Change Outlook Address Book - Outlook 365

Question

Hello,

I am looking to identify the registry keys and values that need to be updated, to change the default Outlook Address Book in Outlook 365.

In the testing that I have done for a user using a registry snapshot tool, some of the relevant entries appear to be:

Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Profiles\Outlook\9207f3e0a3b11019908b08002b2a56c2

Value:
"01023d06"
"11023d05"

When I capture these key/values on an initial domain\user; I can change the selected Outlook Address Book as I wish.

However when I then try to apply the updated registry settings to a different domain\user; that user's Outlook Address Book settings are not being updated.

So I'm thinking that there must be additional registry keys/values that need to be captured.

Appreciate suggestions

Thank you

VW

Answer 1

Hi @Vaughan Wickham ,

According to your description, I understand that you would like to set your default address book (to GAL or Contacts folder) in Outlook, is it right? If so, based on my research and tests on my Outlook 365, we could manage it via this register key:

Location :HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office[OutlookVersion]\Outlook\Profiles[OutlookProfileName]\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046

value name: 00033d1b (type: REG_BINARY)

Data:
01 00 00 00 enables Start with Global Address List
02 00 00 00 enables Start with contact folders

If you haven't tried this method, please kindly try it and check if it could also work for you.

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Answer 2

This is what I created and tested successfully.

$rootPath = "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Profiles"
if (Test-Path $rootPath) {
    Get-ChildItem $rootPath | ForEach-Object {
        $profilePath = $_.PSPath
        $targetPath = Join-Path $profilePath "0a0d020000000000c000000000000046"
        if (Test-Path $targetPath) {
            # Create or set the value 00033d1b with data 01 00 00 00
            Set-ItemProperty -Path $targetPath -Name "00033d1b" -Value ([byte[]](1,0,0,0))
            
            # Create or set the value 000b3d1c with data 00 00
            Set-ItemProperty -Path $targetPath -Name "000b3d1c" -Value ([byte[]](0,0))
        }
    }
} else {
    Write-Host "The specified root path does not exist."
}