Creating a distribution list of outside e-mail addresses

SearchExchange.com expert David Sengupta explains two options for creating a mailing list of outside individuals and agencies that are not part of your Exchange 2003 domain.

Published: 30 Nov 2005

We need to create a mailing list of some key outside individuals and agencies. These addresses are not part of our Exchange Server 2003 domain. Is there a way to set up a list and just enter the e-mail addresses needed?

We need this list so we can inform emergency services when we are scheduling some work that might require their...

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assistance, should something go wrong. We can make such a list in Outlook, but each individual would have to create his or her own list. It would be nice if I could create such a list in Microsoft Exchange so that anyone in the plant can get to it when needed.

VIEW MEMBER FEEDBACK TO THIS ASK THE EXPERT Q&A.

You have two options:

Add a contact to your Active Directory for each of the external SMTP addresses, and then put them all in a distribution group.
Drag and drop all the contacts created in someone's mailbox (assuming they are already in someone's mailbox now), and move or copy them to a public folder created to contain contact items. Give everyone permissions to access this public folder, and then have them right-click the public folder in Outlook and select Properties → Outlook Address Book → Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book.

Test both options in a lab to determine which best meets your needs.

MEMBER FEEDBACK TO THIS ASK THE EXPERT Q&A:

If I've used option number two, how would I get contacts in the public folder to list individually in Exchange? Right now my users can send mail to the public folder group as a whole, but not to individuals in the public folder.

Thanks in advance for your advice.
—Shirley M.

******************************************

If I understand your question correctly, you're saying that sending to the contacts as they appear in the new client-side Address Book fails.

If so, you'll want to navigate to Global Settings -> Internet Settings in Exchange System Manager (ESM). Then right-click "Default," switch to the Advanced tab, and ensure that the "Allow automatic forward" checkbox is set.
—David Sengupta, Server Administration Expert

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