When the social connector is enabled in Microsoft Outlook and you have an Exchange mailbox, the social connector will sync changes in the GAL to contacts. It requires the user add contacts from the GAL to the local contact folder. (Many users save contacts so they can sync with phones or to have the contacts available offline.)
Yes, every change made to the GAL should be updated to Outlook's contacts. However, it's not instant - in fact, it can take 4 days for the changes to process and sync down to contacts.
The default setting for syncing with the GAL is 4 days. This can be changed using a global policy that adds or edits the following key. Note that the value is in minutes. (While you could sync as frequently as every minute, that is a bit excessive and can result in high network traffic - we recommend using the default, but if you need more frequent syncs, set it for no less than 24 hours (1440 minutes).
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\SocialConnector DWORD: ContactSyncInterval Values: Any integer between 1 and 10080 (number is in minutes)
You can also sync changes immediately for any contact. Simply open the contact and click the Update button.
If the administrator doesn't want Outlook's contacts updated with data from the GAL, they can disable the synchronization using group policy. (Users can disable or control sync within Outlook, from the Social Connector's Settings dialog.)
The registry key that controls this is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\SocialConnector DWORD: DisableContactGALSync
Possible Values:
1 = The OSC does not synchronize Active Directory information with contacts.
0 = Policy disabled. (default) The OSC synchronizes data in the GAL.
If you're disabling this feature because the GAL is hopelessly out-of-date, you should consider giving users the ability to update their own records. For a list of utilities that provide self-service updates, see Active Directory Management Tools - User Updates
More Information
Disable global address list synchronization for Outlook 2010 (MSDN)
How to manage the Outlook Social Connector by using Group Policy (MSKB)
Hello,
it is posible to synchronize personal contacts with GAL (Exchange)?
Synchronize mean:
1. automatic apply changes in contact (phone number, name, title, address, email address)
2. create new personal contacts when new user mailbox is created
3. delete personal contact when user mailbox is deleted
If it is not possible in outlook, which other tool free or paid can do this task?
Contacts synchronization is helpful to synchronize contacts with smartphones
GAL to Contacts, yes, in so far as updating contracts from the gal. Creating, no, and I'm pretty sure no on deleting (but its a scenario I never tested.)
When you use the option in the GAL to create a contact, the contact is linked to the gal entry and should update if the gal entry is updated. It won't be instant and could take up to a few days. (If its not working, there is a reg key to set it.)
There are sync utilities that can do this. See https://www.slipstick.com/exchange/making-the-exchange-server-gal-portable/. Also, some smartphone apps can sync or search the gal, which may not be useful if you have a large gal.
Thanks Diane, I manually created a contact by entering the email address and name for my colleague(not via 'add to contacts' from GAL)and have waited for four days, but still the certificate is not updated yet. Please let me know once you have any info.
One additonal question : If the primary smtp address is changed will outlook social connector addin update the changes ? or if the smtp address is completely changed to a new address will it get updated in outlook contact via outlook social connector addin ?
the address in the contact should be updated if the address is changed in the gal. The update is not frequent, so it may not update overnight, but will update. Still waiting on word about the certificate.
Does certificates for sending encrypted mails gets updated from GAL by outlook Social connector Addin to outlook conatct stored locally ?
I don't know, but will check on it. My guess is no.