Exchange 2010 - Global Shared Contact List

[Paul Rodgers]

I need to set up a global shared contact list in an Exchange 2010 environment, which will allow everyone to add important external contacts to a shared address book.

I have been doing research and honestly I'm having issues grasping whether or not what I want to do is possible based upon what I'm finding on the internet. From what I'm reading it seems more like you have to somewhat hack this functionality together. It would be much appreciated if anyone has done this before and has notes or can tell me what terms to use in a search.

 

[cmonova]

Might be a good link here:
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/exchange2010/exchange_2010_gal.htm

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Instead of the GAL (Global Address List)...are you talking about a Contacts folder in Public Folders? (as we used to call them)

 

[Paul Rodgers]

Instead of the GAL (Global Address List)...are you talking about a Contacts folder in Public Folders? (as we used to call them)

Yes but I don't want to have to set it up on a user level.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yes but I don't want to have to set it up on a user level.

Pub folders don't have to be setup on a user level...create the folder, do <whatever rights> you want...done. Tell end users to drill down through their Outlook and find it.

 

[Paul Rodgers]

Public contacts folder will work. I thought there were going to be unnecessary steps involved to get it to work (like sharing calendars).

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

In it's most basic setup...all domain users can view and edit the calendars. So it should be the right thing for the job.

 

[Paul Rodgers]

In it's most basic setup...all domain users can view and edit the calendars. So it should be the right thing for the job.

Yeah assuming it is a public calendar. I decided to set up sharing on a handful of managers private calendars and it wasn't worth the hassle. I decided to do it that way because (if I remember correctly) Exchange does not pass public calendars to phones.

 

[OfficeTechs]

be careful relying on public folders too much, they have effectively been dropped post exchange 2010. Another solution would be Sharepoint or you could create a shared mailbox in which the calendar is used by all.

There are also various exchange sync tools which will sync personal calendars with other peoples calendars (boss to secretary for example)

check out http://www.codetwo.com/outlook-sync/ or some of their other products.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

be careful relying on public folders too much, they have effectively been dropped post exchange 2010.

They've been trying to claim that since Exchange 2007.
The majority of it by misunderstanding of what the back end changes are.

 

[Paul Rodgers]

be careful relying on public folders too much, they have effectively been dropped post exchange 2010. Another solution would be Sharepoint or you could create a shared mailbox in which the calendar is used by all.

There are also various exchange sync tools which will sync personal calendars with other peoples calendars (boss to secretary for example)

check out http://www.codetwo.com/outlook-sync/ or some of their other products.

I would much rather use Sharepoint, but right now I can't get approval to do it. Until then it is public folders.