Change Distribution Group Properties

Applies to: Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, Office 365 for enterprises, Live@edu

After you create a distribution group, you can view the properties of the group or make changes and set additional details in the Exchange Control Panel. Here's how:

1. Select Manage My Organization > Users & Groups > Distribution Groups.
2. In the Groups list, select the group you want to view or change.
3. After you have selected a group, click Details. You can view or change the following:
   General   This section provides basic information about the group.
   • *** Display name   **This name appears in the shared address book, on the To: line when e-mail is sent to this group, and in the Groups list. The display name is required and should be user-friendly so people recognize what it is. It also has to be unique in your domain.
     If you've implemented a group naming policy, the display name has to conform to the naming format defined by the policy.
   • * Alias   The name portion of the e-mail address that appears to the left of the @ symbol. It has to be unique in your domain. When a user types the alias in the To: line of an e-mail, it resolves to the group's display name.
   • * E-mail address   The e-mail address for the group. If you change it, it must be unique in your domain.
   • Description   Use this field to describe the group so people know what the purpose of the group is.
   • Hide this group from the shared address book   Select this check box if you don't want users to see this group in the shared address book. To send e-mail to this group, a sender has to type the group's e-mail address for this group in the To: or Cc: fields. Consider hiding security groups because they're typically used to assign permissions to group members and not to send e-mail.
     Ownership Use this section to assign group owners. The group owner can add members to the group, approve or reject requests to join or leave the group, and approve or reject messages sent to the group.
   • * Owners   By default, the person who creates a group is the owner. All groups must have at least one owner. You can add owners by clicking Add. You can remove an owner by selecting the owner and then clicking Remove.
     Membership Use this section to add or remove members. Group owners don't have to be members of the group.
   • Members   To add members, click Add. Select a user or other group and click Add. When you are finished adding members, click OK to return to Group properties. To remove members, select a member from the list and click Remove.
     Membership Approval    Use this section to specify whether approval is required for people to join or leave the group.
   • Choose whether owner approval is required to join the group   These settings apply to membership. Select one of the following settings:
     • Open: Anyone can join this group without being approved by the group owners   
     • Closed: Members can be added only by the group owners. All requests to join will be rejected automatically
     • Owner Approval: All requests are manually approved or rejected by the owners   If you select this option, the group owner or owners receive an e-mail requesting approval to join the group.
   • **Choose whether the group is open to leave   **Select one of the following settings:
     • **Open: Anyone can leave this group without being approved by the group owners   **
     • **Closed: Members can be removed only by the group owners. All requests to leave will be rejected automatically   **If you select this option, the group owner or owners receive an e-mail requesting approval to leave the group.
     Delivery Management   Use this section to manage who can send mail to this group.
   • Only senders inside my organization   Select this option to allow only senders in your organization to send messages to the group. This means that if someone outside of your organization sends an e-mail message to this group, it is rejected. This is the default setting.
   • Senders inside and outside of my organization   Select this option to allow anyone to send messages to the group.
     You can further limit who can send messages to the group by allowing only specific senders to send message to this group. Click Add and then select users, groups, or external contacts. If you add senders to this list, they are the only ones who can send mail to the group. Mail sent by anyone not in the list is rejected.
     Important   If you have configured the group to allow only senders inside your organization to send messages to the group, e-mail sent from an external contact is rejected, even if they are added to this list.
     To remove a person or a group from the list, select them from the list and then click Remove.
     Message Approval   Use this section to set options for moderating the group. Moderators approve or reject messages sent to the group before they reach the group members.
   • Messages sent to this group have to be approved by a moderator    This check box isn't selected by default. If you select this check box, incoming messages are reviewed by the group moderators before delivery. Group moderators can approve or reject incoming messages.
   • Group moderators   To add group moderators, click Add. To remove a moderator, select the moderator, and then click Remove. If you have selected "Messages sent to this group have to be approved by a moderator" and you don't select a moderator, messages to the group are sent to the group owners for approval.
   • Senders who don't require message approval    To add people or groups that can bypass moderation for this group, click Add. To remove a person or a group, select the item, and then click Remove.
   • **Select moderation notifications   **Use this section to set how users are notified about message approval.
     • Notify all senders when their messages aren't approved   This is the default setting. Notify all senders, inside and outside your organization, when their message isn't approved.
     • Notify senders in your organization only when their messages aren't approved   When you select this option, only people or groups in your organization are notified when a message that they sent to the group isn't approved by a moderator.
     • Don't notify anyone when a message isn't approved   When you select this option, notifications aren't sent to message senders whose messages aren't approved by the group moderators.
     E-Mail Options   Use this section to view the e-mail address for the group.
     MailTip Use this section to add a MailTip to alert users of potential issues if they send a message to this recipient. A MailTip is text that is displayed in the infobar when this recipient is added to the To, Cc, or Bcc fields of a new e-mail message. For more information, see Configure MailTips.
     For example, you could add a MailTip to large groups to warn potential senders that their message will be sent to lots of people.
4. When you're finished, click Save to keep your changes or click Cancel to close the dialog box.