Manage dynamic distribution group in Exchange Online (2023)

Use the new EAC to create a dynamic distribution group.

1. In the new EAC, navigate to Recipients > Groups.

2. Select Add a group and follow the instructions in the details pane.

   • Under Choose a group type section, select Dynamic distribution group and select Next.

   • Under Set up the basics section, enter the details and select Next.

3. In Assign Users section, select the group owner from the drop-down list.

4. Use the Members section to specify the types of recipients for the group and set up rules that will determine membership. Select one of the following boxes:

   • All recipient types: Choose this option to send messages that meet the criteria defined for this group to all recipient types.

   • Only the following recipient types: Messages that meet the criteria defined for this group will be sent to one or more of the following recipient types:

     • Users with Exchange mailboxes: Select this check box if you want to include users that have Exchange mailboxes. Users that have Exchange mailboxes are those that have a user domain account and a mailbox in the Exchange organization. Resource mailboxes are also included.

     • Mail users with external email addresses: Select this check box if you want to include users that have external email addresses. Users that have external email accounts have user domain accounts in Active Directory, but use email accounts that are external to the organization. This enables them to be included in the global address list (GAL) and added to distribution lists.

     • Resource mailboxes: Select this check box if you want to include Exchange resource mailboxes. Resource mailboxes allow you to administer company resources through a mailbox, such as a conference room or a company vehicle.

       (Video) Create and Manage dynamic distribution groups

     • Mail contacts with external email addresses: Select this check box if you want to include contacts that have external email addresses. Contacts that have external email addresses don't have user domain accounts in Active Directory, but the external email address is available in the GAL.

     • Mail-enabled groups: Select this check box if you want to include security groups or distribution groups that have been mail-enabled. Mail-enabled groups are similar to distribution groups. Email messages that are sent to a mail-enabled group account will be delivered to several recipients.

5. Select one of the following attributes from the drop-down list and provide a value to define the criteria for membership in this group.

   Attribute	Send message to a recipient if...
   State or province	The specified value matches the recipient's State or province property.
   Company	The specified value matches the recipient's Company property.
   Department	The specified value matches the recipient's Department property.
   Custom attribute N (where N is a number from 1 to 15)	The specified value matches the recipient's CustomAttributeN property.

   Important

   The values that you enter for the selected attribute must exactly match those that appear in the recipient's properties. For example, if you enter Washington for State or province, but the value for the recipient's property is WA, the condition will not be met. Also, text-based values that you specify aren't case-sensitive. For example, if you specify Contoso for the Company attribute, messages will be sent to a recipient if this value is contoso.

6. To add another rule to define the criteria for membership, select Add another rule, when you've finished, select Next.

   Important

   If you add multiple rules to define membership, a recipient must meet the criteria of each rule to receive a message sent to the group. In other words, each rule is connected with the Boolean operator AND.

7. In Edit settings section, enter the group email address and select Next.

8. In Review and finish adding group section, verify all the details, select Create group and then select Close.

1. In the new EAC, navigate to Recipients > Groups > Dynamic distribution list.

2. In the list of groups, select the dynamic distribution group that you want to view or change.

3. On the group's properties page, select one of the following sections to view or change properties.

   (Video) 9. Create Dynamic Distribution Group in Exchange 2019

General

Use this section to view or change basic information about the group.

• Name: This name appears in the address book, on the To: line when email is sent to this group, and in the Groups list. The display name is required and should be user-friendly so people recognize what it is. It also has to be unique in your domain.

• Description: Use this box to describe the group so people know what the purpose of the group is. This description appears in the address book and in the Details pane in the new EAC.

Email options in new EAC

Use this section to view or change the email addresses associated with the group. This includes the group's primary SMTP addresses and any associated proxy addresses. Under Edit email addresses page, change/edit the Primary email address, add/delete Aliases and then select Save changes.

You can also select the group and then select Edit email addresses from the toolbar to change/edit the Primary email address, add/delete Aliases and then select Save changes.

Members

Use this section to change/edit the following:

• Under Owners section, select View all and manage owners to add/remove group owners from the drop-down list and then select Save changes. The dynamic distribution group must have at least one owner.

• Use Members section to change the criteria used to determine membership of the group. You can delete or change existing membership rules and add new rules. For procedures that tell you how to do this, see Create a dynamic distribution group

Settings

Under General settings section, select the checkbox Hide from my organization's global address list if you want to hide the group from the list.

Delivery management

Use this section to manage who can send email to this group.

• Sender options

  By default, only people inside your organization can send message to this group. You can also allow people outside the organization to send to this group.

  • Only allow messages from people inside my organization: Select this option to allow only senders in your organization to send messages to the group. This means that if someone outside your organization sends an email message to this group, it is rejected. This is the default setting.

  • Allow messages from people inside and outside my organization: Select this option to allow anyone to send messages to the group.

• Specified senders

  You can further limit who can send messages to the group by allowing only specific senders to send messages to this group. Select/remove one or more recipients/group from the drop-down list. If you add senders to this list, they're the only ones who can send mail to the group. Mail sent by anyone not in the list will be rejected.

  Important

  If you've configured the group to allow only senders inside your organization to send messages to the group, email sent from a mail contact is rejected, even if they're added to this list.

  (Video) how To Get Exchange Online Dynamic Distribution Group Members

Manage delegates

Use this section to assign permissions to a user (called a delegate) to allow them to send messages as the group or send messages on behalf of the group. You can assign the following permissions:

• Send As: This permission allows the delegate to send messages as the group. After this permission is assigned, the delegate has the option to add the group to the From line to indicate that the message was sent by the group.

• Send on Behalf: This permission also allows a delegate to send messages on behalf of the group. After this permission is assigned, the delegate has the option to add the group on the From line. The message will appear to be sent by the group and will say that it was sent by the delegate on behalf of the group.

To assign permissions to delegates in new EAC, add the delegates under the Edit delegates page, select the Permission type from the drop-down list and select Save changes.

Message approval

Use this section to set options for moderating the group. Moderators approve or reject messages sent to the group before they reach the group members.

• Require moderator approval for messages sent to this group: This check box isn't selected by default. If you select this check box, incoming messages are reviewed by the group moderators before delivery. Group moderators can approve or reject incoming messages.

• Group moderators: To add/remove group moderators, search/add users from the drop-down list. If you've selected Require moderator approval for messages sent to this group and you don't select a moderator, messages to the group are sent to the group owners for approval.

• Add senders who don't require message approval: To add/remove users that can bypass moderation for this group, search/add users from the drop-down list.

• Notify a sender if their message isn't approved:: Use this section to set how users are notified about message approval.

  • Only sender: This is the default setting. Notify all senders, inside and outside your organization, when their message isn't approved.

  • Only senders in your organization: When you select this option, only users or groups in your organization are notified when a message that they sent to the group isn't approved by a moderator.

  • No notifications: When you select this option, notifications aren't sent to senders whose messages aren't approved by the group moderators.

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you've successfully changed properties for a dynamic distribution group:

• Select the group to view the property or feature that you changed. Depending on the property that you changed, it might be displayed in the details pane for the selected group.