Offline Address Book in Exchange Server 2007

Offline Address book is downloaded and used by the applications like Microsoft Office Outlook. By default, Exchange Server 2007 creates one offline address book, which includes he default Global Address List. This Default Offline Address Book is schedule to be updated every day at 5 AM.

We can manage Offline address books via Exchange Management Console or from PowerShell. To view the default address book, follow the below step:-

1. Open the Exchange Management Console.

2. Expand Organization Configuration and click on Mailbox.

3. On the result pane, click on Offline Address Book tab.

4. Here you can see the Default Offline Address Book.

We can also move the OAB to the server responsible for generating it. This can be done by doing right click on the Default Offline Address Book and selecting Move.

We can update the Offline Address Book by doing right click on it and select Update.

OAB is not attached by default with MS Outlook. Follow below steps to link OAB with Mailbox store:-

1. In the Exchange Management Console, expand Server Configuration, and then click Mailbox.
2. In the Database Management window, right-click Properties on the mailbox store.
3. Click the Client Settings tab, click Browse, and then click the appropriate offline address book.
4. Click OK two times.

We can create a new OAB from both the Console and PowerShell.

How to create a new OAB from PowerShell

Here is the syntax of creating a new OAB

New-OfflineAddressBook -Name <String> -AddressLists -Server <ServerIdParameter> -VirtualDirectories <VirtualDirectoryIdParameter>

Example

New-OfflineAddressBook -Name "New OAB" -AddressLists "\Default Global Address List" -Server SERVER01 -VirtualDirectories "SERVER01\OAB (Default Web Site)"