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A distribution list is a collection of contacts (contact: Person, inside or outside of your organization, about whom you can save several types of information, such as street and e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and Web page URLs.). It provides an easy way to send messages to a group of people. For example, if you frequently send messages to the marketing team, you can create a distribution list called Marketing Team that contains the names of all members of the marketing team. A message sent to this distribution list goes to all recipients listed in the distribution list. Recipients see their own names and the names of all other recipients on the To line of the message instead of seeing the name of the distribution list. You can use distribution lists in messages, task requests, meeting requests, and other distribution lists.

You can easily add and delete names in a distribution list, send it to others, and print it.

Distribution lists are identified with and are stored by default in your Contacts folder, so you can sort and assign categories (category: A keyword or phrase that helps you keep track of items so you can easily find, sort, filter, or group them.) to them. If you use Microsoft Exchange Server, your Global Address List (Global Address List: The address book that contains all user, group, and distribution list e-mail addresses in your organization. The administrator creates and maintains this address book. It may also contain public folder e-mail addresses.) can contain global distribution lists, which are available to everyone who uses that network. The personal distribution lists (personal distribution list: A collection of e-mail addresses that you create and add to your Outlook Address Book as one e-mail alias. When you send a message to a distribution list, it goes to each e-mail address in the list.) that you create in your Contacts folder are available only to you, but you can share them by copying and sending them to others.

You can send a message or meeting request to part of a distribution list by clicking the plus sign (+) next to the name of the distribution list to show the individuals on the list, and then deleting the names that you do not want. Distribution lists in the E-mail field of a contact cannot be expanded.