Sharepoint Outlook synchronization with a dedicated column of type "choice"

Question

Hello,

In my organization, we are using a variety of contact lists spread into different Outlook contacts folders and different excel contacts lists. A single contact can sometimes be recorded several times in different lists.

I would like to merge all these contacts lists into one single list in Sharepoint. To achieve that, I have exported the different contacts lists into a single excel file and then imported that excel file into Sharepoint.

Our contacts can belong to one or to several groups, let's say groups A, B and C.In order to keep track of that group's membership, I've created a new column called "Group" in my Sharepoint contacts list. This new field is of type "Choice" with predefined values A, B and C. When creating a new contact in Sharepoint, the user can select one or more value among the predefined list by checking the corresponding checkbox(es).

As soon as I connect to Outlook, that extra column is lost. This can be solved by adding a column from existing site columns instead of creating a new column. I've used the "Categories" column to record the group's membership (A, B or C) but this field is of type "single line of text" and I cannot use anymore a list of predefined values (A, B or C) as it is the case with a "choice" type field.

The next step is to eliminate the duplicates contact addresses while keeping track of the different groups they belong to (A, B and/or C).

If any member of my organization wants now to send an email to one or to several groups among A, B and C, he will have just to filter the contacts list according to his target(s) recipients

My questions are:

• How can he send such email from Sharepoint or does he have to use Outlook instead?
• Is there any site column of type "choice" (with predefined values) I could use to record the group's membership (A, B or C) and that can be synchronized between Sharepoint and Outlook?
• Is there any more efficient approach to build that central contacts list?

Thanks in advance for your advices.

Answer 1

This is a quick reply to let you know that I'm trying to involve someone familiar with this topic to further look at this issue.

Best Regards.

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Tracy Cai
TechNet Community Support

Answer 2

Hi elac_be,

sharepoint able to send email, but you need to develop the interface as your need, by default i think we only have this workflow, that send a pre-recorded format to the users.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/officeapps/archive/2013/09/18/step-by-step-sending-email-messages-from-a-workflow-in-an-app-for-sharepoint-2013.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262947.aspx

http://jeffreypaarhuis.com/2013/02/12/send-test-email-from-sharepoint/

http://www.myfatblog.co.uk/index.php/2012/11/testing-sharepoint-outbound-e-mail/

the column of type that you need, perhaps you may need to check with outlook contact properties, and have a check if there is a property that is empty or not in use,

because sharepoint is capable of 2 way sync, either outlook sync to sharepoint or vice versa, but sharepoint is easier to develop, if you possible to create the same property in outlook, i think its possible to achieve

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/office365-sharepoint-online-small-business-help/synchronize-sharepoint-content-with-outlook-HA102774420.aspx#_Toc329271667

http://community.office365.com/en-us/forums/154/p/14759/67949.aspx#67949

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/joerg_sinemus/archive/2012/03/13/outlook-and-contacts-synchronization-what-s-about-contact-groups.aspx

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Regards,
Aries
Microsoft Online Community Support


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Answer 3

Hi Aries,

Thanks for your interesting links. After having read them, I understand that there is no "group" functionality in Sharepoint as in Outlook.

I'm wondering now what could be the interest of using a Sharepoint contacts list instead of a shared Outlook contacts folder with associated groups.

Regards,

Luc

Answer 4

Hi Luc,

in my point of view,

its relies on the basic design of your needs, there are some difference for example, like user contact list in sharepoint goes directly to sql as storage.

sharepoint contact may sync with outlook contact list, but the sync is more to copy or import the contact to each of them, like sharepoint sync outlook then the contact on both sides should be the same.

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Regards,
Aries
Microsoft Online Community Support


Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Answer 5

Hi Aries,

I think that JungleMail (by Enovapoint) would perfectly fit to my needs. Would you have by chance any experience or any feedback about that Sharepoint add-on?

Regards,

Luc

Answer 6

Hi Luc,

i think you should try at your development stage regarding this 3rd party solution, because we dont have the knowledge regarding the 3rd party solutions.

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Regards,
Aries
Microsoft Online Community Support


Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.