How to create a private distribution list?

Question

For the love of God can someone please put me out of my misery. I have spent an ungodly amount of hours trying to figure out how to create a private distribution list that is accessible to only a few people within the organization.

We use Office 365 Outlook exchange. I use the web based version. The others use Outlook desktop software. We have about 15 staff members. I wanted to create a Board of Directors Distribution List (just a list where I type the name "Board of Directors" and all 15 emails show up. I don't need shared calendars or any collaboration tools.) BUT the key is....I only want this Distribution list to be available to a couple of people within the organization. As a result, I created this Distribution List and clicked Hide this group from the Global address list. I assumed that means that the people I put on as owners would be able to view it, myself included. But I can not view this list from any contact list. The only way that I get it to show up is if I uncheck Hide this Group from GAL. Then it shows up.

So, because I spent so many hours today researching how to fix this,I have run out of time. So, I figured I would send the email I needed to by unchecking Hide This Group and then hide again once it is sent. But now, it seems the contacts that were set up to make up this list are set to Not be visible on the Global Address List either. And they will not show up when I enter the DL in the To field. Only the in house staff who are part of this DL who are visible in the GAL do. I am completely at a lose at this point. Please help!!

***moved from Microsoft 365 and Office / Subscription, account, billing / Unknown / Windows ***

Answer 1

Hi Kris10ak,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

From reading your description, I understand that you would like to create a Distribution list that is only available to a few people in your organization. You created a Distribution list, but you are worrying the list is visible to others if you turn on the Global Address List (GAL).

The Global Address List (GAL) is a directory service within Microsoft Exchange and Office 365 that contains email addresses and contact information for all users, groups, shared contacts, and resources within an organization.  If you clicked Hide this group from the Global address list, the distribution group will not be visible for anyone, including owners and members in it.

However, you can limit who can send messages to the group by allowing only specific senders to send messages to this group. Select/remove one or more recipients/group from the drop-down list. If you add senders to this list, they are the only ones who can send mail to the group. Mail sent by anyone not in the list will be rejected.

You mentioned that it seems the contacts that were set up to make up this list are set to Not be visible on the Global Address List either. Do you mean those members are not visible when you enter their name individually? Do you turn on High this group/contact from the Global address list elsewhere?

What do you expect when you enter DL in the To filed? Meanwhile, did you click Hide this group from the Global address list before you enter DL in the To filed?

Kindly note that I initially requested some information because I couldn't find any screenshot details in your original description. This will help us better understand your specific situation.

Thank you so much for your precious time and we look forward to hear back from you.

Sincerely,

Luckie Shi | Community Moderator.

Answer 2

Thank you so very much for the reply. It is very helpful.

Continuing to use the board of directors as the example. I created a new contact for each board member. (At some point in the process, I clicked to "hide from the GAL" each individual contact. Then again (at some point because I spent hours doing and undoing; hiding and unhiding) I no longer remember the order.) I created a "Board of Directors Distribution List" which I also hid from GAL.

Obviously, according to what you stated below, if you make a contact or a DL hidden from GAL then NO ONE (not even me the owner of the DL) can see it. Why would anyone want to use this feature if the info is completely invisible to everyone??

So, if I follow your suggestion and make sure the DL is visible and enter names in the Specified Senders list under Delivery Management then no one but those people should be able to send emails to this group. Correct?

When I am able to access the DL because it is visible, it indicates the number members in the list. In this case 11. It only shows the 4 public ones. The other 7 are not visible because they were hidden from the GAL. When I click this DL to send an email to them, will all 11 receive it or only the 4 that it shows?

Finally, now that I know how to restrict DL from everyone sending to it, how do I access individual contacts so everyone can't see them but myself and a handful of others can? Since obviously hide from GAL is not the answer??

Thank you!

Hi Kris10ak,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

From reading your description, I understand that you would like to create a Distribution list that is only available to a few people in your organization. You created a Distribution list, but you are worrying the list is visible to others if you turn on the Global Address List (GAL).

The Global Address List (GAL) is a directory service within Microsoft Exchange and Office 365 that contains email addresses and contact information for all users, groups, shared contacts, and resources within an organization.  If you clicked Hide this group from the Global address list, the distribution group will not be visible for anyone, including owners and members in it.

However, you can limit who can send messages to the group by allowing only specific senders to send messages to this group. Select/remove one or more recipients/group from the drop-down list. If you add senders to this list, they are the only ones who can send mail to the group. Mail sent by anyone not in the list will be rejected.

You mentioned that it seems the contacts that were set up to make up this list are set to Not be visible on the Global Address List either. Do you mean those members are not visible when you enter their name individually? Do you turn on High this group/contact from the Global address list elsewhere?

What do you expect when you enter DL in the To filed? Meanwhile, did you click Hide this group from the Global address list before you enter DL in the To filed?

Kindly note that I initially requested some information because I couldn't find any screenshot details in your original description. This will help us better understand your specific situation.

Thank you so much for your precious time and we look forward to hear back from you.

 

Sincerely,

Luckie Shi | Community Moderator.

Answer 3

Hi Kris10ak,

Thank you so much your update!

I understand how frustrating this situation must be, especially after spending so much time trying to resolve it.

Kindly note that the feature to hide a DL from the Global Address List (GAL) is designed primarily for security and privacy purposes, ensuring that sensitive groups are not visible to the entire organization. 

If you hide the group from GAL, you still can send emails to the group by putting the group email address, even though you cannot view the group. The group is not visible, but it exists. Meanwhile, if you don't inform others the email address, they won't know the address and is not able to send email to the group. As mentioned above, you can also limit who can send messages to the group by allowing only specific senders to send messages to this group.

There are 11 members, when you send emails to this group, all of them can receive your emails instead of the displaying 4.

I hope my information is helpful to you. Please feel free to ask if there is any further concern.

Thank you so much for your precious time. Have a nice day and be safe with good health.

Sincerely,

Luckie Shi | Community Moderator.

Answer 4

Hi Kris10ak,

Hope you are doing great! This is a follow up message on your query about private Distribution List.

As mentioned, you can enter address of the distribution list in the TO field after you hide the group from Global Address List. Only you and the members know the address, which exactly prevent others from knowing and sending emails to this group. Even though it only shows 4 members, all of the 11 members can receive emails.

Please let us know if this explanation is clear. Should there be any question to be addressed, please let me know, I am happy to clarify.

Looking forward to your response. Have a great weekend ahead. 😊

Sincerely,

Luckie Shi | Community Moderator.

Answer 5

I very much appreciate your reply. I believe you have addressed all my questions regarding the distribution list. My only additional question is with regard to contacts. If I hide specific contacts from the GAL, they are invisible to everyone including me. Even if I type their name in the TO address bar, it says No Results Found. Is there a way to have these names show up for me and one or two of my coworkers? Again, these are email addresses that are off limits to everyone but management.

It does seem that even though some of the contacts are hidden, just as you said, when I send as part of the Distributions List, the emails do send to these individuals. But, now I want to be able to send to them individually on occasions without constantly having to look it up.

Thank you for your time.

Kristen