One shared contact list on every employee's phone
Microsoft 365 has no simple shared address book that reaches phones. With ModernSync you pick one source, either a group or a contact folder in a mailbox. Each night it is copied into every chosen mailbox, so the same list appears in Outlook and on your employees' iPhones and Android phones.
Works withiPhoneAndroidOutlook for Windows, Mac and web
Why shared contacts are hard in Microsoft 365
Shared contact lists usually live in a public folder or a shared mailbox that only Outlook on the desktop can open. The phone only syncs the user's own mailbox, so the list is missing exactly where it is needed when a call comes in.
Your options in Microsoft 365
| Option | Works well | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Public folder contacts | One list everyone can open in Outlook on the desktop. | Not in the phone's contacts, so incoming calls show only a number. |
| Contacts in a shared mailbox | Easy to maintain for a small team. | Each user has to open it, and phones don't sync it. |
| Contact lists in Outlook | Quick to send to a group. | Each user keeps a copy that isn't updated. |
How ModernSync does it
Set-up takes about five minutes.
Approve the app
A global admin approves ModernSync in Microsoft 365. Nothing is installed on phones or servers.
Choose the groups
Pick who becomes contacts and who receives them. A test run shows exactly what would change before anything is written.
Contacts on every phone
Every night the contacts are updated in employees' mailboxes, and phones and Outlook pick them up from there.
A test run first
The test run shows exactly how many contacts would be created, updated and removed in which mailboxes. Nothing is written until you switch synchronisation on.
Data, hosting and the DPA
- Contact data stays in Microsoft 365
- Contacts are written straight from Microsoft 365 to employees' mailboxes. We only keep what the portal needs to show status.
- Hosted in Azure in the EU
- Your data is processed in Microsoft Azure in the EU, and we hold no passwords. The app's permissions are listed on the permissions page.
- Data processing agreement included
- It is part of the terms and accepted when you sign up.
Questions
Can the source be a shared contact folder?
Yes, for example a folder of suppliers in a shared mailbox. A rule copies the contacts from there into every chosen mailbox.
Can people edit the shared contacts on their phone?
Edit them in the source. The following night ModernSync updates every copy, so the lists match again.
Can the contacts go in a separate folder?
Yes, but only Outlook shows subfolders. Phones show the main Contacts folder, so if the list needs to reach phones, it has to go there.
Will it change our own contacts?
No. ModernSync only edits contacts with its own hidden tag. If the source folder is emptied by mistake, the delete guard stops the run before the copies disappear from the mailboxes.
Related guides and other solutions
- Shared contacts in Outlook and Microsoft 365: your options
Four built-in ways to share a contact list, what each one does in Outlook, and why none of them puts the list in every employee's phone.
- How rules work
What a rule is, which sources you can use, and what happens to the contacts when you change or delete a rule.
- Outlook contacts on iPhoneColleagues from Microsoft 365 in the iPhone's own contacts, so calls show a name.
- Outlook contacts on AndroidColleagues in the Android phone's contacts, Samsung included.
- GAL sync for iPhone and AndroidThe global address list as real contacts, so calls show who is ringing.
- Push contacts to iPhone and AndroidApprove the app once and choose the groups. There are no scripts to maintain.
- Company directory on the phoneThe directory in the phone's own contacts app instead of one more app.
Try it on your own groups
Sign up in the portal and see the test run for your own groups before you decide. Free for 14 days.