Importing Shared Contacts into the Global Address List (Outlook 2013)
A colleague of mine has made a contact list which is going to be shared with other colleagues to increase productivity.

His question is, if it's possible to import the contact list into the Global Address List after it has been shared?

The contact list does not appear in my Global Address List, instead it appears in the People section (next to Calender).

If you need technical info about the office version etc., feel free to ask!

Thanks in advance.
April 1st, 2015 7:30am

A colleague of mine has made a contact list which is going to be shared with other colleagues to increase productivity.

His question is, if it's possible to import the contact list into the Global Address List after it has been shared?

Can't import into the Exchange GAL via Outlook.

Since you're using Exchange, suggest that a Public contacts folder is created which is then made accessible to all.

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April 1st, 2015 2:23pm

A colleague of mine has made a contact list which is going to be shared with other colleagues to increase productivity.

His question is, if it's possible to import the contact list into the Global Address List after it has been shared?

Can't import into the Exchange GAL via Outlook.

Since you're using Exchange, suggest that a Public contacts folder is created which is then made accessible t

April 2nd, 2015 4:13am

Are there articles available about creating a Public Contacts Folder and linking it to the public mail folder?

Public Folders are not "linked" to a specific mailbox - they are by definition "public" and available to those that have permission to access a given folder which can be done on a per user basis with appropriate read/write permissions.

Just need to look up information searching for "Exchange Public Folders" - one such article is

In Microsoft Outlook, a public folder is a folder created to share information with others.
http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/definition/public-folder

All that your friend needs to do is contact his/her Exchange admin, ask that a public folder is created with permissions set for whomever should be able to read and/or write to the folder. Once done, just copy the contacts to the newly created public folder

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April 2nd, 2015 7:06am

SP-Brown,

You can import contacts into Active Directory, so that it can be included in GAL. There are some gotchas with that however. Maybe, a simple Outlook folder sharing is more convenient for you. You can share Outlook Contacts folders among collagues just the same as Outlook Calendar sharing works. Start here:

https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Share-an-Outlook-calendar-with-other-people-cafb9303-1b1e-40d3-839d-b6abac03a5e8

https://support.office.com/en-in/article/Share-a-contacts-folder-with-others-58ca1290-e170-4f89-a213-03aa6750bcf3

With Exchange Public Folders you can achieve somewhat the same.

If you really want to mess with AD and the GAL, this is your article: http://blogs.technet.com/b/activedirectoryua/archive/2011/01/14/import-mail-contact-into-active-directory-using-csvde.aspx

---

Jan

April 2nd, 2015 7:40am

SP-Brown,

You can import contacts into Active Directory, so that it can be included in GAL. There are some gotchas with that however. Maybe, a simple Outlook folder sharing is more convenient for you. You can share Outlook Contacts folders among collagues just the same as Outlook Calendar sharing works. Start here:

https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Share-an-Outlook-calendar-with-other-people-cafb9303-1b1e-40d3-839d-b6abac03a5e8

https://support.office.com/en-in/article/Share-a-contacts-folder-with-others-58ca1290-e170-4f89-a213-03aa6750bcf3

With Exchange Public Folders you can achieve somewhat the same.

If you really want to mess with AD and the GAL, this is your article: http://blogs.technet.com/b/activedirectoryua/archive/2011/01/14/import-mail-contact-into-active-directory-using-csvde.aspx

---

Jan

The ideal situation would be if the shared Contacts Folder shows up in the Offline GAL, but I'll try to fiddle around with it for a bit. 

Is there also a possibilty that users can import a contact list so that appears in their Offline GAL?, I do think that it might be a hassle to keep the contacts updated....
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April 3rd, 2015 6:24am

Hi SP-Brown,

Ask these questions and if feasible to implement:

1. If users are internal\already exist in GAL, a Dynamic Address List can be created which will have users automatically added and removed. Plus it will be shared to orgwide similar to the GAL.

What are the criteria for the users to filter can be Department, location etc.

2. If these are external contacts, they can be created by admins into Mail Contacts that would appear in GAL like other users.

3. If RBAC used, manager can be given access to actually use OWA(EAC actually) to add\ remove members from the AddressList. (Bit complicated and manager needs to be slightly techy)

4. If the user base is small, create a Shared mailbox, update the Contacts there, give access to the selective

April 3rd, 2015 6:59am

SP-Brown,

you cannot manipulate the GAL directly. For instance, you cannot synchronize outlook contacts with GAL or the AD. You can import your contacts but it's not something you would do on a regular basis.

I can only confirm your concerns it is more of a hassle to have the list updated. You will need a technician to make the modifications in Active Directory and wait until the GAL is updated. And again, wait until the updated Offline Address Book is downloaded to Outlook. It may take hours (or days) depending on several factors. Some clients are updated earlier and others are later. This also can lead to troubles.

Believe me you don't want to share and maintain contacts this way. Since you are using exchange server and outlook you have more choices that make life easier, just simply share that folder from outlook.

You can teach outlook where to look for contacts when you search: https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Change-the-default-Address-Book---watch-and-learn-84c7be39-282a-4096-aeb8-89a2661a5162

Cheers,

Jan


  • Edited by u.jan 12 hours 31 minutes ago
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April 3rd, 2015 2:47pm

SP-Brown,

you cannot manipulate the GAL directly. For instance, you cannot synchronize outlook contacts with GAL or the AD. You can import your contacts but it's not something you would do on a regular basis.

I can only confirm your concerns it is more of a hassle to have the list updated. You will need a technician to make the modifications in Active Directory and wait until the GAL is updated. And again, wait until the updated Offline Address Book is downloaded to Outlook. It may take hours (or days) depending on several factors. Some clients are updated earlier and others are later. This also can lead to troubles.

Believe me you don't want to share and maintain contacts this way. Since you are using exchange server and outlook you have more choices that make life easier, just simply share that folder from outlook.

You can teach outlook where to look for contacts when you search: https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Change-the-default-Address-Book---watch-and-learn-84c7be39-282a-4096-aeb8-89a2661a5162

Cheers,

Jan


  • Edited by u.jan Friday, April 03, 2015 6:54 PM
April 3rd, 2015 6:46pm

SP-Brown,

you cannot manipulate the GAL directly. For instance, you cannot synchronize outlook contacts with GAL or the AD. You can import your contacts but it's not something you would do on a regular basis.

I can only confirm your concerns it is more of a hassle to have the list updated. You will need a technician to make the modifications in Active Directory and wait until the GAL is updated. And again, wait until the updated Offline Address Book is downloaded to Outlook. It may take hours (or days) depending on several factors. Some clients are updated earlier and others are later. This also can lead to troubles.

Believe me you don't want to share and maintain contacts this way. Since you are using exchange server and outlook you have more choices that make life easier, just simply share that folder from outlook.

You can teach outlook where to look for contacts when you search: https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Change-the-default-Address-Book---watch-and-learn-84c7be39-282a-4096-aeb8-89a2661a5162

Cheers,

Jan


  • Edited by u.jan Friday, April 03, 2015 6:54 PM
  • Marked as answer by SP-Brown 18 hours 37 minutes ago
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April 3rd, 2015 6:46pm

I will review the given possibilities with my colleague to discuss which approach provides the best solution for us.

Will post a new message once I know which approach we have picked.
April 8th, 2015 3:13am

I have consulted with my colleague and we did the following:

1.He sends the contacts to me and I open the contacts folder.
2.I am now at the contacts section of People, where I will make a new folder.
3.Once the folder has been created and named, I copy the contacts with CTRL+V & CTRL+C (it will make a window pop up but you can ignore it).
4.The copied contacts can now be pasted in the new folder I have just created (using CTRL+V).
5.There you have it!, a new folder with the desired contacts and I have also found out how to make them available in the address book without editing the GAL.

Putting the contacts in the address book has been achieved with the link from Jan.

I want to thank everybody for helping me with this task!

Note: I'll mark Jan's post as the answer since the link he supplied was part of the solution.a

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April 14th, 2015 8:54am

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