Read-only contact group

Question

Hi all,

I work in a school district which uses Office365, and we are trying to accomplish something we are having a tough time finding a solution for.

In a nutshell, we have a list of emergency contacts we need to distribute to a group of folks. In an ideal world we want to remove as many steps as possible for the end-users to get these contacts ultimately on their phones (through Exchange) while also being able to update them as needed without asking the end-users to edit/add/remove contacts. This is what we have so far:

Creating a separate account (******@domain.com) and asking the end-users to add it onto their devices and sync only contacts (not calendars or mail). This will allow the administrator of the account to edit as needed and will then sync across to all devices.

The problem with doing this is:

a) we are providing the password to the account to the users, which isn't a huge deal, but obviously isn't ideal

b) by adding the account, the end-users will have the ability of editing the contacts themselves and possibly removing a contact which could be a huge issue should an emergency arrive.

Is anyone aware of how to create an account of this nature in read-only mode, so the end-user can add the account to their cell phones and see everything, but not edit anything? Or alternatively, a different approach entirely?

Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Hi Jason,

Thanks for posting here.

Since you need the password to add a new account on the end-users phone, so you cannot achieve it. You can save these contacts in a Word or Excel file, and then email this file to all end-users. And manually update the contacts group. 

Also, you can submit your feedback to our related team via the link below:

https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/273493-office-365-admin

Microsoft welcomes you feedback on its products.

Moreover, we welcome the community members share any idea about this scenario with us.

Regards,

Rudy