1.3 Overview

The Contact Object Protocol defines a Contact object for storing and maintaining information about an associate of the user. The properties of a Contact object specify the associate's phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, and other information. Details about all of a user's associates can be easily maintained through the use of Contact objects. This protocol also defines a Personal Distribution List object for storing a collection of email addresses. The Personal Distribution List object simplifies email distribution to multiple recipients. An email that is addressed to the distribution list is sent to all recipients in the distribution list, thereby eliminating the need to address the email to each recipient. A Contact object and a Personal Distribution List object are created within the Contacts folder in a message store.

The Contact Object Protocol extends the Message and Attachment Object Protocol by defining new properties on a Message object and by adding constraints to the existing properties of a Message object. For information about the Message and Attachment Object Protocol, see [MS-OXCMSG].