This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(227.2, 6%, 32%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EFD%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
On an Office 365 Exchange Online Environment, I have managed to set two Address Book Policies and everything seems to function properly as the dedicated address lists and the dedicated GAL are being published per ABP and appear in Outlook web and Outlook-Office 365 ...except the dedicated Offline Address Books that we created don't seem to be generated.
Using the Get-OfflineAddressBook I noticed that the newly created OAB's are not being generated which could be noticed from the below output.
LastTouchedTime: null
LastRequestedTime: null
LastFailedTime: null
LastNumberOfRecords: null
LastSuccessfulGenerationTime: null
While we get the following output when running the Get-OfflineAddressBook on the default address book and get the following results. "Which is Functioning Properly"
LastTouchedTime: 27.6.23 18:45:20
LastRequestedTime: 26.6.23 14:47:09
LastFailedTime :
LastNumberOfRecords: 97
LastSuccessfulGenerationTime : 27.6.23 15:45:20
What could be done to push Exchange Online to start creating the new OAB's?
Thank you
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(41.6, 80%, 14%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EAL%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Hi @ Fadi Deeb ,
Just checking in to see how things are going on with this thread.
If the reply was helpful, you can click the "Accept Answer" button under this post so that other's with similar question can benefit from this thread as well.
If you still have further questions or concerns, feel free to post back.
Hi @ Fadi Deeb ,
Does this issue have any updates? If it has been resolved, please click "Accept as answer" to mark useful post or share your solution, your action would benefit others who have similar issues.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to post back. Thanks!
Hi @Aholic Liang-MSFT ,
Till now the status of the Offline Address books is as mentioned above.
Support/escalation is required.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(83.2, 63%, 18%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ES%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
We're having exactly the same issue. Please update if you ever find the solution. We have a support ticket open with MS, but haven't received a response yet.
We're having exactly the same issue. So far, no response from MS support. Please update this if you ever find the solution.
Hi @ Fadi Deeb ,
From this official document, we can learn that Offline address books are generated every 8 hours.
In addition, I see additional information in this Microsoft article, ‘It can take 24 to 48 hours for the GAL to update the OAB. Check back after another 24 hours to see whether the OAB is updated.’
However, there is no way to force an update of the OAB in Exchange Online. You can only do that in on-premises Exchange by using the Update-OfflineAddressBook cmdlet.
Therefore, it is recommended that you wait about 24 hours after updating GAL, and then see if the update is successful.
If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(57.599999999999994, 46%, 15%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ETJ%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
"It can take 24-48 hours"
I find this to be a legacy statement covering the end users viewpoint.
For Administrators, the important part of the conversation here is thus:
A change in the directory should reflect in the GAL rather quickly. The notable verbiage here is that the GAL and the Offline Address Book (OAB) are 2 completely different objects.
The OAB is generated every 8 hours, true.
So if you make a change, it should be in the online GAL (but not the OAB) within a few minutes.
If you run the following in Exchange Online Powershell, it will tell you the last time the OAB was generated:
Get-OfflineAddressBook "Default Offline Address Book" | fl LastSuccessfulGenerationTime
If this timestamp is before the time you made the change, you need to wait LastSuccessfulGenerationTime+8 hours.
after that, run the command again and if the timestamp is now updated, the OAB is now updated with the change you made, and the client can download the OAB (easiest and most confidently by asking the end user to reboot)
If changes are not visible in the OAB after that, you have a problem can push for support to address. No need to waste 2 days on what could be a VIP request.
Given that there is not a way to force the OAB generation it would be nice to have some type of powershell that can look for an object in the stored OAB. Something like:
Get-OABRecipient -OAB "Default Offline Address Book" -identity ******@contoso.com