How do I create a PoliteMail List from an Exchange List?

Exchange/Outlook does not have a simple 'Export' button, so creating a PoliteMail List from an Exchange List will involve first exporting the List members to a .csv file, and then importing the .csv file into PoliteMail.

Exporting a List from Outlook/Exchange

Option 1 – From Outlook (no admin / no PowerShell)

This works if the distribution list is visible in the address book (Global Address List) and you just need member names and addresses.

1. In Outlook (desktop), start a New Email.
2. Click To…, search for the distribution list, select it, and click To → to add it, then OK.
3. In the message, click the + icon next to the list name to expand it into individual members and confirm the prompt.
4. Select all entries in the To field (Ctrl+A), then Ctrl+C to copy.
5. Paste (Ctrl+V) into a blank text file or Excel; if you paste to a text editor first, replace tabs with commas and save as .csv, then open in Excel.

This gives you a CSV-style file of the list members’ display names and email addresses with no admin access required.

Option 2 - PowerShell (Exchange Online Admins only)

If you have Exchange Online admin rights, you can export directly to CSV with full control over the columns.

1. Open Windows PowerShell (or VS Code) on a machine with the Exchange Online module.
2. Connect to Exchange Online:

Connect-ExchangeOnline -ShowBanner:$false

1. Run this to export one group’s members:

$DistributionList = "YourDL@yourdomain.com"
$CSVFilePath = "C:\Temp\DL-Members.csv"

Get-DistributionGroupMember -Identity $DistributionList -ResultSize 
Unlimited |
  Select-Object Name, PrimarySmtpAddress, RecipientType |
  Export-Csv $CSVFilePath -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8

You’ll get a clean CSV with each member on its own row and columns for name, primary SMTP address, and recipient type.

Now that you have the .csv created, you can follow this article to create a PoliteMail list from it.