This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
We have an hybrid exchange organization with a single forest exchange Org and Exchange Online.
On the on-prem AD we have hundreds of "contacts" objects that users with mailbox on the on-prem servers can see in their GAL and users on Exchange Online don't.
Do we need to sync also the contacts with entra ID to have the users with mailbox on Exchange online to see them on the GAL ? Is it the same for all the distribution groups defined on AD ?
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(316.8, 90%, 40%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EAZ%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Hello, @Stefano Colombo,
Is there any update on this thread? If the issue has been resolved, please mark the helpful replies as answers, this will make answer searching in the forum easier and be beneficial to other community members as well. Thanks for your understanding.
Best Wishes,
Alex Zhang
Hello, @Stefano Colombo,
Is there any update on this thread? Just checking in to see if above information was helpful. If the issue has been resolved, please mark the helpful replies as answers.
Best Wishes,
Alex Zhang
Hello, @Stefano Colombo,
Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A platform!
Yes, to ensure that users with mailboxes on Exchange Online can see the contacts in their Global Address List (GAL), you need to sync those contact objects from your on-premises Active Directory (AD) to Entra ID. This synchronization will make the contacts available in the GAL for both on-premises and Exchange Online users.
For more information, please click on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/hybrid/connect/concept-azure-ad-connect-sync-user-and-contacts for reference.
The same applies to distribution groups. If you want users on Exchange Online to see and use the distribution groups defined in your on-premises Active Directory, you need to synchronize these groups with Microsoft Entra ID as well. This ensures that all users, regardless of where their mailbox is hosted, have access to the same GAL.
If the answer is helpful please click on ACCEPT ANSWER as it could help other members of the Microsoft Q&A community who have similar questions and are looking for solutions.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
Best Wishes,
Alex Zhang
Hello, @Stefano Colombo,
Just wanted to check if the answer shared below helped. If it helped, then would request you to please "Accept the answer" as it would be helpful to others in the community as well. Should you need more help on this, you can feel free to post back.
Best Wishes,
Alex Zhang