How to create a distribution list in outlook from excel

You may already be well-versed in putting the Microsoft Office Suite to work for your company, such as maintaining corporate payroll with Excel spreadsheets and letting employees know about meetings via emails. The separate puzzle pieces in the Suite can work together to make you even more productive. Generate a contacts list from data you have stored in Excel, and then use that list in Outlook to target specific clientele. Save yourself and your staff from having to retype email addresses, which can leave room for data entry error, and push data from Excel to Outlook.

Step 1

Launch Excel and open the spreadsheet with the email addresses to place into an Outlook distribution list.

Step 2

Click the column or row header with the address list, which highlights the entire row or column. You may also press and hold the left mouse button and click and drag to highlight the individual cells, instead of highlighting the entire row or column.

Step 3

Right-click the highlighted area, and choose “Copy.” Close Excel or leave the program open if you choose. Click “No” if Excel prompts you to save upon exiting.

Step 4

Open Outlook. Click the “Contacts” option followed by “New Contact Group” on the ribbon, which opens the “Untitled – Contact Group” window.

Step 5

Click the “Add Members” button on the ribbon. Choose “From Outlook Contacts,” even though you’ll be adding copied addresses from Excel. The “Select Members” window opens.

Step 6

Right-click into the “Members” field at the bottom of the small window. Choose “Paste.” Your Excel group data pastes in. Note that if you copied an entire column or row, your header, such as “Emails,” will also paste in. Scroll through the text in the “Members” field and erase any headers, which will cause an error when Outlook actually tries to email the distribution list.

Step 7

Click “OK” to close the “Select Members” window and return to the “Contact Group” window.

Step 8

Click into the “Name” field. Type a name for the people from the Excel list, such as “Hot Customer Prospects to Call.”

Step 9

Click “Save & Close” to close the “Contact Group” window and return to Outlook.

Step 10

Click the “New E-mail” button on the ribbon. Click the “To” button, scroll to the Excel group name -- in this case, “Hot Customer Prospects to Call” -- and double-click it. You may also just start typing the group name into the “To” field, and Outlook will auto-populate it for you. Add a subject line and message, and then send the message to your group.

References

Tips

• This is the most direct way to make a distribution list out of data you have in Excel because you’re able to specifically target only the data you want included when you highlight it. If your Excel spreadsheet contains solely contact information, and not additional details such as finances, you may also take advantage of Outlook’s import feature. Click the “File” option and then choose “Open.” Click the “Import” option on the main page, choose “Import from another program or file,” click “Next,” choose “Excel,” browse to the file and import your contacts.

Warnings

• These instructions apply to the 2013 and 2010 versions of Outlook and Excel. Earlier or later versions of the software may have several differences.

Writer Bio

Fionia LeChat is a technical writer whose major skill sets include the MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher), Photoshop, Paint, desktop publishing, design and graphics. LeChat has a Master of Science in technical writing, a Master of Arts in public relations and communications and a Bachelor of Arts in writing/English.

Posted on:  03/30/2021 &lt;div style="padding:1em 0"&gt; &lt;style&gt; .social-sharer-container { padding: 5px 0; margin: 0; } .social-sharer-label { font-weight: bold; color: #4d4d4d; } .social-sharer { list-style-type: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; } ul.social-sharer { /*display: inline-block;*/ margin: 0; padding: 0; } li.social-share { display: inline; } li.social-share:hover { cursor: pointer; } li.social-share img { border-radius: 10%; } &lt;/style&gt; &lt;div class="social-sharer-container"&gt; &lt;span class="social-sharer-label"&gt;Share this:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;ul class="social-sharer"&gt; &lt;li class="social-share facebook"&gt;&lt;img src="https://chrismenardtraining.com/images/icons/social/32/facebook.png" alt="Share Page on Facebook"&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li class="social-share pinterest"&gt;&lt;img src="https://chrismenardtraining.com/images/icons/social/32/pinterest.png" alt="Pin on Pinterest"&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li class="social-share twitter"&gt;&lt;img src="https://chrismenardtraining.com/images/icons/social/32/twitter.png" alt="Share Page on Twitter"&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li class="social-share linkedin"&gt;&lt;img src="https://chrismenardtraining.com/images/icons/social/32/linkedin.png" alt="Share Page on LinkedIn"&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li class="social-share googleplus"&gt;&lt;img src="https://chrismenardtraining.com/images/icons/social/32/googleplus.png" alt="Share on Google+"&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt; function socialWindow(url) { var left = (screen.width - 570) / 2; var top = (screen.height - 570) / 2; var params = "menubar=no,toolbar=no,status=no,width=570,height=570,top=" + top + ",left=" + left; window.open(url, "NewWindow", params); } function setShareLinks() { var pageUrl = encodeURIComponent(document.URL); var tweet = encodeURIComponent(jQuery("meta[property='og:description']").attr("content")); jQuery(".social-share.facebook").on("click", function () { url = "https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=" + pageUrl; socialWindow(url); }); jQuery(".social-share.pinterest").on("click", function () { url = "https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=" + pageUrl + "&amp;description=" + tweet; socialWindow(url); }); jQuery(".social-share.twitter").on("click", function () { url = "https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=" + pageUrl + (tweet !== '' ? "&amp;text=" + tweet : ""); socialWindow(url); }); jQuery(".social-share.linkedin").on("click", function () { url = "https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=" + pageUrl; socialWindow(url); }); jQuery(".social-share.googleplus").on("click", function () { url = "https://plus.google.com/share?url=" + pageUrl; socialWindow(url); }); } $(document).ready(function () { setShareLinks(); }) </div> <img src="https://chrismenardtraining.com/_CMT/images/blogs/posts/featured/1167.jpg" class="post-featured-image-main" alt="How To Create An Outlook Contact Group (Distribution List) From Excel Data?"> <p> You can easily make a contact group, formerly known as a distribution list, in Outlook by copying and pasting Excel data into Outlook. A Contact Group is handy if you email the same group of people frequently. The group can be your team, a project team, a committee, or even just a group of friends.<span id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-117" class="ezoic-adpicker-ad"></span><span class="ezoic-ad ezoic-at-0 box-3 box-3117 adtester-container adtester-container-117" data-ez-name="chrismenardtraining_com-box-3"><span id="div-gpt-ad-chrismenardtraining_com-box-3-0" ezaw="728" ezah="90" style="position:relative;z-index:0;display:inline-block;padding:0;min-height:90px;min-width:728px" class="ezoic-ad"><script data-ezscrex="false" data-cfasync="false" type="text/javascript" style="display:none">if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[728,90],'chrismenardtraining_com-box-3','ezslot_4',117,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-chrismenardtraining_com-box-3-0');

Contact Group - formerly called Distribution List in Outlook

By creating a contact group in Outlook, you can email the contact group instead of individual emails. If you need to email 50 vendors, you don't have to type in 50 email addresses after creating a contact group. Just type in the contact group name. A contract group was previously known as a distribution list.

Sending an email to a Contact Group in Outlook

How do I create a contact group from an Excel list?

1. In Excel, copy the names and email addresses from your Exccel data.
2. Create a contact folder in Outlook and name it. Click Contacts in the navigation bar, and select New Contact Group.
   Examples of names are vendors, customers, clients, coworkers, etc.
3. Click Add Members – From Address Book.
4. Click in the Members area and paste the Excel data you copied in step 1.
5. Click OK
6. Click Save & Close

Add a New Contact Group in Outlook

Name your Contact Group and Add Members

Paste data from Excel in the Members field

Other Outlook articles

YouTube Video

Emailing the Contact Group

Three methods to send an email to a contact group:

• Click the Contact Group and then click Send Email. See the screenshot below.
• You can also in the email message click TO and find the Contact Group.
• You can drag and drop the Contact Group to the email icon.

Email a Contact Group in Outlook

When to use BCC in Outlook?

BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. Use the BCC field when you want to email a group of people and them not know who all received the email. For example, if you email 50 vendors or clients, you probably don't want them to know about each other. Put the Contact Group on the BCC line. Another great advantage of BCC is no one can use Reply to All. Reply to All when only to the sender of the email.

Email going to Vendor in the Blind Carbon Copy field

How to turn on BCC in Outlook?

1. Start a new email message
2. Click Options Tab
3. Click BCC

BCC is now on for all emails.

BCC in Outlook - Options click BCC

1) BCC on 2) BCC off

Other Outlook articles

Chris Menard

Chris Menard is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) and is employed full-time as a Trainer for BakerHostetler, one of the nation’s largest law firms. Menard has a YouTube channel with over 800 technology videos covering Excel, Word, Zoom, Teams, Outlook, Gmail, Google Calendar, and other resources that over 12 million viewers have appreciated. Menard also does public speaking at conferences for CPAs and Administrative Professionals. Connect with Chris on LinkedIn at chrismenardtraining.com/linked or on YouTube at chrismenardtraining.com/youtube

Categories

• Blog » Microsoft » Microsoft Outlook » Intermediate

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