A SharePoint list as a contact source: entries in Outlook and on the phone

Lists in SharePoint and Microsoft Lists are the tool teams use to maintain contact persons: suppliers, partners, emergency numbers, site managers. With columns, forms, permissions and version history. The only place the entries never reach is the address book. GALYNSKI turns a list into a contact source: map the columns, choose the recipients, done.

The problem: lists and Outlook do not talk to each other

SharePoint once had “Connect to Outlook” for this. The modern experience no longer has it: “The Connect to Outlook feature is only available in the classic SharePoint experience. There is no other way to connect to Outlook in the modern experience.” (Microsoft Q&A, accepted answer of 24 October 2018; confirmed again in the Tech Community in 2024). Even the classic connection only ever reached desktop Outlook, never the smartphone.

Power Automate can create list entries as contacts, but only in the mailbox of the connection the flow uses. For 50 or 500 employees that would mean 50 or 500 connections, or a custom application with application permissions plus logic for changes, deletions, duplicates and errors. What breaks in day-to-day operation is described in the post Contacts to all mailboxes via PowerShell: what breaks.

How GALYNSKI distributes a list

1. Confirm once. When connecting to Microsoft 365, your administrator confirms read access to SharePoint. After that there is nothing left to share: no site sharing, no PowerShell, no instructions.
2. Map the list and its columns. Source “SharePoint list”, search for the site, choose the list, map columns to contact fields: first name, last name, display name, email, company, job title, department, mobile, phone, postal address. GALYNSKI suggests the mapping based on the column names and stores it per list. Supported are text, choice and number columns.
3. Choose the recipients. All users or specific groups. Every list is its own source, in the same or in its own address book.
4. Nightly run. Every list entry becomes a contact in the GALYNSKI folder in the recipients’ mailboxes. Changed entries are updated, deleted ones removed. Entries without a name and without an email address are left out and shown in the report.
5. Check before writing. If a mapped column is missing or has the wrong type, the run stops and names the column instead of writing half-finished contacts.
6. 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. More in the guide Company contacts on Android.

What teams use this for

• Supplier and partner lists of the purchasing department, maintained by several people with a form and history.
• On-call and emergency lists for facilities, IT or production that must be on every company phone.
• Site and branch directories with contact persons who do not work in your own tenant.
• Member and committee lists in associations and clubs whose members have no mailboxes in the tenant.

Limits, stated plainly

• Lookup and person columns are not transferred; text, choice and number columns are.
• For lists with content approval, only approved entries are distributed.
• Lists with more than 10,000 entries are not transferred; the run stops with a note instead of silently truncating.
• Distribution runs in one direction: changes belong in the list, not in the contacts.

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 the list suddenly becomes empty or much smaller, 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.

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. The SharePoint source costs nothing extra. All prices on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Which permission does GALYNSKI get in SharePoint?

Read access to SharePoint (application permission Sites.Read.All), confirmed once by the administrator. Only the lists you select as a source are read, and only the mapped columns. GALYNSKI never writes to SharePoint.

Does the list need a particular template?

No. Any list with text, choice or number columns will do. The mapping to contact fields is up to you; GALYNSKI suggests it based on the column names.

What happens if someone renames or deletes a mapped column?

The run stops and names the column. As soon as the mapping is adjusted, it continues. Half-finished contacts are never written.

Can the team maintain the list on the go?

Yes, in Microsoft Lists or in the SharePoint app. The next run picks up the change. GALYNSKI does not write back from the contacts into the list.

Can I distribute several lists?

Yes. Every list is its own source, in the same or in its own address book. A list can be used as a source only once so that the mapping stays unambiguous.