Managing Microsoft 365 external contacts is crucial for facilitating partnerships and enhancing collaboration. Yet, without regular updates of contact information, the Global Address List can become cluttered, hindering communication efficiency. This guide will show you how to streamline Microsoft 365 contacts, ensuring your contact list remains a powerful asset for seamless collaboration.
Windows PowerShell Connect-MgGraph Windows PowerShell Get-MgContact 
The AdminDroid Azure AD reporting tool provides extensive reports on Microsoft 365 contacts. With these reports, you can easily maintain an organized and accessible directory of contacts with whom users frequently communicate. Moreover, you can monitor the emails sent to these external contacts to prevent the loss of sensitive information.
Microsoft 365 outbound external email report from AdminDroid helps you monitor emails sent to external domains, thereby safeguarding against sensitive data leaks.
Check the events of Exchange Online DLP rule matches to prevent unauthorized sharing of sensitive information to mail contacts.
Access the Microsoft 365 email analytics dashboard for detailed insights into emails sent to external contacts in your Exchange Online organization.
Track Microsoft 365 users' license changes to stay informed about assigned licenses for Exchange mail users and revoke any unnecessary licenses.
Examine Microsoft 365 external spoof emails and delete their mail contacts if they appear suspicious in your organization.
Retrieve all Microsoft 365 distribution groups within your organization and include mail contacts in relevant groups for effective communication.
In summary, AdminDroid helps your organization to optimize interactions with Microsoft 365 contacts. It ensures that individuals within your organization can communicate with appropriate external contacts from their Global Address List.
This error occurs when you add a space while specifying an alias for a mail contact.
This error occurs when you use older versions of Microsoft Graph module.
// Run the below cmdlet to uninstall all the older versions of Microsoft Graph module.Uninstall-Module Microsoft.Graph -AllVersions
// Run the below cmdlet to install the required latest version of the Microsoft Graph module.Install-Module -Name "Microsoft.Graph" -RequiredVersion <LatestVersion> -Force
This error occurs when you don’t have the necessary permission to create contacts in Microsoft 365.
This error occurs when you run the Get-MailContact cmdlet without connecting to the Exchange Online PowerShell.
Connect-ExchangeOnline
This error occurs when you specify a wrong email ID of the mail contact while adding them to a distribution group.
Get-MailContact -Identity "<ContactName>" | Select-Object ExternalEmailAddress
Microsoft 365 contacts refer to individuals both within and outside your organization, including external colleagues, clients, and partners. They are added as contacts within your organization to communicate efficiently for your business needs.
Follow the steps below to create a new contact in Microsoft 365.
After a contact has been created, it will be automatically added to your organization’s default global address list.
Creating bulk Microsoft 365 contacts can be a time-consuming process. To streamline this task, you can create a CSV file containing all the necessary contact information and then import it using PowerShell.
Follow the steps below to bulk import external contacts to Exchange Online.
Import-Csv .\ExternalContacts.csv|%{New-MailContact -Name $_.Name -DisplayName $_.Name -ExternalEmailAddress $_.ExternalEmailAddress -FirstName $_.FirstName -LastName $_.LastName}Monitor your Microsoft 365 contacts to ensure seamless collaboration with external colleagues, clients, and partners. You can update the necessary contact properties and eliminate unwanted clients who may not be needed for your organization.
You can export contacts from Office 365 using the methods below.
Navigate to . You can export Microsoft 365 contacts to CSV by clicking on the "Export contacts" icon.
The following cmdlets are used to export Microsoft 365 contacts in the Exchange Online PowerShell.
Get-Contact | Select-Object DisplayName, EmailAddresses, Phone, MobilePhone, Company | Export-Csv -Path 'C:\contacts.csv' -NoTypeInformationGet-MailContact | Export-Csv -Path 'C:\contacts1.csv' -NoTypeInformationThe Get-Contact cmdlet retrieves non-mail properties for contacts, whereas the Get-MailContact cmdlet fetches all mail-related properties.
If you’re an organization with bulk contacts, managing them through the Microsoft 365 admin center can be challenging. Additionally, specifying required attributes in the PowerShell cmdlet to obtain comprehensive details is a time-consuming process.
With AdminDroid, you can easily export Microsoft 365 contacts in various formats such as HTML, PDF, CSV, XLS, and XLSX.
Pro Tip: Make use of the "Company Name" easy filter to view mail contacts from specified companies.
You can add external contacts to distribution lists to facilitate effective communication on shared projects.
Follow the steps below to add a user or contact to a Microsoft 365 distribution group.
However, inappropriate group memberships for these external contacts can lead to loss of sensitive information. Thus, it is crucial to monitor their group memberships to avoid potential issues.
Run the PowerShell script below to get the group membership of Microsoft 365 contacts.
$contacts= Get-MgContact
$output = foreach ($contact in $contacts) {
foreach ($group in (Get-MgContactTransitiveMemberOf -OrgContactId $contact.Id)) {
$groupName = (Get-MgGroup -Filter "id eq '$($group.Id)'").DisplayName
[pscustomobject]@{
'Contact Display Name' = $contact.DisplayName
'Distribution Group Name'= $groupName
'Contact ID'= $contact.Id
}
}
}
$output | Export-Csv -Path "D:\GroupMembershipofContacts.csv" -NoTypeInformation Using AdminDroid, you can find the external contacts in distribution groups and remove any unwanted group membership in your organization.
Effective management of Microsoft 365 contacts is essential for enhancing interactions with external partners. By maintaining up-to-date contact information, your users can easily reach out to the right individuals for specific tasks or updates.
Follow the ways below to manage mail contacts in Exchange Online.
Run the below PowerShell cmdlet to update contact information in Exchange Online.
Set-Contact "<ContactName>" -Title "<JobTitle>" -Department "<DepartmentName>" -Company "<CompanyName>" -Manager "<ManagerName>"You can use the below cmdlet to modify mail-related properties of Microsoft 365 contacts.
Set-MailContact -Identity "<ContactName>" -ExternalEmailAddress "<EmailID>"Run the below cmdlet in Exchange Online PowerShell to remove a Microsoft 365 contact from your organization.
Remove-MailContact -Identity "<MailContactIdentity>"With AdminDroid, you can easily monitor activities related to updating Microsoft 365 contact information that helps you to verify the accuracy of the modified property.
Exchange Online mail users are similar to mail contacts. They are people outside your organization and have an external email address. However, mail users can have a user account in your organization with login credentials similar to an unlicensed user.
Follow the steps below to create a mail user in Microsoft 365.
Once created, they will be displayed on the Contacts page of your Exchange Online admin center as well as the Active users page of your Microsoft 365 admin center.
If the mail user doesn't have a mailbox in their organization, you can convert them to a mailbox user. To convert a mail user to a mailbox user, simply assign an Exchange Online license to the mail user by navigating to the Active users page of your Microsoft 365 admin portal.
Emails sent to mail users are directed to their specified external email address. However, if you've allocated an Exchange Online license to the mail user, the emails will be routed to the Exchange Online mailbox given by your organization.
Note: After assigning licenses to mail users, they will no longer be displayed in the Contacts page of your Exchange Online admin center. You can manage them from the Active users page of your Microsoft 365 admin center.
With AdminDroid, you can audit the Exchange mail user changes and remove unnecessary modifications in your Microsoft 365 organization.
Get AdminDroid Office 365 Reporter Now!