Hide external contacts from GAL, but not external contacts address list

Question

Hello-
I have created a custom address list called 2021 Public Business Contacts and filtered it to display the following:

Mail contacts with external email addresses
Mail-enabled groups

I added a rule to filter based on a dedicated OU that contains all of my external contacts and distribution lists.

The only remaining challenge: the external contacts are showing in the GAL. How can I prevent them from showing in the GAL, but continue to display in my custom 2021 Public Business Contacts address list?

Thanks

Answer 1

You can't have it do both of those.
If you hide the contacts, the address list will still work however

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/address-books/address-lists/manage-address-lists#use-exchange-online-powershell-to-view-members-of-address-lists

Answer 2

Hi @Bryce I ,

The only remaining challenge: the external contacts are showing in the GAL. How can I prevent them from showing in the GAL, but continue to display in my custom 2021 Public Business Contacts address list?

According to this article, hiding a recipient from address lists hides it from all address lists and GALs, so this is not an option. As mentioned in the document, "If you want to selectively include the recipient in some address lists but not others, you need to adjust the recipient filters in the address lists to include or exclude the recipient.".

Given the fact that it's not feasible to modify the default GAL, my thought is to create a customized GAL using proper filters and apply it to users via address book policy. Here's a relevant thread for your reference:
Hide only contacts from GAL only not from all Address liste Exchange 2013

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