Outlook Mobile App - Can't Send to Private Contact List

Brass Contributor

Hello,

 

I have several users who have created personal "Contact Lists" within the Outlook Web app. This allows them to send to users who belong to the group by just typing the group name into the "Send" field of an email. This functionality works on the Outlook Web App, Outlook for Windows, as well as the Native iOS Mail app. When cutting these users over to the Outlook Mobile App for iOS, they can no longer send to these personally created Contact Lists. The iOS app allows you to enter the name of the contact list into the send field, but when you try to send an email you get an error stating "Check Email Addresses. We can't send your message because there's a problem with the email addresses." I do not want to have to manage setting up Distribution Lists for everyone's unique scenario's. Has anyone gotten this to work or know of a workaround? 

 

Thanks!

16 Replies

@_PRyan 

 

We are having the same problem with the Outlook mobile app on iOS and Android. The only difference is that while iOS won't send the email it at all (instead, it gives the message you mentioned), but Android sends it without any error message, but that immediately results in an NDR stating "Remote Server returned '550 5.4.103 ROUTING.NoConnectorForAddressType; unable to route for address type.'"

 

The problem is that everything worked just fine on both iOS and Android until July 23, 2021 (after about 2 years+ of use with private contact list groups). Suddenly, without any OS updates or App updates, the problem just appeared on 7/23. Everything continues to work just fine using webmail (even webmail through the web browsers on the mobiles) and on a PC, but it no longer works on either mobile OS. So far, no tech support with Outlook 365 has been able to figure out what the problem is (for us, anyway).

 

I noticed that mine seems to be the first and only reply to your post from February -- have you had any success at fixing this problem as of yet?

@_PRyan 

We are also having several iPhone users with the same issue. When sending to a group that used to work, we now get the message "Check Email Addresses We can't send your message because there's a problem with the email addresses".

Windows Desktop Outlook and browser Outlook still works. 
My system running iOS 14.7.1 and Outlook app v4.2131.0

 

Did you ever find a workaround? I'm having the same issue. Thank you.

@_PRyan Any idea if MS actually reads these posts? I'm having the same issue and can't find a solution anywhere.

This is still an issue for us, we just resorted to sticking with the native iOS mail app for some people. @scottyhuff I am not sure about MS employees but have had success in the past posting here and getting help from other community members.

@_PRyan 

Has anyone found a solution to this?  It was working fine for us all last year, but has now stopped working.  We started using Outlook for this because the native iOS mail app would not see personal contact lists.

 

 

Having the same issue and can’t find a solution. Anyone?!?
We have a VIP having the same issue, yet Microsoft hasn't even responded here.

@_PRyan , I have asked Microsofts Outlook team through the app and they said it was not possible.

 

How ever they told me to send it in as a Feature request.

So if everyone that want to be able to use Personal Distribution Lists in the mobile app is sending in Feature request we might get it in the Future sometime.

@Jimmy Staffansson . . . the problem with what the Microsoft Outlook team has told you is that (as noted in my initial comments) "everything worked just fine on both iOS and Android until July 23, 2021 (after about 2 years+ of use with private contact list groups)." It's sad that we have to vote for a Feature Request in order to get them to make the app work like it already did at one point. But, ok, if that's what it takes. The odd thing is that not only did it used to work just fine, and then it stopped working, but about a year ago now it started working again out of the blue on Android device. Still won't work on the iOS though, and I have no idea why it started working on Android -- can't make any changes to the address book, but it will send to the private contact list groups again.

@Jimmy Staffansson - I think someone at MS is telling porkies.

 

As I and others have said, IT USED TO WORK.  They changed something and broke it.

 

Also, you can reference the contact list.  The Outlook App knows about it.  But it fails at send time when it tries to resolve the list to addresses.

 

This should be being logged as a bug.

Exchange ActiveSync doesn't support contact lists so I'm not sure how it was working on mobile devices. What the iPhone calls groups are folders in Outlook.

@Diane Poremsky 

I can create a contact list in the Outlook Windows app.  I can then open Outlook web and send to the contact list.  At one point, the iOS and Android apps could see that contact list and select it (although I can't seem to do that now).

 

I don't need the list to appear in the local contacts of my phone, just for the Outlook app to get it from Exchange (like Outlook web can).

Outlook uses MAPI to sync with exchange, not ActiveSync - contact lists have always synced. Mobile apps use ActiveSync or the newer Microsoft sync protocol - they don't support contact lists (aka contact groups or distribution lists).

Outlook on mac doesn't support contact groups - the legacy version does, if you use "on my computer" folders.

I appreciate all of the explanations of why it DOESN'T work, but it doesn't change the fact that it SHOULD work. Distribution lists on an exchange server are core feature of Outlook, and have been for years. It shouldn't matter what device you're using. It's f**king ludicrous that a contact/distribution list created on the desktop is not accessible from a mobile device. The propeller heads at Microsoft are more than capable of solving this issue. They are simply choosing not to.