What a contact group is and why you'd use one
A contact group in Outlook is a saved list of email addresses under a single name. Instead of typing five or ten email addresses every time you want to email your team, your book club, or your family, you type the group name once and Outlook sends to everyone in it at the same time.
Contact groups save time when you send the same message to the same set of people regularly. They also reduce the chance you'll forget someone or type an address wrong. When someone in the group changes their email, you update it once in the group and the next message goes to the correct address automatically.
Outlook calls them "contact groups" on Windows and Mac, though older versions sometimes call them "distribution lists". The function is the same either way.
Key Takeaways
- Contact groups live in your Contacts folder and can be created from scratch or built from existing contacts you've already saved.
- You add people to a group by typing their email address or selecting them from your contact list, and you can edit the group anytime to add or remove members.
- Once created, you use a contact group the same way you use a single contact — type the group name in the To field and Outlook expands it to all members when you send.
- Contact groups you create stay on your computer or in your Outlook account; they don't automatically sync to other devices unless you're using Outlook on the web or Microsoft 365.
Creating a contact group from scratch in Outlook for Windows
Open Outlook and go to the People tab at the bottom of the left sidebar. Right-click in the empty space below your existing contacts and select New Contact Group. A window opens where you type a name for the group — something like "Marketing Team" or "Weekly Standup".
Click Add Members and choose Add from Outlook Contacts. A list of your saved contacts appears. Click each person you want to add, then click Add. If someone isn't in your contacts yet, choose New Email Contact instead, type their name and email address, and they'll be added to the group.
Once you've added everyone, click Save & Close. The group now appears in your Contacts folder and is ready to use.
Creating a contact group in Outlook for Mac
Open Outlook and click People in the navigation bar. Click the Home tab, then click New Group. Type a name for your group in the window that appears.
Click the + button to add members. You can type a name or email address, and Outlook will search your contacts. Click the person's name when it appears, and they're added to the group. Repeat until everyone is in the list.
Click Done when finished. The group saves automatically and appears in your Contacts.
Adding or removing people from an existing group
Find the contact group in your Contacts folder and double-click it to open it. On Windows, click Add Members to add more people, or click a name and press Delete to remove someone. On Mac, click the + button to add or click the – button next to a name to remove them.
Click Save & Close (Windows) or Done (Mac) when you're finished. Changes take effect when ready, so the next email you send to the group will use the updated list.
Using a contact group to send an email
Open a new email message. In the To field, type the name of your contact group. Outlook shows matching groups as you type. Click the group name to select it, and Outlook fills in all the email addresses at once.
Type your message and send normally. Everyone in the group receives the email. If you want to see exactly who received it before you send, click the group name in the To field and Outlook expands it to show all members.
Contact groups and Microsoft 365 or Outlook on the web
If you use Outlook through Microsoft 365 or Outlook on the web, contact groups you create sync across your devices — phone, tablet, and computer. If you use Outlook as a standalone desktop process, groups stay only on that computer unless you export them.
To share a contact group with someone else in Outlook on the web or Microsoft 365, you can't send the group itself. Instead, forward the list of members to them, and they can create their own group with those addresses. Some organizations create shared groups through Microsoft Teams or Exchange, but that requires administrator access.
Troubleshooting contact groups that don't work
If you type a group name and it doesn't appear in the To field, make sure you're spelling it exactly as you saved it. Outlook is case-sensitive for group names. If the group exists but Outlook doesn't recognize it, close and reopen Outlook — sometimes the contact list needs to refresh.
If an email bounces back saying a group member's address is invalid, open the group, find that person's contact, and check their email address for typos. Update it and save the group. If someone's email changed at work, you'll need to update their address in the group manually — Outlook doesn't track email changes automatically.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I create a contact group from people in an email thread?
Not directly. You'll need to create the group first, then add members one at a time from your Contacts. If you want to email everyone who was on a thread, you can reply all instead, but that's different from saving a permanent group.
What happens if I delete a contact group?
The group disappears from your Contacts folder, but the individual people in it remain in your contacts. Deleting a group doesn't delete the contacts themselves, only the saved list.
Can I put a contact group inside another contact group?
No. Outlook doesn't allow nested groups. If you need to email overlapping sets of people, create separate groups for each set.
Do people know they're in a contact group when I email them?
No. They see the email from you, but they don't see the group name or know who else received it unless you put them all in the To field. If you use Cc or Bcc, they see only the addresses you put there.