Creating Distribution Lists: MS Outlook

Setting up a distribution list in your Personal Address Book or Outlook Address Book is relatively easy.

You can create a distribution list using addresses from multiple address books, which means, that you could include addresses from your Contacts folder and Personal Address Book.

You can also include addresses of different types such as Internet addresses and Exchange Server addresses. Usually it's easiest to set up a distribution list if all the addresses that will be included already exist, but you can enter addresses on the fly if necessary.

Follow these steps to create a distribution list:

1. Open the address book.
    
2. lick the New Entry button or choose File, New Entry.
    
3. In the Drop-down list, select the address book in which you want to store the distribution list.
    
4. In the Select The Entry Type list, select Personal Distribution List or New Distribution List (the option that is displayed varies according to address book type), and then click OK.
    
5. In the Name box, specify a name for the list. This is the distribution list name that will appear in your address book so you will want to name it in a way that is meaningful to you.
    
6. For a Personal Address Book distribution list, click Add/Remove Members. For an Outlook Address Book list, click Select Members. Either action opens the Select Members dialog box.
    
7. Add members as needed, or click Add New in the Distribution List dialog box to enter new addresses if the addresses don't already exist in one of your address books. Click OK when you've finished adding members to the list.
    
8. Set other options as needed for the distribution list, such as assigning categories to the list.
    
9. For a Personal Address Book list click OK on the Distribution list tab; for an Outlook Address Book, click Save And Close in the Distribution List dialog box.

Distribution lists appear in the address book with a group icon and a boldface name to differentiate them from individual addresses.

Note that you cannot assign categories to a personal distribution group created in the Personal Address Book. However, you can assign certain other pre-recipient properties depending on the address type for Personal Address Book entries.

Visit Carol's web site to learn more tips like this one!