A contact list, also known as a distribution group, is a grouping of email addresses collected under one name. A message sent to a contact list goes to all recipients listed in the list. You can include contact lists in messages, meeting requests, and in other contact lists.
Note: This feature is only available for Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com accounts.
Create a contact list and add or remove people
-
Select the People
-
Hover your cursor over the New Contact button, then select New Contact List.
-
Type the name of your new contact list.
-
Under Add members, type the email address for your contact, then select Add. You can add multiple email addresses to your list.
-
When you are finished adding contacts to your list, select Save. You can remove contacts from the list at any time by selecting the Remove from list
Note: If you have a Microsoft Exchange account, contact lists are not saved to the Exchange server. Any lists that you create are saved on your computer and are available only in Outlook for Mac.
Create a contact list and add or remove people
-
At the bottom of the left navigation pane, select People.
-
On the Home tab, select New Contact List.
Important: If the New Contact List option is grayed out, set your preferences to Show my "On My Computer" folders, and then return to finish creating your contact list.
-
Enter a name for the contact list.
-
Do any of the following:
To
Do this
Add a person from your contacts, or add a person with whom you've recently exchanged email
Select Add, type the first few letters of the person or group's name, and select the name from the pop-up menu.
Add a person who is not in your contacts or with whom you haven't recently exchanged email
Select Add, and type the person's email address.
Prevent message recipients from seeing the addresses of other group members
Select the Use Bcc to hide member information check box.
Remove a member
Select the member's name and choose Remove.
-
Select Save & Close.
The contact list appears in your Outlook contacts in the On My Computer folder. You can send messages to the list exactly as you would to any person.
Notes:
-
To delete a contact list, open the list, and then on the List tab, choose Delete. Deleting a list does not delete contacts that you already have saved in Outlook or contacts from your organization's directory.
-
You can view the contact names in the header of a message or meeting request. In the To box, select the arrow next to the name of the Contact List. After the list is expanded, you can't collapse the list again in that message.
-
Show my "On My Computer" folders
To view your On My Computer folders, do the following:
-
On the Outlook menu, select Preferences.
-
In the Outlook Preferences box, under Personal Settings, select General.
-
In the General box, clear the Hide On my Computer folders checkbox.
