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	"id": "4d49275c-9a1f-4d96-ad5e-032c9f7ea857",
	"created_at": "2026-04-06T02:12:11.695665Z",
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	"title": "Address lists in Exchange Server",
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	"authors": "",
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	"plain_text": "Address lists in Exchange Server\r\nBy AshaIyengar21\r\nArchived: 2026-04-06 01:54:07 UTC\r\nAPPLIES TO: 2016 2019 Subscription Edition\r\nAn address list is a collection of mail-enabled recipient objects from Active Directory. Address lists are based on\r\nrecipient filters, and are basically unchanged from Exchange 2010. You can filter by recipient type (for example,\r\nmailboxes and mail contacts), recipient properties (for example, Company or State or Province), or both. Address\r\nlists aren't static; they're updated dynamically. When you create or modify recipients in your organization, they're\r\nautomatically added to the appropriate address lists. These are the different types of address lists that are available:\r\nGlobal address lists (GALs): The built-in GAL that's automatically created by Exchange includes every\r\nmail-enabled object in the Active Directory forest. You can create additional GALs to separate users by\r\norganization or location, but a user can only see and use one GAL.\r\nAddress lists: Address lists are subsets of recipients that are grouped together in one list, which makes\r\nthem easier to find by users. Exchange comes with several built-in address lists, and you can create more\r\nbased on you organization's needs.\r\nOffline address books (OABs): OABs contain address lists and GALs. OABs are used by Outlook clients\r\nin cached Exchange mode to provide local access to address lists and GALs for recipient look-ups. For\r\nmore information, see Offline address books in Exchange Server.\r\nUsers in your organization use address lists and the GAL to find recipients for email messages. Here's an example\r\nof what address lists look like in Outlook 2016:\r\nhttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/email-addresses-and-address-books/address-lists/address-lists?view=exchserver-2019\r\nPage 1 of 6\n\nFor procedures related to address lists, see Procedures for address lists in Exchange Server.\r\nRecipient filters identify the recipients that are included in address lists and GALs. There are two basic options:\r\nprecanned recipient filters and custom recipient filters. These are basically the same recipient filtering options\r\nthat are used by dynamic distribution groups and email address policies. The following table summarizes the\r\ndifferences between the two filtering methods.\r\nRecipient\r\nfiltering\r\nmethod\r\nUser interface Filterable recipient properties Filter operators\r\nPrecanned\r\nrecipient\r\nfilters\r\nAddress lists:\r\nExchange admin\r\ncenter (EAC) and the\r\nExchange\r\nManagement Shell\r\nGALs: Exchange\r\nManagement Shell\r\nonly\r\nLimited to:\r\nRecipient type (All\r\nrecipient types or any\r\ncombination of user\r\nmailboxes, resource\r\nmailboxes, mail contacts,\r\nmail users, and groups)\r\nCompany\r\nCustom Attribute 1 to 15\r\nDepartment\r\nState or Province\r\nProperty values require an\r\nexact match. Wildcards and\r\npartial matches aren't\r\nsupported. For example,\r\n\"Sales\" doesn't match the\r\nvalue \"Sales and Marketing\".\r\nMultiple values of the same\r\nproperty always use the or\r\noperator. For example,\r\n\"Department equals Sales or\r\nDepartment equals\r\nMarketing\".\r\nhttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/email-addresses-and-address-books/address-lists/address-lists?view=exchserver-2019\r\nPage 2 of 6\n\nRecipient\r\nfiltering\r\nmethod\r\nUser interface Filterable recipient properties Filter operators\r\nMultiple properties always\r\nuse the and operator. For\r\nexample, \"Department equals\r\nSales and Company equals\r\nContoso\".\r\nCustom\r\nrecipient\r\nfilters\r\nExchange\r\nManagement Shell\r\nonly\r\nYou can use virtually any\r\navailable recipient attributes. For\r\nmore information, see Filterable\r\nProperties for the -RecipientFilter\r\nParameter.\r\nYou use OPATH filter syntax\r\nto specify any available\r\nWindows PowerShell filter\r\noperators. Wildcards and\r\npartial matches are supported.\r\nNotes:\r\nYou can't used precanned filters and customized filters at the same time.\r\nThe recipient's location in Active Directory (the organizational unit or container) is available in both\r\nprecanned and custom recipient filters.\r\nIf an address list uses custom recipient filters instead of precanned filters, you can see the address list in the\r\nEAC, but you can't modify or remove it by using the EAC.\r\nYou can hide recipients from all address lists and GALs. For more information, see Hide recipients from\r\naddress lists.\r\nBy default, a new installation of Exchange Server creates an GAL named Default Global Address List that's the\r\nprimary repository of all recipients in the Exchange organization. Typically, most organizations have only one\r\nGAL, because users can only see and use one GAL in Outlook and Outlook on the web (formerly known as\r\nOutlook Web App). You might need to create multiple GALs if you want to prevent groups of recipients from\r\nseeing each other (for example, you single Exchange organization contains two separate companies). If you plan\r\non creating additional GALs, consider the following issues:\r\nYou can only use the Exchange Management Shell to create, modify, remove, and update GALs.\r\nThe GAL that users see in Outlook and Outlook on the web is named Global Address List, even though the\r\ndefault GAL is named Default Global Address List, and any new GALs that you create will require a\r\nunique name (users can't tell which GAL that they're using by name).\r\nUsers can only see a GAL that they belong to (the recipient filter of the GAL includes them). If a user\r\nbelongs to multiple GALs, they'll still see only one GAL based on the following conditions:\r\nhttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/email-addresses-and-address-books/address-lists/address-lists?view=exchserver-2019\r\nPage 3 of 6\n\nThe user needs permissions to view the GAL. You assign user permissions to GALs by using\r\naddress book policies (ABPs). For more information, see Address book policies in Exchange Server.\r\nIf a user is still eligible to see multiple GALs, only the largest GAL is used (the GAL that contains\r\nthe most recipients).\r\nEach GAL needs a corresponding offline address book (OAB) that includes the GAL. To create\r\nOABs, see Use the Exchange Management Shell to create offline address books.\r\nBy default, Exchange comes with five built-in address lists and one GAL. These address lists are described in the\r\nfollowing table. Note that by default, system-related mailboxes like arbitration mailboxes and public folder\r\nmailboxes are hidden from address lists.\r\nName Type Description Recipient filter used\r\nAll Contacts\r\nAddress\r\nlist\r\nIncludes all mail\r\ncontacts in the\r\norganization. To learn\r\nmore about mail\r\ncontacts, see\r\nRecipients.\r\n\"Alias -ne $null -and (ObjectCategory -like\r\n'person' -and ObjectClass -eq 'contact')\"\r\nAll\r\nDistribution\r\nLists\r\nAddress\r\nlist\r\nIncludes all distribution\r\ngroups and mail-enabled security groups\r\nin the organization. To\r\nlearn more about mail-enabled groups, see\r\nRecipients.\r\n\"Alias -ne $null -and ObjectCategory -like\r\n'group'\"\r\nAll Rooms\r\nAddress\r\nlist\r\nIncludes all room\r\nmailboxes. Equipment\r\nmailboxes aren't\r\nincluded. To learn more\r\nabout room and\r\nequipment (resource)\r\nmailboxes, see\r\nRecipients.\r\n\"Alias -ne $null -and (RecipientDisplayType -eq\r\n'ConferenceRoomMailbox' -or RecipientDisplayType\r\n-eq 'SyncedConferenceRoomMailbox')\"\r\nAll Users Address\r\nlist\r\nIncludes all user\r\nmailboxes, linked\r\nmailboxes, remote\r\nmailboxes (Microsoft\r\n365 or Office 365\r\nmailboxes), shared\r\n\"((Alias -ne $null) -and (((((((ObjectCategory\r\n-like 'person') -and (ObjectClass -eq 'user') -\r\nand (-not(Database -ne $null)) -and (-\r\nnot(ServerLegacyDN -ne $null)))) -or\r\n(((ObjectCategory -like 'person') -and\r\n(ObjectClass -eq 'user') -and (((Database -ne\r\nhttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/email-addresses-and-address-books/address-lists/address-lists?view=exchserver-2019\r\nPage 4 of 6\n\nName Type Description Recipient filter used\r\nmailboxes, room\r\nmailboxes, equipment\r\nmailboxes, and mail\r\nusers in the\r\norganization. To learn\r\nmore about these\r\nrecipient types, see\r\nRecipients.\r\n$null) -or (ServerLegacyDN -ne $null))))))) -and\r\n(-not(RecipientTypeDetailsValue -eq\r\n'GroupMailbox')))))\"\r\nDefault\r\nGlobal\r\nAddress List\r\nGAL\r\nIncludes all mail-enabled recipient\r\nobjects in the\r\norganization (users,\r\ncontacts, groups,\r\ndynamic distribution\r\ngroups, and public\r\nfolders.\r\n\"((Alias -ne $null) -and (((ObjectClass -eq\r\n'user') -or (ObjectClass -eq 'contact') -or\r\n(ObjectClass -eq 'msExchSystemMailbox') -or\r\n(ObjectClass -eq\r\n'msExchDynamicDistributionList') -or\r\n(ObjectClass -eq 'group') -or (ObjectClass -eq\r\n'publicFolder'))))\"\r\nPublic\r\nFolders\r\nAddress\r\nlist\r\nIncludes all mail-enabled public folders\r\nin your organization.\r\nAccess permissions\r\ndetermine who can\r\nview and use public\r\nfolders. For more\r\ninformation about\r\npublic folders, see\r\nPublic folders.\r\n\"Alias -ne $null -and ObjectCategory -like\r\n'publicFolder'\"\r\nAn Exchange organization might contain thousands of recipients, so the built-in address lists could become quite\r\nlarge. To prevent this, you can create custom address lists to help users find what they're looking for.\r\nFor example, consider a company that has two large divisions in one Exchange organization:\r\nFourth Coffee, which imports and sells coffee beans.\r\nContoso, Ltd, which underwrites insurance policies.\r\nFor most day-to-day activities, employees at Fourth Coffee don't communicate with employees at Contoso, Ltd.\r\nTherefore, to make it easier for employees to find recipients who exist only in their division, you can create two\r\nnew custom address lists: one for Fourth Coffee and one for Contoso, Ltd. However, if an employee is unsure\r\nabout where recipient exists, they can search in the GAL, which contains all recipients from both divisions.\r\nhttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/email-addresses-and-address-books/address-lists/address-lists?view=exchserver-2019\r\nPage 5 of 6\n\nYou can also create address lists under other address lists. For example, you can create an address list that contains\r\nall recipients in Manchester, and you can create another address list under Manchester named Sales that contains\r\nonly sales people in the Manchester office. You can also move address lists back to the root, or under other\r\naddress lists after you've created them. For more information, see Use the Exchange Management Shell to move\r\naddress lists.\r\nAlthough address lists are useful tools for users, poorly planned address lists can cause frustration. To make sure\r\nthat your address lists are practical for users, consider the following best practices:\r\nAddress lists should make it easier for users to find recipients.\r\nAvoid creating so many address lists that users can't tell which list to use.\r\nUse a naming convention and location hierarchy for your address lists so users can immediately tell what\r\nthe list is for (which recipients are included in the list). If you have difficulty naming your address lists,\r\ncreate fewer lists and remind users that they can find anyone in your organization by using the GAL.\r\nFor detailed instructions about creating address lists in Exchange Server, see Create address lists.\r\nAfter you create or modify an address list, you need to update the membership.\r\nIf the address list contains a large number of recipients (our recommendation is more than 3000), you should use\r\nthe Exchange Management Shell to update the address list (not the EAC). For more information, see Update\r\naddress lists.\r\nTo update a GAL, you always need to use the Exchange Management Shell. For more information, see Use the\r\nExchange Management Shell to update global address lists.\r\nSource: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/email-addresses-and-address-books/address-lists/address-lists?view=exchserver-2019\r\nhttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/email-addresses-and-address-books/address-lists/address-lists?view=exchserver-2019\r\nPage 6 of 6",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
	"language": "EN",
	"sources": [
		"MITRE"
	],
	"origins": [
		"web"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/email-addresses-and-address-books/address-lists/address-lists?view=exchserver-2019"
	],
	"report_names": [
		"address-lists?view=exchserver-2019"
	],
	"threat_actors": [],
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