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CSU_Scott's avatar
CSU_Scott
Brass Contributor
Jun 12, 2023

Generating An Empty Global Address List By Default

Good afternoon,

 

Is it possible to generate or update Exchange Online's default address lists for all users in a tenant to be completely empty without generating new lists and address books and assigning them to mailboxes?

 

We are looking for a method to automatically provide empty address lists to all users across the board without setting the user's mailbox to hidden from GAL or assigning an address book policy.

 

Best regards,

 

CSU_Scott

8 Replies

  • Hi CSU_Scott 

    I think that, for what you're trying to do, the only way is with empty recipientfilters, ( or filter combination with no matches ), in PS. Didn't tested it, but should work. For your reference working with recipient filters: https://andrewmorris77.wordpress.com/2017/06/09/customizing-address-lists-and-address-book-policies-in-office-365/

     

    Hope this helps or that finally you achieve your goal.

     

    Have a good day.

    • CSU_Scott's avatar
      CSU_Scott
      Brass Contributor
      Thank you FcoManigrasso
      We have gone down that path, but what we need is all users to be automatically without any address book without assigning an address book policy. We need to make an empty address book the default policy so we don't have to assign it via a PowerShell script post launch.

      Best regards,

      Scott
      • FcoManigrasso's avatar
        FcoManigrasso
        Iron Contributor

        Hi CSU_Scott,

        In that case, I guess  the only solution for your scenarion are the Information barrier policies.

        "If your organization is in https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/information-barriers-multi-segment?view=o365-worldwide#check-the-ib-mode-for-your-organization or multi-segment mode, information barriers is no longer based on Exchange Online Address Book Policies (ABPs). Organizations using ABPs will not have any impact to the existing ABPs when enabling information barriers. If there's no ABP defined for users with associated IB segments and policies, an ABP is automatically created with empty address lists for these users. You can change these ABPs as needed. We recommend that your ABPs are consistent with the segments you configure in information barriers. You should try to avoid user visibility differences between your existing ABPs and your new information barriers configuration."

         

        https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/information-barriers?view=o365-worldwide

         

  • CSU_Scott's avatar
    CSU_Scott
    Brass Contributor
    Thought I would see if anyone else wants to take a shot at a solution?
  • Hi CSU_Scott 

    did you tried to create address list with unmatched filter type and set it as primary.

     

     


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    • CSU_Scott's avatar
      CSU_Scott
      Brass Contributor
      We have empty address lists. I don't see a way to set the address book policy as the default despite get-addressbookpolicy having a setting for IsDefault. I don't get an option in set-addressbookpolicy to make it the default address book policy in Exchange Online.

      Best regards,

      Scott

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