While migrating from One Office 365 to another Office 365 platform, organizations make sure that each and every piece of information is transferred. Individuals working in Microsoft Teams have important Office 365 Group Members features. When these groups are transferred it is necessary to transfer the related information too. Users can export the office 365 distribution groups to CSV files using Powershell and Exchange Admin Center.
In addition to Distribution group migration, the information of members, their ownership details, and other particulars are needed to be transported. So, if moving from Office 365, remember to migrate the Office 365 Distribution Group Member’s Information. As to provide reports it is presented in the CSV file. Here we will know the steps to convert the Office 365 Distribution Group Members to the CSV file.
A distribution group (or distribution list) in Office 365 makes the task of sending the same email to multiple people easy. It brings multiple accounts to the same place where the creator of the group can share the information collected. It is organized by a single subject like meetings, Training, Reporting, Planning, etc. In a distribution list, the Admin can also forward an email automatically to the members.
The distribution list and a distribution group are used for the same term, so there should be no confusion in using either of them.
Third-Party Options
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How to access Distribution list members?
The Admin of the group can check the members of the list in Office 365 Admin Center, but if you require the same set of users for a different task or some other kind of data sharing, then PowerShell comes for your help. There is a series of PowerShell cmdlets that export the member’s details in an external CSV file.
- Run the Windows PowerShell as an Administrator and write the first command to connect Office 365 account with PowerShell.
$UserCredential = Get-Credential
A wizard will open where it will require you to input the credentials (email address and password) of the distribution list admin.
- Create a new session for the whole Office 365 environment.
$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic –AllowRedirection
- Import the session into a variable that will help run other cmdlets.
Import-PSSession $Session –DisableNameChecking
- After importing the session into the variable, the Office 365 account will connect with the PowerShell and you can check the Group and its member list.
- Run the following cmdlet-
Get-UnifiedGroupLinks – Identity “Distribution-List-Name” – LinkType Members – ResultSize Unlimited
It will retrieve the name of all the members present in the list. Then, you can choose such members whom you want to export to the CSV file.
- Run the cmdlet to export the members-
Get-DistributionGroupMember -Identity “Distribution-Group-Name” | Select Name, PrimarySmtpAddress | Export-csv members.csv –NoTypeInformation
The CSV file will be exported quickly.
Export Distribution list using Office 365 Admin Center
Using PowerShell cmdlets, you can export the members to the CSV file, but if you want to export the entire list, then Admin Center has a simple feature for it.
- In Office 365 Admin Center, open the Admin center for the Exchange option.
- Go to the Groups category and click on the Distribution list. Select the groups that you want to export.
- Click on Export and it will bring two options – ‘Export groups in this list, and ‘export all groups.’ Select a single option.
- The wizard will open the available exporting options based on your selection.
- The CSV file will be saved in the Downloads folder containing all the details and members of the distribution group.
Conclusion
The two manual methods to export distribution lists to CSV are pretty different and there are lesser filter options too. If you do not want to face such complexities, then use a professional Office 365 Backup software that offers separate backups of Office Distribution Lists. The professional software will also provide more formats other than CSV files to save the group member details.
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