![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
10 Minute Guide to Microsoft Exchange 5.0
- Lesson 6 -
In this lesson, you learn how to use distribution lists to send messages to
a group of recipients. Creating Personal Distribution ListsA distribution list is a collection of addresses that are grouped together for some logical reason. The distribution list appears as a single entry in an address book and is treated as a single recipient. When you send a message to that recipient, the distribution is automatically expanded to include every recipient on the list. The administrators of your Microsoft Exchange Server system may create global distribution lists for everyone to use. These lists appear in the Global Address List. The Global Address List can include multiple distribution lists. If you often send messages to the same group of people, you should create a personal distribution list (PDL). A PDL appears as one recipient in your Personal Address Book. Distribution lists are often used in the following types of situations:
To create a personal distribution list, follow these steps:
Figure 6.1 Personal Distribution Lists are a type of entry that can be added to an address book.
Figure 6.2 The New Personal Distribution List Properties dialog box.
Figure 6.3 The Edit New Personal Distribution List Members dialog box.
After you create your personal distribution list, it appears as a recipient in your Personal Address Book (see Figure 6.4). As you can see, the name of the distribution list appears in bold type, and an icon showing two people appears to the left of the entry. Figure 6.4 Distribution lists are displayed with the other entries in
your Personal Address Book. Add Lists to ListsYou can create as many personal distribution lists as you need, and you can even
add existing distribution lists to new lists. If, for example, you have a personal
distribution list for all the members of a project team, and you are creating a list
of people to whom you send periodic summary reports about the project, you can add
the project team distribution list to the new list. That way you don't have to individually
enter each recipient of the project team when creating the new list. In computer
jargon, including a list in a list is called nesting. (Microsoft Exchange
Server supports nested lists.) Using Global and Personal Distribution ListsAfter you create a distribution list, it appears as one recipient in an address book and is treated exactly the same as an individual recipient. To send a message to all the people on the list, you just select the name of the distribution list as the recipient for a message. And you don't have to worry about the individual members of the distribution list receiving the message, because Microsoft Exchange Server will take care of it for you.
If you're not sure who is included in a distribution list (especially one in the Global Address List, because you didn't create it), you can click the name of the distribution list in any dialog box or window in which the list is displayed, and then choose Properties. You might do this while you are creating a new message or examining an address book, for example. While viewing the Properties of a personal distribution list, you can add or delete members at any time–even while you are creating a message. Note, however, that you cannot change distribution lists in the Global Address List because the system administrators control them. In this lesson, you learned how to create and use distribution lists. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to create and send a message. |
|