As the number of contacts in your Outlook address book grows, it can become challenging to send emails to multiple recipients. This is where a contact group, or distribution list, comes in handy. With it, you can send an email to a group of people without having to add each email address separately, saving time and effort. If you have never created a distribution list in Outlook before, this guide will help you get started.

Step 1: Open Outlook and go to the People page

To create a contact group, you need to be in the People page in Outlook. To get there, open the application and click on the People icon at the bottom left corner of the window. If you are using an older version of Outlook, this icon may be labeled Contacts.

Step 2: Select the contacts you want to add to the group

Once you are in the People page, select the contacts you want to add to the distribution list by clicking on each of their names while holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard. If you want to select all contacts, hit Ctrl+A.

Step 3: Click on the New Contact Group button

After you have selected the contacts you want to use, click on the New Contact Group button at the top of the page. It is a blue icon with a yellow head and shoulders icon.

Step 4: Name your contact group

This will open a new window where you can create your contact group. First, give your group a name. You will see a field labeled Name on the right side of the window. Type a descriptive name for your group, such as “Marketing Team” or “Family Members.”

Step 5: Add the selected contacts to the group

Next, you need to add the selected contacts to the group. You can do this by selecting the Add Members button and choosing whether to add contacts from your Outlook address book or from your computer. If you selected contacts from your Outlook address book in Step 2, they will already be selected for you at this point.

Step 6: Save your contact group

Once you have added all the contacts you want in the group, click on the Save & Close button at the top left corner of the window. This will save your contact group and close the window.

Step 7: Use your contact group in an email

To use your contact group in an email, start composing a new message and enter the name of your group in the To field. Outlook will automatically recognize the group name and display all the contacts in the group. Alternatively, you can click on the To button to bring up your address book, select the contact group from the list, and hit OK.

In conclusion, creating a distribution list in Outlook can save you a lot of time and effort when sending emails to multiple people. By following these steps, you will be able to create a contact group and add contacts to it in no time. Try it out and see how much easier it is to send emails to groups of people.