ldap contacts in distribution list

[calxn]

I have noticed that when I add a member from our directory service
(ldap) to a distribution list, it is not considered a "contact". What
is the reason for this? I want to understand the difference between a
personal "contact" and a member from a directory service such as ldap.

Also, I believe exchange also have its own address book. Am I correct?
Is that address book ldap also or proprietary? Assuming there is an
exchange server address book, if I add a member from that address book
to a distribution list in outlook, is it a contact?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Contacts are entries in your Outlook contacts folders Anything else isn't a contact, as far as Outlook is concerned.

Exchange uses Active Directory to manage its address lists, which users access either through the Exchange service or, if they're connecting to Exchange by POP/IMAP, via LDAP, if the server supports it.

 

[calxn]

Ok, but if I add a member from that I look up (via the outlook address
book) on an LDAP source to a distribution list, why is that new
addition not considered a "contact?"

I am asking this because I am writing software to retrieve members from
a distribution list. At first, it was confusing until I saw there was
a difference between a personal address book contact and a contact you
pulled from an ldap source.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

It's not a contact, because it is not stored in an Outlook contacts folder. It's stored in the LDAP directory.