How to Create Outlook Distribution List From Excel Spreadsheet

Outlook is an e-mail program that allows you to organize your incoming e-mails, create a calendar for appointments and create contact lists. Since Outlook is part of the Microsoft Office suite of programs, it is designed to work seamlessly with other programs in the suite, such as MS Excel. It is possible to easily use a list of e-mail addresses created in Excel as an e-mail distribution list in Outlook.

Things You'll Need

• MS Excel
• MS Outlook
• List of E-mail addresses for the distribution list

Instructions

1. Create the list in Excel. The list should have at least one column (a column for e-mail addresses) and be titled (the top cell of the column should list what it is). Click on the "File" menu at the top of the screen and select to "Save As." Type the file name in the space provided. Click on the drop-down menu after "Save file as type" and select "*.csv." Click "Save."

2. Open Outlook. Click on the "Contacts" bar on the left-hand side and click "New." Scroll down and click on "Folder." Name the new Contact folder (You could use something like "Imported Contacts.")

3. Click on "File" on the top menu bar and then click on the "Import and Export" command to open the "Import and Export" wizard.

4. Click on the "Import from another file or program" and click "Next." Click on "Comma Separated Values (Windows)" and click "Next" again.

5. Click on the "Browse" button and search the folders for the CSV file you created. Click on it to select it and then click on the "Open" button. Click on "Next" in the wizard.

6. Click on the contacts folder you created in Step 2 and click on the "Next" button. Click "Map Custom Fields" on the wizard.

7. Match up the contact fields in Outlook with the column headers. Click on the "Add" button to add the column name and click-and-drag it to the appropriate field name. Click "OK" when finished and click "Finish" in the Wizard to import,

8. Click on "New" in the Outlook window an click on "Distribution List" to create a new list. Type the name of the list in the space provided. Click on "Select Members." Click on the drop-down arrow under "Address Book" and select the contact list you just created.

9. Click on the top e-mail address, press and hold the "Shift" key, and click on the last name in the list to select all of the names. Click on "Add" to add all names. Click "OK" to close the window. Click on "Save and Close" in the Distribution List.

Tips & Warnings

• This is a great tool to use when you want to add a large number of e-mail addresses to your Outlook Contacts without having to enter them one by one. This works best if the e-mail addresses are already gathered for you.

• This could take several minutes to import depending on the list size. Make sure you give the computer enough time to get the task done.

References

• Creating a Distribution List from an Excel Spreadsheet