The main
purpose of distribution lists is to send emails to a group of people without having to type their emails 1 by 1. This is quite a big deal, especially when working in a large organizations and managing departments. Setting up your Office 365 distribution lists might look very technical, but don’t worry we will walk you through each step. This guide will cover everything that you should know about creating & managing distribution
lists. What are distribution lists?Distribution lists, sometimes called contact groups or distribution groups,are bundles of email recipients that function as a single email contact. Email distribution lists allow sending bulk emails to multiple recipients instead of sending the same email multiple times to each recipient on the list. A distribution list is different from an email list in that members cannot reply to the distribution list’s name to send messages to everyone else in the group. How do distribution lists work in Office 365?In Office 365 Outlook app, members have the ability to create their distribution lists, add themselves to desired distribution lists, or invite others to join the groups. An admin is capable of making all changes, which comes in handy when members should be added or removed, or when group ownership changes. These changes can only be performed by an Exchange administrator, global administrator, or Group administrator. Remember that even as you create the distribution list in Outlook 365, you can choose to hide from the address book. Doing so changes the distribution list to “unlisted” and it will not show up in searches. For a hidden distribution, you will have to type the complete email address when sending an email to it. You can allow members to add or remove themselves as members of a distribution list. The default setting is that distribution lists have closed membership. You can also control who can send to your distribution list or let everyone to send to the distribution list. By default, all employees of the organization can send to the distribution list. It goes without saying that whoever created the distribution list is the default owner. It is possible for this ownership to change. How to create a distribution list
Outlook 365 gives you the ability to perform different levels of management operations for your distribution list. For instance, you can add new members, add owners, remove owners, remove members, edit individuals allowed to send to the distribution list, and even hide the list. Keep in mind that the contact list will work just fine the first time you create it. However, as time goes by, it becomes inevitable to execute any of the operations mentioned. Adding owners to a distribution list in Outlook 365Note: By default, whoever created the distribution list is the owner. You can add other people as owners if you want them to have administrative rights over the distribution list. Here is a quick guide on the different management operations for your distribution list:
Removing owners to a distribution list from Outlook 365Note: If you are the owner of a distribution list (you created it), you can remove other owners to effectively revoke their administrative rights over the group. Note that removing ownership, does not mean removing them all together.
Note: You cannot remove all owners from the group. All groups must have at least one owner whose role is to manage the group.
Change the email addresses that send to the groupOutlook 365 gives you the ability to edit who can and cannot send to your distribution group. This is a powerful feature especially when you want the communication amongst the group members to be private without external interferences. Note: By default, only senders inside your organization can send messages to this group. To allow someone outside your organization to send to the group, contact your email admin. To restrict the senders inside your organization who can send to the group, add users or groups to the list. If you do this, mail sent by anyone else will be rejected Follow these steps to edit who can send email to your distribution list:
Allow members to remove or add themselves in a distribution listYou can control whether members added to the distribution list can remove or add themselves. Follow these steps to edit who can send email to your distribution list:
There are 3 options shown here:
Hiding the distribution list from Outlook Address BookBy default, when you create the distribution list, it shows up on the Outlook Address Book. However, you can disable this by hiding it so that only those who know the distribution list can type it in the “To:” section of the email composed. Note: this setting stops Outlook from auto-completing the email when users type it.
Create a MailTipMailTips are a brilliant way to inform users while they are composing a message. As the user is typing a message, Exchange analyzes recipients and the user gets notified with a MailTip in case a problem is detected. Here is how you can create a MailTip for your Outlook 365 distribution list:
Final thoughtsNow that you know how to create, edit & manage distribution lists in Outlook office 365 this is just one way to get your inbox organized. There are many more cool tips and methods you can use to get your inbox organized or even aim for inbox zero. Here are more awesome methods to sort and organize your Outlook. How do I add someone to an existing distribution list in Outlook?Open Outlook for Windows. Under Groups in the left folder pane, select your group. On the Groups ribbon, select Add Members. In the Add Members box, search for people within your organization either by their full name or email address, and then select the names to add.
How do I add multiple members to a distribution list in Outlook 365?Click the '+' sign next to add members. You can select users and click add then click OK. You can add them one at a time, or select multiple by holding the control or shift keys. After adding the users you want to the group click save.
How do I edit a distribution list in Outlook 365?To edit a group or review information about a group:. Select Settings. > Options > Groups > Distribution groups I own.. In the dialog box, select the group you want to edit. ... . Select Edit. ... . Make the changes you want.. Select Save to save your changes, or Cancel to leave without saving.. How do I add a person to an existing distribution list?Go to the Home tab and select Address Book. In the Address Book window, click the All Distribution Lists.. Click Add.. Search for the member you wish to add a.. Double-click their name and then click OK.. |