What is a distribution group and how to create one

Distribution groups are an essential tool in Microsoft 365 for sending email notifications to a specific set of recipients. Administrators can configure these groups to receive emails from both internal and, if enabled, external sources. Distribution groups are ideal for communicating with a defined group such as “Building A Employees” or the “Contoso Team”.

Key considerations:

• Distribution groups can be upgraded to Microsoft 365 groups if broader collaboration tools (such as files and Teams chat) are needed.
• Microsoft 365 groups cannot be added as members of distribution groups.
• Distribution groups can be integrated into Teams only by adding individual members—not the group as an entity.

Learn more in the Microsoft Learn article on Distribution groups.

1. Using the Exchange Admin Center

• Go to the Exchange Admin Center
• Under “Recipients”, select “Groups”, and then “Add a group”.

• Select “Distribution” as the group type.

• Fill in all the necessary information.
• If desired, enable the external email under “Settings > Communication”.

• Click “Create group” to finish.

For more details, please refer to the Create and manage distribution lists in Exchange Online Microsoft article.

2. Using PowerShell

You can create distribution groups using PowerShell, which is useful for automation or batch operations.

Prerequisite:

Connect to Exchange Online using the Exchange Online Management module.

Example command:

# Creates a distribution group named 'ITDepartment' with four members.
New-DistributionGroup -Name "ITDepartment" -Members chris@contoso.com,michelle@contoso.com,laura@contoso.com,julia@contoso.com

For more detailed information, please refer to the Microsoft documentation for New-DistributionGroup.

3. Using CoreView

CoreView provides a simplified and enhanced interface for creating and managing distribution groups, along with advanced governance features:

• Go to the CoreView app
• Under “Actions”, click on “Management actions” and select “Distribution group”. Then choose “Create distribution group”.

• Follow the “Create distribution group” wizard.

Please note that the “Alias” field should not contain any spaces.

 

• Specify membership and, if needed, restrict who can send messages to the group.

With CoreView, you can also limit who can send messages to the group. Only specified senders will have the ability to send to the group, and emails sent by anyone else will be rejected.

 

• Submit the form to complete the creation process.