Decoding Outlook Contacts Storage on Exchange Server: Best Practices and Tips

Key takeaways :

• Outlook 2013 and later includes non-mail folders within the IMAP ost-file, consolidating all Outlook data into a single folder list, but this change should be approached with caution from a technical and backup perspective.
• Outlook allows for easy export of contacts to the default Contacts app on Android, enabling convenient access to contact information for calls or text messages.
• Two-way contact export is supported for Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, and hybrid modern authentication for on-premises mailboxes, ensuring synchronization of new and edited contacts between devices and Outlook accounts.
• Managing contacts in Exchange Server involves navigating to Recipients > Contacts in the EAC, and using the Exchange Management Shell to display information about new mail contacts.
• For backing up contacts, users can click File > Open &a in Outlook.

Are Outlook Contacts Stored on Exchange Server?

The new method in Outlook 2013 and later includes non-mail folders within the IMAP ost-file, which has its benefits. Especially when using Outlook with a single (IMAP) account, this configuration consolidates all Outlook data into a single folder list. However, from a technical and backup perspective, this change should not be taken lightly.

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Outlook allows you to export your contacts to the default Contacts app on Android, enabling you to easily access contact information when receiving calls or text messages. To do this, navigate to your account within Settings and tap on Sync Contacts. Two-way contact export is supported for Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, and hybrid modern authentication for on-premises mailboxes, ensuring synchronization of new and edited contacts between your device and Outlook accounts.

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Managing Contacts in Exchange Server

• In the EAC, navigate to Recipients > Contacts. The new mail contact is displayed in the contact list under Contact Type as Mail contact.
• In the Exchange Management Shell, run the following command to display information about the new mail contact: Get-MailContact <Name> | Format-List Name, RecipientTypeDetails, ExternalEmailAddress.

1. In the EAC, navigate to Recipients > Contacts.
2. In the list of mail contacts and mail users, click the mail contact you want to change the properties for, and then click Edit.
3. On the mail contact properties page, click one of the following sections to view or change properties.

Use the General section to view or change basic information about the mail contact.

To back up your contacts:

1. Click File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
2. Click Export to a file, then click Next.
3. Click Outlook Data File (.pst), and click Next.
4. Click Contacts, then click Next.
5. Choose a location and name for your backup file, then click Finish.
6. If you want to ensure file security, use encryption and password settings, then click OK.

If you need to load the backed-up contacts into Outlook later, simply import the file to Outlook. To learn how, see Import email, contacts, and calendar from an Outlook .pst file.

The Address Book in Outlook serves as a container for address lists and does not hold any addresses itself. Address lists, such as Contacts folder, Global Address List (when using Exchange), and LDAP (when using another server-based directory list), hold the actual addresses.

New functionality for Exchange accounts includes Contact Export, allowing you to save contacts to your device and link new calls and text messages with existing Outlook contacts. However, edits made directly in your device’s Contacts app will not be saved to Outlook.

Email Addresses and Address Books in Exchange Server

Exchange utilizes address books to organize and store email address information for recipients within the organization. The topics that help you learn about and configure email addresses and address books in Exchange Server are described in the following table.

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1. On the side panel, select People.
2. Select the contact you would like to add to a new or existing category.
3. Select More options, then hover over Categorize.
4. Select either New category or an existing category to add the contact to.

In Outlook, you have the option to sort contacts by first or last name, company, home city, work city, or recently added.