Outlook - use LDAP instead of GAL

• We were contacted by an office that was unhappy that the Exchange server's Global Address List (GAL) made it difficult to look up the email addresses of Lincoln (LL) employees.
• Lincoln employees who have "kerberos-only" accounts do not have mail accounts. They are listed in MIT's directory (People Search / LDAP) but are not listed in the Exchange server's GAL.

On this page:

Answer

You can set Outlook to look up names from LDAP. This works with the new LDAP server ldap.mit.edu because it has server-side support for browsing, which Outlook needs.

Outlook 2010, 2016 instructions

Overview / General concepts

1. add LDAP address book "ldap.mit.edu", with "enable browsing" option
2. set it as the first address book searched

Step-by-step instructions

Add LDAP addressbook

1. In Outlook, go to the File tab, then Info, then Account Settings > Account Settings
   
   
2. In the new window, go to the tab "Address Books" and press New...
   
   
3. Choose Internet Directory Sercice (LDAP) and Next
4. For Server Information, enter Server Name: "ldap.mit.edu"
5. Press the button More Settings...
   If Outlook warns you that you will need to restart Outlook, press OK.
   
6. In the new window "Microsoft LDAP Directory", go to the Search tab
7. For Search Base, choose Custom: and enter "dc=mit,dc=edu"
8. For Browsing, choose "[x] Enable Browsing (requires server support)"
9. Press OK to close the Microsoft LDAP Directory window
   
10. Press Next in the Add New Account / Directory Service (LDAP) window
11. Press Finish to close the Add New Account window.
    
12. Press Close to close the Account Settings window.
    
13. Quit Outlook
14. Re-open Outlook

Set it as the first address book searched

1. From the Home tab, in the Find group, choose Address Book
2. From the Tools menu choose Options
3. Set "check address lists in this order" to "Custom" and use the buttons to move "ldap.mit.edu" to the top of the list.
4. Press OK to close the Addressing settings window
5. Press X to close the Address Book

Note: This sets ldap.mit.edu as the primary lookup addressbook, instead of the Exchange server's Global Address List (GAL). This makes Outlook address lookups work like it did last year before you migrated to Exchange, but it makes it work differently than the rest of campus using Outlook w/ Exchange. We haven't tested this setup, we don't think you'll see problems but we can't be sure. In Outlook 2016 the person will appear in your search however the email address is not visible.