You've typed the same eight addresses into the To line every Monday for a month. Somewhere around week three you start to wonder why Outlook can't just remember them, and you go looking for "distribution list" in the menus. It isn't there. Microsoft renamed it twice over, once for classic Outlook and once for everything newer, and in new Outlook it hides behind a contact you have to select first.
This page covers how to create a distribution list (what plenty of people call an email group) in every current version of Outlook, how to get a list your whole team can use instead of one only you can see, and the settings people get wrong on day one. Every click path below was checked against Microsoft's own support and admin pages in October 2026. Where Microsoft's pages disagree with each other, and on this topic they do, we say which one to believe.
The short version
- An Outlook distribution list is now called a contact list (new Outlook, Outlook on the web, Mac) or a contact group (classic Outlook). It lives in your own contacts, so nobody else can see it or use it.
- To create one: in classic Outlook, People > New Contact Group. In new Outlook, select a contact, then Add to list > New contact list. On the web, the arrow next to New contact > New contact list. On a Mac, New Contact > New Contact List.
- If the team needs one address that everyone can mail, you want a distribution group. An admin creates it in the Microsoft 365 admin center or the Exchange admin center, and in many organizations you can create one yourself through a self-service portal.
- If people need to reply from that address, a list won't do it. For a customer-facing address like
support@, you want a shared mailbox.
Which "email group" do you actually want?
When people search for how to create an email group in Outlook, they mean one of three different objects, and the click path you follow decides which one you get. Microsoft spreads them across three sets of help pages, which makes it easy to create the wrong one.
| Contact list / contact group | Distribution group | Microsoft 365 group | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A saved set of addresses in your contacts | An address in your organization's directory that forwards to its members | An address plus a group inbox, calendar and files |
| Who can create it | Anyone | An admin, or you if your organization allows it | Anyone with a work or school Microsoft 365 account, unless IT has turned it off |
| Has its own email address | No | Yes | Yes |
| Who can use it | Only you | Anyone in the organization, and outsiders if allowed | Members, and senders the group allows |
| Where you create it | People in Outlook | Admin center, or the self-service portal | Groups in Outlook |
| Good for | You emailing the same people often | Announcements to a fixed set of people | A small team that also wants shared files and a calendar |
Microsoft's own comparison of group types describes distribution groups as "best for situations where you need to broadcast information to a set group of people", and that's the test for the middle column. If you're still not sure whether a list or a mailbox fits the address you have in mind, the full comparison of a distribution list and a shared mailbox works through it address by address.
The first two have one thing in common: neither gives you a place to answer from. Mail sent to a contact list or a distribution group lands in each member's own inbox as a separate copy. A Microsoft 365 group is different, because it has a group inbox, and that difference matters further down.
Which Outlook are you in?
The click paths differ enough that you need to know this first. Classic Outlook for Windows is the desktop app with a File menu that opens a full-page account screen, and if it offers you a "Try the new Outlook" toggle, that's where you are. New Outlook for Windows is the replacement, and Microsoft documents it separately. If you're still not sure, how to tell which Outlook you're in goes through every version, Mac and mobile included.
How to create a distribution list in new Outlook for Windows
New Outlook calls it a contact list. Microsoft's page on creating, editing and deleting a contact list has the steps, and the first one is the reason people can't find the feature: you start from a contact, not from a New button.
- Select People on the side panel.
- Select a contact you want on the list.
- Right-click the contact, or use the ribbon, and select Add to list.
- Select New contact list, name it and save.
To add more people, select All contact lists, choose the list, select Edit, add members and Save. Deleting a list removes only the list. Microsoft: "Contacts are not deleted, only the contact list."
Microsoft contradicts itself here. Its older page on creating a distribution list in Outlook still says, on its new Outlook tab, that "the 'New contact list' feature is currently under development and will be available soon" and suggests using Outlook on the web instead. The newer contact-list page above gives working steps, and Microsoft's feature comparison between new and classic Outlook, last updated in September 2026, lists Contact Lists as available in both. Go with the newer pages. If Add to list doesn't appear for you, the web steps below work for the same account, and that's the fallback Microsoft itself recommends.
How to create a contact group in classic Outlook
Classic Outlook (the one people call "old Outlook") still uses the name contact group. The classic tab of the same contact list page has the steps:
- On the side panel, select People. Microsoft's older page adds the shortcut Ctrl+3.
- Select New Contact Group from the ribbon. If it isn't there, the older page says to select the arrow next to New Contact and choose Contact Group.
- Enter a name for the group.
- Select Add Members and add people from your contacts or the address book.
- Select Save & Close.
Use a name you'll recognize when you type the first few letters into To, because that's how you'll use it.
How to create a contact list in Outlook on the web and Outlook.com
Microsoft's page on using contacts in Outlook on the web puts it on the toolbar, which makes the web the easiest place to create one:
- Open People.
- On the toolbar, select the arrow (˅) next to New contact and choose New contact list.
- Enter a name for the list, then add names or email addresses.
- Select Create.
One catch you can't undo later: "Contact lists cannot be moved from one folder to another once created." Lists go into your default Contacts folder unless you select a different folder before you choose New contact list. To change members afterwards, open the list under Your contact lists, select Edit, make your changes and Save. The same steps work on Outlook.com, and the Add to list route from the new Outlook section works on the web too.
How to create a contact list in Outlook for Mac
On a Mac it's also a contact list, with one restriction Microsoft's create-a-distribution-list page states on its Mac tab: "This feature is only available for Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com accounts." If you're connected to a mailbox through some other kind of account, the option won't be there.
- Select People in the navigation bar on the left.
- Select New Contact, then New Contact List.
- Type a name for the list.
- Under Add members, type an address and select Add. Repeat for everyone else.
- Select Save.
Sending to the list without showing everyone's address
To send a group email in Outlook, type the first letters of the list's name into To and pick it from the suggestions. Outlook expands it into its members when you send.
That expansion is the thing to watch. Microsoft's page on hiding names in a personal distribution list is blunt about it: "It's not possible to display the distribution list name in the To box without allowing recipients to expand it and show the entire list of names and e-mail addresses." Its fix is to put your own address in To and the list in Bcc. For a list of customers or outside contacts, do that every time.
A personal list also counts differently against your sending limits. Microsoft's Exchange Online limits say that "a distribution group that is stored in the organization's shared address book counts as one recipient. In a personal distribution list, each recipient is counted separately." A big contact list can push one message over the per-message recipient limit, where a distribution group with the same members wouldn't. How Bcc and recipient limits work in Outlook has the rest of that detail.
Sharing a contact list with your team (and why it's the wrong tool)
You can hand a contact group to a colleague, but only from classic Outlook. Microsoft's page on sharing a contact group has you open a new message, pop it out into its own window, select People, and drag the contact group into the message body. The recipient drags the attachment onto their own People button to save it. The same page adds: "Currently, new Outlook does not support sharing contact lists."
Even when it works, what your colleague gets is a copy. When someone joins or leaves the team, you update your list and theirs stays as it was. Microsoft doesn't spell that out, but it follows from how the feature works, and it's the usual way two copies of the same list stop matching. If more than one person needs to send to the same set of people, that's the moment to stop sharing copies and create a distribution group.
How to create a distribution group the whole team can use
A distribution group is the version of an email group with its own address in your organization's directory. Everyone can find it in the address book, and when membership changes, it changes for everyone. Microsoft's admin pages use "distribution group" and "distribution list" for the same object.
In the Microsoft 365 admin center
From Microsoft's guide to creating distribution groups in the Microsoft 365 admin center:
- Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- In the left navigation, select ... Show all, then expand Teams and groups and select Active teams and groups.
- Select Distribution list, then + Add a distribution list.
- On Set up the basics, enter a name and description.
- Assign at least one owner, then add members.
- On Edit settings, enter the group's email address. If outsiders need to write to it, select Allow people outside of my organization to send email to this Distribution group.
- Review and select Create group.
In the Exchange admin center
Microsoft's Exchange Online page on distribution groups gives the shorter path: Recipients > Groups > Distribution list > Add a group, choose Distribution as the group type, and follow the wizard to Create group. The Exchange admin center is also where most of the settings in the next section live after the group exists.
Without admin rights: the self-service portal
You may not need IT at all. Microsoft's distribution groups help page says that "Non-administrators who want to manage or join distribution groups can do so by navigating to this portal", links the portal from that page, and gives the steps: open it, select the Groups I own tab, then Add New Group, and fill in the dialog. The same page notes that "Managing distribution groups is no longer available on Outlook on the web as of August 2023", which is why older guides send you to a place in Outlook that no longer exists.
Whether the portal lets you create a group depends on your organization. In Exchange Online, the permission behind it (the MyDistributionGroups role) is on in the default role assignment policy, and it lets users "Create new distribution groups, delete groups they own, modify groups they own, and manage group membership for groups they own." Admins can switch it off, and Microsoft's troubleshooting article on the setting adds that it's only available "in organizations that don't use directory synchronization to sync users and groups from the on-premises environment to Microsoft 365." If Add New Group isn't there or fails, one of those two is the reason, and the request goes to IT.
Settings to get right on day one
These are the ones that cause the support tickets a week later. All of them are on the Exchange Online distribution group page linked above.
- Outside senders are blocked by default. The option "Only allow messages from people inside my organization" means that "if someone outside your organization sends an email message to this group, it is rejected. This is the default setting." If you just created
orders@and customers' emails bounce, this is why. - Every group needs an owner. "Each distribution list must have at least one owner." Pick someone who'll still be around in a year, because the owner is who handles membership.
- Who can join or leave. Open lets anyone join without approval, Closed means "Only group owners can add members", and Owner approval lets people request to join. For an address that receives customer mail, Closed is the sensible choice: you don't want colleagues adding themselves to it and quietly getting every customer's email.
- Hiding it from the address book doesn't stop mail. With Hide this group from the global address list ticked, "people will still be able to send emails to this list by typing the email address."
- Moderation exists. You can make messages to the group wait for a moderator's approval, which is worth turning on for an all-staff list.
How to create a Microsoft 365 group in Outlook
If the team wants a shared calendar and files as well as a shared address, the third option is a Microsoft 365 group, and you create it from inside Outlook. From Microsoft's page on creating a group in Outlook:
- New Outlook: select Groups in the app bar (or Go to Groups in the folder list), select New Group on the ribbon and New Group in the dropdown, enter a name and description, and select Create. You're then prompted to add members, or select Not now.
- Classic Outlook: select Groups in the app bar, then Home > New Group, and fill in the name, description and the privacy setting.
- Outlook on the web: go to Groups, select New Group, and fill in the name, email address, description and privacy setting before you select Create.
You choose Private or Public when you create the group, and it's worth choosing deliberately: Microsoft's create-a-group page says "By default, Groups are created as Private", while its page on groups vs contact lists says "Groups in Outlook are public by default", so don't rely on either. If New Group isn't on your ribbon, Microsoft's explanation is that "Either your account isn't associated with a Microsoft 365 subscription, or your IT department might not have enabled Microsoft 365 Groups for your organization."
When you need replies, not a list
Here's where a list stops working. You create a distribution group called billing@, add four people, and it's fine while the mail is invoices going out. Then a customer asks for a refund on an annual plan. Four people get their own copy. One replies that annual plans are refundable, another, going by last year's policy, says they aren't, and the customer now has both answers in writing. Neither of your colleagues saw the other's reply, because each went out from a personal mailbox.
A list only ever forwards, so it can't fix that. A Microsoft 365 group gets closer: it has a group inbox, and Microsoft's group comparison says members "can send as or send on behalf of the group email address if this feature is enabled by the administrator." But that inbox is built for conversations among members, and the same comparison puts the customer case elsewhere: shared mailboxes "are used when multiple people need access to the same mailbox, such as a company information or support email address."
A shared mailbox keeps one copy of each incoming email in one place. Replies need one more step. By default, a reply sent from a shared mailbox lands in the sender's own Sent Items, so the team still can't see it until an admin turns on a setting per mailbox. Sending from a shared mailbox covers that setting and the permission people need to reply as the address.
If the address already exists as a distribution group, you don't have to start over: converting a distribution list to a shared mailbox walks through it step by step. Once it's a mailbox, adding the shared mailbox to Outlook gets it into everyone's folder pane, and how a shared inbox works for a team covers the habits that keep it from turning into a second pile of unread mail.
A shared mailbox still doesn't tell anyone whose turn a thread is. Once an address gets enough mail that "I thought you had it" happens every week, a shared inbox tool like TriageFlow assigns each incoming email to one person, so every thread has an owner. If you want a rough sense of whether that's worth it for your team, the shared inbox ROI calculator takes your team size, hourly cost, daily email volume, handling time and current setup (one of the options is literally "Outlook / Microsoft 365: Shared mailboxes or distribution lists") and estimates the hours per week and the money per month and year you'd save.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a group and a distribution list in Outlook?
A distribution list in Outlook today is a contact list or contact group: a private shortcut in your own contacts that nobody else can use. A group can mean either an organization-wide distribution group, which has its own address in the directory, or a Microsoft 365 group, which adds a group inbox, calendar and files to that address. Microsoft's page on the difference between a Microsoft 365 group and a contact list lays out the extras a group gets.
Can I create a distribution list in Outlook without being an admin?
A personal contact list, always. An organization-wide distribution group, often: Exchange Online lets users create their own through Microsoft's self-service portal by default. Your admin can switch that off, and it isn't available at all where accounts are synced from an on-premises directory.
Why can't I find "New contact list" in new Outlook?
Because in new Outlook the path starts from a contact. Select someone in People, choose Add to list, then New contact list. One older Microsoft page still says the feature is under development, so if the option really isn't there for you, create the list in Outlook on the web.
Can other people use my contact group?
No. It lives in your contacts, so only you see it. In classic Outlook you can email someone a copy, which they then save in their own contacts, but it won't follow any changes you make later. New Outlook can't share contact lists at all.
How do I email a distribution list without showing everyone's address?
For a personal contact list or contact group, put the list in Bcc and your own address in To. Microsoft says outright that a personal list in the To box can always be expanded by recipients to show every name and address on it.
Is there a limit on how many people a distribution list can hold?
Microsoft doesn't publish a member limit for personal contact lists. For organization-wide distribution groups in Exchange Online, the limits page gives a maximum of 100,000 members, and groups of 5,000 or more members must have delivery management or message approval options configured. The practical difference is the counting: a personal list counts every member against your sending limits, a distribution group counts as one recipient.
Bottom line
Most people searching for this need the one-minute version, a contact list in the Outlook they already use, and that's the right answer for them. The rest of this page earns its keep later: on the day a second person needs the same list, which is when a distribution group pays off, or the day a customer writes back to it and the list turns out to be the wrong object altogether.