Updating Global Address Book

Question

Hello,
I've been tasked with updating the global address list with all of the contact information from a previous version of software my business had been using.  Our server type is MAPI and I saw on here the use of a CSV file but I was wondering if there
was an easier and more efficient way of adding contacts to the global address book.  Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi,
If the email address for this contact is another domain, we can create Mail Contact or Mail User for this external users based on the CSV file. Then the Default Global Address List would be updated and add the new contacts in the GAL.
To achieve it, we can do:
1. Create mail contacts:
Import-CSV "C:\Contacts.CSV" | ForEach-Object {New-MailContact -Name $_.Name -ExternalEmailAddress $_.EmailAddress -EmailAddressPolicyEnabled $False}
2. Check whether the contacts are created complete in Exchange:
Get-MailContact
3. Update the default GAL:
Update-GlobalAddressList -Identity "Default Global Address List"
Then check whether the created contact is shown in Address Book in Outlook Online mode. For Cached mode, please update the Offline Address Book and wait for the update in Outlook client:
Get-offlineaddressbook | Update-offlineaddressbook
Regards,
Winnie Liang
TechNet Community Support