I'm sure I have to be missing something. After many hours of digging though the knowledge base and the manuals I am unable to find how to remove a 'stuck' user in the global address list that has been removed as a user. Scenario as follows: Customer wants Outlook 2003 Exchange installed for all permentant staffers - 16 of them. The 17th comes along and management says add them to the list. Done. No problems. However, once user #17 begins to work on the system it is evident that they will only be temporary and do not need all the bells and whistles. Management says "Remove them from the list!" Done. Well, sort of. They are stuck in the Global Address List and cannot be deleted. This is creating a serious communication problem as the server is intercepting any corporate email going to User #17 - and erroring out! Any intra-corporation email to #17 is getting bounced. Inter-corporation email is coming in fine as the email for #17 is being picked up directly from the local ISP Mail Server and NOT the exchange server. How can I remove user #17 from the Global Address List so intra-corporation email can be sent to the ISP and not trapped and rejected before it gets out the door?

How exactly did you "remove" this person from the Global Address List? Knowing that will determine where to go next.

Greetings. I'm sorry if I explained it poorly, but the problem is not that I removed them from the global address list, the problem is that I cannot remove them from the global address list. The way the problem manifests itself is as follows: I created a 'legitimate' account and set it up with no problems. The user never had a computer set up, just the settings and such in the server. The user and management decided that it was unneccessary that the user have access to the calendars and other items since their actualy computer usage was going to be limited to two months per year AND that the computer they use will vary from year to year. I went into the server management and removed the user and user files as prescribed by the server management software. When the corporation attempts to send email to that person, the email 'attempts' to go directly to that person as if an exchange account was still set up. The ONLY place that I can find this account/user referenced is in the global address list. I can send email from outside the corporation with no problems. Anyone from within the corporation gets an error as the mail is undeliverable and the exchange server will not forward the email to an external email server as it will with any other 'unidentifiable' email. I am temporarily having the corporation email anything they need to send to the user to an alias account (serviced by an external PLESK server) to avoid that problems associated with the 'partially deleted account'. My solution has not been ideal, but it is workable.I would prefer having the user deleted completely from the global address list. I hope this helps clarify my strange situation. Thank you.

TheFrostbyte wrote: I went into the server management and removed the user and user files as prescribed by the server management software. What exactly does that mean? What server managementare you talking about? Did you remove the user account from within Active Directory Users and Computers? TheFrostbyte wrote: I can send email from outside the corporation with no problems. Anyone from within the corporation gets an error as the mail is undeliverable and the exchange server will not forward the email to an external email server as it will with any other 'unidentifiable' email. I'm confused at whether you want this e-mail account to receive e-mail or not. If you don't want it to receive e-mail, then you need to simply delete the mailbox. This can be done within Active Directory Users and Computers (on the Exchange server) by right-clicking on the user, and choosing Exchange tasks. If you remove the mailbox (but keep the user account), the user will also not show up in the Global Address List. If you don't want the user account, then from the same place, delete the account, and have it mark the Exchange mailbox for deletion. Once you've done this, no e-mail should be received from internal or external, and the user should not show up in the Global Address List.

I have the same problem but with a contact. The contact was deleted through AD. Then the normal user account was created with a email account. When I search AD there is no record of the contact only the mail enabled user account. But when you access the GAB through Outlook there are both entries. How do I get rid of the entry I do not want. I have tried rebuilding the Offline Address Book with no luck. I have also turned up logging on the server which hosts the RUS and it is running fine. Thanks

Do you get the same result when running outlook inonline mode? /Lasse

AFAIK the global adresslist ist processed automatically with out admin intervention. That means as long as the account has an Exchange mailbox as long it will be in the global adresslist. So as a test i would first backup the mailstore and then delete the mailbox. Then i would run the Recipient Update Service (RUS). After all that the adress should be gone from the global adress list Dark Fury

Here is a solution to this problem. This may have already been addressed and your issue may have been resolved, but incase this is searched on again later, here is some information that may help. This process refers to Microsoft KB article 314282 (Refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314282) and it has to do with the presence of "lingering objects" in your Global Catalog Server -From a Global Catalog DC, Run LDP to and connect to port 3268 - Connect to one DC at a time (you only need to connect to the DCs that Exchange communicates with - you can find this out in Exchange System Manager) using enterprise admin credentials for the domain of this Global Catalog DC you are logged into. - Bind using domain credentials -Click View. Select Tree-Select Base DN of DC=<YOUR DOMAIN>, DC=COM -Search (displayname=<THE DISPLAY NAME YOU ARE TRYING TO DELETE>)-Search Subtree-Run -Verify samaccountname or object for found user/object does not still exist in AD (Active Directory Users & Computers)-Copy objectGUID (if it is not there, add to search fields to display) - paste somewhere temporary -Obtain GUID for a domain controller in the domain that the object is a part of (this may not necessary be the same domain you are searching on right now, if you have multiple domains)(This can be obtained from Sites and services or repadmin /showreps <dc name>-Copy GUID for DC - paste somewhere temporary (do not delete other GUID previously pasted) ====== Connect to all domain controllers that had the entry one at a time -LDP to port 389-Leave Server blank-Bind-Leave All blank credentials - Browse | Modify- DN Blank- Attribute: RemoveLingeringObject- Value: <GUID=DC_GUID> : <GUID=USER_GUID>- Click Enter- Run- Verify Modified completed Hope this helps someone else.

I know this is an old thread, but I have the answer to the - how to delete user from global address book - and/or mailbox. If you have deleted the user from AD and they still show in the global address list, you must run "mailbox cleanup" on your Exchange server. After that you can "Purge" the mailbox, this will deletethe usersemails and remove the user from the global address list. Good Luck!

I have ran Mailbox cleanup and purged the users mailbox, how long should it take for the user to be removed from the global address list? Should it be instantaneous?

If you have deleted the user from AD and they still show in the global address list, you must run "mailbox cleanup" on your Exchange server. After that you can "Purge" the mailbox, this will deletethe usersemails and remove the user from the global address list. Good Luck! That is not correct. Purging the mailbox, or running Mailbox Cleanup, has absolutely *nothing* to do with whether a user shows up in the Global Address List or not. It only controls whether a mailbox is marked for deletion right away (mailbox cleanup), or during the next online maintenance cycle. Purging the mailbox simply deletes the mailbox that has been marked for deletion immediately, rather than waiting for your Deleted Mailbox Retention period to pass. As soon as you delete a mailbox, those related Exchange attributes are removed from the user account. As soon as this is done, the user will no longer show up in the Global Address List. What is likely happening is that Outlook is being used in "Cached" mode, or Offline mode, which uses the Offline Address List. By default, Exchange will generate the Offline Address Book (OAB) only once per day (typically sometime during the middle of the night). What this means is that if you are using Outlook cached mode with the OAB, and you delete a user or a mailbox, that change will not be reflected in your Outlook client until Exchange generates a new version of the OAB, AND your Outlook clients downloads that new version.

En-R-Jay wrote: I have ran Mailbox cleanup and purged the users mailbox, how long should it take for the user to be removed from the global address list? Should it be instantaneous? Yes. It is instantaneous unless you are running Outlook in Cached mode. See my other response about the Offline Address Book.

Cheers mate, all seems fine now.

Hi This conversation has been usefull for me. Thanks a lot.I have disabled former users accounts and run Mailbox Clenaup. But, I have also these kind of users/computers: 1.Domain Computures working remotely and using rpc over https as a Remote Mail solution.Will the unwanted entrydissapear after loging to Outlook the day after Mailbox Cleanup? 2. Non Domain Computures working remotely and using rpc over https as a Remote Mail solution.Will the unwanted entrydissapear after loging to Outlook the day after Mailbox Cleanup? Thanks, Juha

i have the same problem that can't remove user from Global Address List, thank you for your suggestion.

Well To mee the problem is quite solved. The remote users (domain computers) reported also that they don't see any more those disabled (unwanted) users. I have a SBS 2003 system where you can't find nessessary tool under Server Management Window. But if you browse AD Users and Computers to the My Busines and find all your users there you can run the wizard (by right clicking the user) mentioned earlier. It is just that it will take max(?) 24 hours to see the impact. There is a maintanance cycle involved which typically happens in the night. Also probably users need to restart the Outlook to see the results. Hope this helps. Rgs, Juha

i found the solution without having to uncheck the cache option. make sure outlook is closed and find the location of the pst file, the default location is "document and settings" "user profile" "local settings" "application data" "microsoft" "outlook". there you find your pst file and other files assoicated with outlook. make sure you can see hidden files and erase the file "utmplts.oab". reopen outlook and open your address book for a result.

So final status is that it WAS Offline Address Book and not Global Address Book :-) ---------- Ondrej Zilinec - Cievo ----------