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ScottStonehouse
Asked: 2009-06-04 07:04:55 +0800 CST

Contact list management - Microsoft shop

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We are using an out of date custom application for managing mailing/contact lists. We are a very small office, an all Microsoft shop. We have Exchange and Windows Sharepoint Services and Office 2007.

I'm looking for thoughts about the best solution for setting up a shared contact list which would be used for mail merges and also simple searches for email/phone.

Sharepoint and Exchange/Outlook both have pros and cons - what are they? Any other options?

exchange sharepoint contacts

5 Answers

  1. Well you might want to use Exchange Public Folders (Contacts) to store your contacts there.

    UPDATE: Microsoft will not retire Public Folders in Exchange 2010. Take a look at this article to learn more about future and possible usage of Public Folders.

    As I see it SharePoint approach is much better and it will fit nicely:

    Pros:

    • available as web application
    • list item security
    • can be exported to Excel and Outlook
    • datasheet edit mode
    • mail merge is supported (via Office)
    • you can build related list (e.g. connect each contact with account)

    Cons:

    • creating complicated relationships and tracking your mailings is not supported OOTB. You might wanna consider Microsoft Dynamics CRM or 3rd party solution to do that.
    • There is Outlook <> SharePoint integration but each user must enable it manually
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  2. Personally I've just set up a few OUs in AD with AD Contacts for external contacts - which are then put into whatever distribution lists are needed and easily searchable through both Windows and Outlook for the users... I guess what you want is something fancier though ^^

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  3. I would actually go with Public Folders in Outlook.

    • The import/export functionality is quick and easy.
    • It will take you all of about 5 minutes to set one up.
    • Making the contacts available to you in outlook is built in.
    • Depending on your network setup, they will always be available. Even without network connectivity.

    The one piece that might be a bit problematic is mail merges. I've never used outlook contact lists as a data source. I'm highly confident that you can though.

    I'm saying use public folders since they are still available at least in Exchange 2007, and I can't believe that MS will get rid of them that soon.

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  4. Have you considered a outside service to manage it? here is another topic about the subject matter Looking for mass email delivery service

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  5. In my consulting days about 80% of the small businesses i worked with Act Contact Manager. They were all really happy with it. I haven't worked with it since 2006 so I can speak to how the newer versions are.

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