline address book (OAB). For OAB procedures, see Offline address book procedures.

For additional GAL management tasks, see Address list procedures in Exchange Online.

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 the procedures in this topic. To connect to Exchange Online PowerShell, see Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to remove a GAL

To remove a GAL, use the following syntax:

Remove-GlobalAddressList -Identity <GALIdentity>

This example removes the address list named Agency A GAL.

Remove-GlobalAddressList -Identity "Agency A GAL"

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

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you've successfully removed a GAL, run the following command in Exchange Online PowerShell to verify that the GAL isn't listed:

Get-GlobalAddressList