Create an address book policy in Exchange Online

Address book policies (ABPs) allow you to segment users into specific groups to give them customized global address lists (GALs) in Outlook and Outlook on the web (formerly known as Outlook Web App). For more information about ABPs, see Address book policies in Exchange Online.

In Exchange Online, you can only create ABPs in Exchange Online PowerShell.

An ABP requires one global address list (GAL), one offline address book (OAB), one room list, and one or more address lists. To view the available objects, use the Get-GlobalAddressList, Get-OfflineAddressBook, and Get-AddressList cmdlets.

Note

• In Exchange Online, these cmdlets are available only in the Address Lists role, and by default, the role isn't assigned to any role groups. To use this cmdlet, add the Address Lists role to a role group (for example, to the Organization Management role group). For more information, see Modify role groups in Exchange Online.

• The room list that's required for an ABP is an address list that specifies rooms (contains the filter RecipientDisplayType -eq 'ConferenceRoomMailbox'). It's not a room finder distribution group that you create with the RoomList switch on the New-DistributionGroup or Set-DistributionGroup cmdlets.

What do you need to know before you begin?

• Estimated time to complete: Less than 5 minutes.

• By default, the Address List role isn't assigned to any role groups in Exchange Online. To use any cmdlets or features that require the Address List role, you need to add the role to a role group. For more information, see Modify role groups.

• To connect to Exchange Online PowerShell, see Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

• Creating an ABP for an organization is a multi-step process that requires planning. For more information, see Address book policy procedures in Exchange Online.

• Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at Exchange Online or Exchange Online Protection.

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to create an ABP

To create an ABP, use this syntax:

New-AddressBookPolicy -Name "<Unique Name>" -GlobalAddressList "<GAL>" -OfflineAddressBook "<OAB>" -RoomList "<RoomList>" -AddressLists "<AddressList1>","<AddressList2>"...

This example creates an ABP with the following settings:

• Name: All Fabrikam ABP

• GAL: All Fabrikam

• OAB: Fabrikam-All-OAB

• Room list: All Fabrikam Rooms

• Address lists: All Fabrikam, All Fabrikam Mailboxes, All Fabrikam DLs, and All Fabrikam Contacts

New-AddressBookPolicy -Name "All Fabrikam ABP" -AddressLists "\All Fabrikam","\All Fabrikam Mailboxes","\All Fabrikam DLs","\All Fabrikam Contacts" -OfflineAddressBook \Fabrikam-All-OAB -GlobalAddressList "\All Fabrikam" -RoomList "\All Fabrikam Rooms"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-AddressBookPolicy.

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you've successfully created an ABP, use either of these procedures in Exchange Online PowerShell:

• Run the following command to verify that the ABP is listed:

  Get-AddressBookPolicy
  

• Replace <ABPName> with the name of the ABP, and run the following command to verify the property values:

  Get-AddressBookPolicy -Identity "<ABPName>" | Format-List
  

For more information

After you create an ABP, you need to assign the ABP to users. For instructions, see Assign an address book policy to users in Exchange Online.