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Home > Office 365 > How To Create a Distribution List or Contact List from Outlook Desktop Client
How To Create a Distribution List or Contact List from Outlook Desktop Client
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Creating a Distribution List/Contact List on Outlook Desktop Client
Distribution lists (also called contact groups) in Outlook allow you to send the same message to different people without having to add each recipient individually.  They usually consist of 100 or less members.  If a larger mailing list is required please contact Technology Services at [email protected].
 

  1. Open Outlook Desktop.
  2. Click on "People" on the bottom left part of the screen. In 2016/2019, this could be displayed as an icon 

https://its.uiowa.edu/sites/its.uiowa.edu/files/styles/large/public/wysiwyg_uploads/People%20Button_3.jpg?itok=zj_-z9OE

 

  1. Click on "New Contact Group" on the toolbar on the top left.
  2. Enter the name of the group you wish to create in the "Name" field.
  3. To add members to the group click "Add Members" from the top toolbar.
  4. After clicking on "Add Members" you will be asked what method you wish to enter those group members: from outlook contacts, from address book, or from adding a new email contact. 
  5. Once you have added the members to the group click "Save & Close" from the taskbar on the top of the page.


Creating a New Message to Send to a Distribution List: 

  1. Click on "New Email" at the top left on the taskbar.
  2. In the "To:" field type the name of the Distribution List, Outlook will find the group for you:
  3. Click the blue drop down to make the group name bold, once the name is in bold send the email as you normally would and Outlook will send the email to the all the members of the group. 


Modifying a Distribution List: 

  1. Click on "People" at the bottom left of the page. In 2016, this is displayed as an icon 

https://its.uiowa.edu/sites/its.uiowa.edu/files/styles/large/public/wysiwyg_uploads/People%20Button_4.jpg?itok=LTE7GBjC

 

  1. Find the group in the list and double click it.
  2. To add a member to the list: click on the "Add-Members" icon on the taskbar. 
  3. To remove a member of the list: highlight the user's display name and email address and click "remove member" from the top taskbar.
  4. Click "Save & Close" when finished.

 

 

 

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