Manage address book policies

Address book policies (ABPs) in Microsoft 365 Messaging provide a way to control the visibility of recipient information in a global address list (GAL) for different groups within an organization. ABPs allow you to segment the GAL based on specific criteria and assign them to different groups of users. In this article, we will explore how to manage address book policies to customize the GAL visibility.

Creating an Address Book Policy

To create an address book policy, you need to connect to Exchange Online using the Exchange Online PowerShell module. Once connected, you can use the following commands to create an ABP:

New-AddressBookPolicy -Name "ABPName" -AddressLists "AddressList1, AddressList2" -GlobalAddressList "GAL1" -OfflineAddressBook "OAB1" -RoomList "ConferenceRooms"

• ABPName: Specify a name for the ABP.
• AddressLists: This parameter specifies the address lists that should be included in the ABP. You can include multiple address lists by separating them with commas.
• GlobalAddressList: Specifies the global address list (GAL) that should be associated with the ABP.
• OfflineAddressBook: Specifies the offline address book (OAB) for the ABP.
• RoomList: Specifies the room list that should be associated with the ABP.

Assigning an Address Book Policy to Users

After creating an ABP, you can assign it to specific groups of users. To do so, use the following command:

Set-Mailbox -Identity "User1" -AddressBookPolicy "ABPName"

• User1: Specify the user’s identity (email address or username).
• ABPName: Specify the name of the ABP to assign to the user.

You can also assign the ABP to multiple users in a single command. For example:

Get-User -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox -Filter {Department -eq "Sales"} | Set-Mailbox -AddressBookPolicy "ABPName"

This command retrieves all user mailboxes in the “Sales” department and assigns the specified ABP to them.

Verifying Address Book Policy Assignment

To verify the ABP assignment for a user, you can use the following command:

Get-Mailbox -Identity "User1" | Select AddressBookPolicy

This command displays the ABP assigned to “User1”. If the output is empty, the user is not assigned to any ABP.

Removing an Address Book Policy

To remove an ABP from a user, you can use the following command:

Set-Mailbox -Identity "User1" -AddressBookPolicy $null

This command removes the assigned ABP for “User1” and reverts back to the default ABP.

To remove an ABP entirely, use the following command:

Remove-AddressBookPolicy -Identity "ABPName"

This command deletes the specified ABP.

Conclusion

Address book policies (ABPs) in Microsoft 365 Messaging offer a powerful way to manage GAL visibility for different user groups within an organization. By creating and assigning ABPs, you can control the address lists, global address list (GAL), offline address book (OAB), and room list visibility for specific groups of users. Make use of the provided PowerShell commands to create, assign, verify, and remove ABPs as per your organization’s requirements.