Solution · Multiple address books
Multiple address books on the work phone: colleagues, vendors and customers kept apart
On the work phone everything often sits in one folder: the colleagues, the vendors from the SharePoint list, the customers of the sales team. Search for “Miller” and you get all three. GALYNSKI distributes several address books instead, each with its own name, its own sources and its own recipients. In Outlook and in the Outlook app each one appears as a separate contact folder, on Android in the contacts app too, updated daily, with no extra app and no device management.
The problem: one folder for everything
One contact folder is enough as long as only your own company goes into it. Once vendors and customers join, it gets in the way. The warehouse manager has the sales team’s customers on his phone although he never calls them. The twelve names of the on-call team are buried among 800 colleagues. And nobody can tell where a contact came from: the directory, the supplier list or the sales team’s mailbox.
Separate folders solve this if someone maintains them. By hand that means: every person creates them, copies into them, and nothing updates. GALYNSKI does this centrally.
What an address book is in GALYNSKI
An address book is a name and one or more sources. The name is the name of the contact folder in Outlook and in the Outlook app, say “Colleagues” or “Vendors”. Any source GALYNSKI can read qualifies: the global address list, the members of a group, the contact folder of a shared mailbox, a SharePoint list or the external contacts from the Exchange admin centre. Each source has its own recipients, all users or specific groups. Up to ten address books per organisation.
You start with one address book, for example “Colleagues”, and add further ones when you need them.
Four examples
| Address book | Source | Who receives it |
|---|---|---|
| Colleagues | Global address list | All employees |
| Vendors | SharePoint list with tradespeople, suppliers and emergency services | All employees |
| Customers | Contact folder of the sales team’s shared mailbox | Only the “Sales” group |
| On-call | Members of the “On-call” group | The team that has to call them |
The five sources in detail: global address list, members of a group, shared mailbox, SharePoint list and external contacts.
How to set up an address book
- Choose a name. This is what the folder will be called in Outlook and in the Outlook app.
- Choose the sources. One or more: global address list, group members, shared mailbox, SharePoint list, external contacts. Within one address book every person gets one card; if they are in two sources, the first one wins.
- Set the recipients per source. All users or specific groups. The customer list stays with sales while the vendors go to everyone.
- Nightly run. In the window from 02:00 to 05:00 local time, GALYNSKI writes the contacts of each address book into a separate folder in the recipients’ mailboxes. Changes in the sources arrive with the next run; if you do not want to wait, start a manual run in the dashboard.
- Onto the device. The folder appears by itself in Outlook on the computer and in the Outlook app. The contacts reach the contacts app and caller ID through the Outlook app: on Android with “Sync Contacts”, on the iPhone with “Save Contacts”. No extra app, no MDM profile. On the iPhone the contacts sit together in the contacts app under “All Contacts”; the Outlook app shows them separated by address book. More in the guide Company contacts on Android.
When a contact is in two address books
A vendor who also sits in the sales team’s customer contacts gets two cards: one in the “Vendors” address book, one in “Customers”. That is often intended, because both folders stay complete on their own. GALYNSKI shows per address book how many contacts overlap with other address books.
If you do not want duplicate cards, switch on the setting “Leave out contacts that are already in another address book” in the address book concerned. The contact is then missing from this address book and appears only in the other one.
Renaming and removing
- Renaming happens in place. The folder is not deleted and recreated; the contacts stay on the phones.
- If you remove an address book, GALYNSKI takes the folder off all phones and logs this per mailbox. The name stays reserved until that is complete.
- The employees’ private contacts stay untouched. GALYNSKI writes only into the folders it created itself.
Data protection and operations
- The contracting party is SSIG-IT GmbH in Germany; the DPA (with English text), sub-processors and technical measures are public. Hosted in the EU.
- Protection against mass deletion: if a source suddenly shrinks to a fraction, GALYNSKI stops the affected address book before a single contact is changed, and reports the reason.
- Every run is in the dashboard with counts and notes. The report arrives by email when something changed or an error occurred. What GALYNSKI processes is set out in the documentation Data protection, the sources in Sources and recipients (German).
Price
4.00 € per user per month, or 36 € per user per year on the annual plan. From 51 users 3.60 € or 33 €, from 251 users 3.20 € or 30 €, each plus VAT. Multiple address books cost nothing extra; counted are the users who receive contacts. All prices on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
How many address books can I create?
Up to ten per organisation. Each has its own name, one or more sources and its own recipients per source.
Does a person who is in two address books appear twice on the phone?
Yes, they then have two cards, one per address book. GALYNSKI shows the number of overlaps per address book. If you do not want that, switch on the setting “Leave out contacts that are already in another address book” in the second address book.
Can I rename an address book without it disappearing from the phones?
Yes. The folder is renamed in place, not deleted and recreated. The contacts stay where they are.
What happens when I remove an address book?
GALYNSKI removes the folder from all phones and logs this per mailbox. Until that is complete, the name stays reserved. The employees’ private contacts are not affected.
Do multiple address books cost extra?
No. Counted are the users who receive contacts, not the address books.