How to Share Contacts in Office 365: Detailed Step-By-Step Guide

Mail Contacts in Office 365 mailboxes play a vital role as they are mail-enabled objects that have information about the people outside your business organization. It can be the client details etc. Sharing these contacts in O365 facilitates seamless collaboration, which eventually enhances productivity and the overall growth of an organization. Users can share contacts directly from their Outlook contacts or address book, making it simple to distribute essential information such as email addresses, phone numbers, and job titles.

Moreover, Microsoft offers controlled access, which allows administrators to specify permissions and determine who can view, edit, or manage shared contacts. Hence, in this write-up, we are going to discuss several ways in which you can share contacts in Office 365.

Table of Content

1. How to Share Contacts in Office 365 in Newer Versions?
2. How to Share Contacts in Office 365 with Users Outside the Organization
3. Share Contacts in Office 365 with Everyone
4. Sharing Contacts using Shared Mailbox
5. How to Change Other People’s Access to Your Contact List in Office 365?
6. How to Share Contacts in Office 2010 Version?
7. How to Revoke User’s Access to the Contacts Folder? 
8. How to Share Contacts in Office 2007 Version? 
9. How to Revoke or Change the Access to Contacts in Office 2007? 
10. What Should You Do When You Want to Shift Your Entire Data?
11. Conclusion
12. FAQ

How to Share Contacts in Office 365 in Newer Versions?

It is easy to share contacts in Office 365, though there are limited options available for the users as compared to calendar sharing. You can share any of the exchange server contact folders with others who are also using Exchange server accounts in your organisation. If it is supported by your business’s policies for sharing information, you can also share contact folders with users that are outside the organisation. For example, Users can share their contact folders with others. They can also create new contacts for specific projects and then share them with other users. They can also get permissions to change the contacts. 

Note: Users should have an Exchange Server account, and the sharing of the contact folders is not supported on the web version of Outlook.

Here are the steps that users can take to share contacts in office 365 for newer versions:

1. In People tab, in the folder pane, click the contacts option that you want to share.
2. Click on the home option. In the share group, click on the Share Contacts Option.
3. Choose the To box. Select the global address list and then search the name of the recipient. You can also change the subject.
4. You can also request permissions to view the default People folder of the recipient. Select the recipient permission to view the recipient’s contact folder.
5. In the message body type the information that needs to be included. Click on the send option and then click on OK.

How to Share Contacts in Office 365 with Users Outside the Organization

Follow the steps below to share contacts in Office 365 with users outside the business:

1. In the People option, click on the contact folder.
2. Click on the home option and then click on Share contacts.
3. In the To box, enter the name of the user outside the organisation that is going to receive the contacts. You can also change the subject according to your needs.
4. In the message body, type in the information that you want to include, and click on the send option. You can click on the OK option after reviewing and verifying all the information.

If you get an error when you try to send the invitation, the sharing of contacts wit users outside the organisation is not allowed by the sharing policy. In this case, only the admins can change the sharing policy for the organisation.

Share Contacts in Office 365 with Everyone

follow the steps given below:

1. Click on Contacts in the People option.
2. Click on the folder option, and then in Properties, click on folder permissions.
3. Choose default in the name box.
4. Under permissions, click the Publishing editor option or any other permission level that you think is fitting.

Here is a list of the level of permissions along with the thing that users can do with those permissions:

Permission Level	Things That Can Be Done
Owner	They can create, delete, or change all the files and other items and files. They can also create subfolders, and change the permission level of the users.
None	Users have no permissions and can’t open any folders.
Contributor	They can create items and files. The content of the folders does not appear.
Reviewer	Users can read items and other files.
Author	Can create and also read items and other files. They can also change or delete items.
Noneediting Author	Users can create, read, and delete the items.
Publishing Author	They can create and read items, and also delete or change them. This does not apply to the delegates though.
Editor	Can create, change, read, and delete all the files and other items.
Publishing Editor	Can create, read, change and delete all the files and other items. This does not apply to the delegates

Sharing Contacts using Shared Mailbox

To share the contacts in Office 365, you can also use the shared mailbox functionality. The process of doing the same is similar to creating a group calendar. Follow these steps: 

1. Sign in to the exchange admin center.
2. Then go to recipients, and mailboxes.
3. Click on Add a Shared Mailbox.
4. In the display name field, type the name of the mailbox and click Create.
5. Click on Add Users to this Mailbox.
6. Next, click on Add Members and add users from your organization.
7. Click on the save button and then confirm to apply the changes made. 

Note: The user you choose will have complete access to the mailbox and will be able to act as the owner of the mailbox. 

If the user you added opens the People View in Outlook, there should be a contacts folder visible on the My Contacts list. 

Also read: Microsoft 365 Group Calendar Vs Shared Calendar: Which One Should You Use

How to Change Other People’s Access to Your Contact List in Office 365?

At any given point in time, you can either remove access or change other people’s access to your contact list. Here are the steps for doing this:

1. In people, click on the contact folder for which you wish to change the permissions. 
2. In the folder, click on folder permissions. 
3. In the permissions tab, click on None to revoke the permissions or any other option you like to change the permissions. 
4. Click on OK to save the changes.

Contact lists are more limited in terms of sharing than calendars. Externally sharing the folders is more limited especially when both the organizations are not linked. 

How to Share Contacts in Office 2010 Version?

You can share the contacts in Office 2010 version by following the steps given below:

1. In contacts, click on the contacts folder under My contacts.
2. In the home tab, click on Share Contacts option, under the Share group.
3. Go to the To box, and enter the name of the user that will receive the message.
4. You can also change the subject according to your needs.
5. Click on send option.
6. Review the information and verify that it is correct. Then click on OK.

How to Revoke User’s Access to the Contacts Folder?

At any given time, you can revoke or even change the access that a user has to your contacts folder. Follow the steps given below to learn how to do so:

1. In contacts, you can click on the folder that you want to change the permissions for.
2. In the Properties group, under the folder tab, click on the Folder permissions.
3. Under the name box, click on the default option.
4. In the permission level, click on the None option to revoke the permissions.

Note: You can mark any contact, message, or other task as private so that it does not appear in the shared folder. Others cannot view these tagged contacts, or other messages.

How to Share Contacts in Office 2007 Version?

In Office 2007, the default contacts folder in Outlook is made in every Outlook profile. This cannot be removed or renamed. Follow the steps given below to share default contacts with other users.

1. Under the navigation pane, in contacts, click on the Share My Contacts folder. If you are using the navigation pane in minimised view, then click on contacts, and then navigation pane. Click on the Share my contacts folder.
2. In the To box, enter the name of the receiver.
3. You can also change the subject.
4. You can request permissions to view the default contacts of the recipient by selecting the request permission to view recipient’s contact folder.
5. After typing in the information in the message body, you can click on send.
6. You can review the confirmation box and click on OK to confirm it.

How to Revoke or Change the Access to Contacts in Office 2007?

You can change the access that a user has to your contacts. You can also revoke them by following the steps given below:

1. In the contacts, right-click the contacts for which you can change the permissions.
2. Click on the change sharing permissions options.
3. Now, in the permissions tab, you can click on the default option in the name box.
4. Under the permissions level list, in the permissions tab, you can click on none option to revoke the permissions or you can choose any other level to change the permissions.

What Should You Do When You Want to Shift Your Entire Data?

There are many ways in which you can migrate your files and data to another service or another account as per your requirements. The best way to perform the migration is using automated tools as they help you automate the complete process so that you can save a lot of time and also help protect your sensitive data and files from data corruption or data loss. 

You can use the Migrator Wizard Office 365 Migration Tool to carry out the migration process of the calendar types. It is one of the best-automated tools out there. It helps you move all your calendars as well as your files securely and with ease. 

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This tool has the following features:

1. Transfer contacts, calendars, emails, tasks, documents, and OneDrive files.
2. Supports migration between two Office 365 shared mailboxes.
3. You can switch from online SharePoint to SharePoint with the tool’s assistance.
4. A sophisticated tool for Office 365 to Office 365 group migration. 

Steps to share the contacts using the automated tool:

1. Launch the tool, and select Office 365 as the source and destination.
2. Choose the contact folder and apply the filters that are needed.
3. Type in the credential of the admin in the source and destination.
4. Now, go to the resources and then users. Then choose from the several ways in which you can migrate. Create a user mapping.
5. Validate all the permissions and then click on the start button to start the migration process.

Conclusion

There are several ways in which you can share contacts in Office 365. In this article, we have explained in detail the steps you can follow to share your contact list with others as well as how you can revoke or change permissions. Contact lists are more limited in terms of sharing than calendars. Externally sharing the folders is more limited especially when both the organizations are not linked. 

If you wish to migrate all your files and data from one service or account to another, you can use automated tools that help you automate the entire process and make it easier and safer for you to shift your entire data. 

Also read: What is Office 365 Throttling and How to Prevent It?

FAQ

Q1. What is a contact list?

It is a collection of different contact information such as phone numbers and email addresses of people. This is commonly used for the organization of contact information for people inside and outside the business. 

Q2. How to share a contact list in Office 365?

It is a simple process to share a contact list. First, open the list you want to share and click on the share button in the top right corner of the list. When you enter the details of the person with whom you want to share the list, you can click on share. 

Q3. Is there any restriction for others to access the contact list?

Yes, Only the people who have been given permissions can access and edit the list. You can control the permission given to other people by clicking on the share button and entering the email addresses of the people you would like to have the permissions.