---
title: How to Add External Users to a Distribution Group in Microsoft Office 365 - Microsoft Consulting Services - CloudServus - United States
description: "Scenario: Customer needs to receive email alerts from various alerting systems outside of their email system and go to multiple people that are not members of their company email system. The emails also do not need to be retained in a central location. Solution: There are several ways to set up a similar scenario, but […]"
---

[CloudServus - Microsoft Consulting Blog ](https://www.cloudservus.com/blog)

# [How to Add External Users to a Distribution Group in Microsoft Office 365 - Microsoft Consulting Services - CloudServus - United States](https://www.cloudservus.com/blog/how-to-add-external-users-to-a-distribution-group)

 Written by [cloudservuscom](https://www.cloudservus.com/blog/author/cloudservuscom) | Feb 5, 2020 2:32:19 AM

**Scenario:** Customer needs to receive email alerts from various alerting systems outside of their email system and go to multiple people that are not members of their company email system. The emails also do not need to be retained in a central location.

**Solution:** There are several ways to set up a similar scenario, but in this case, we recommend creating a simple Distribution Group (DG). However, in Microsoft 365 external users are not able to be added to Groups. To accomplish this, you must create a Contact for the external user, then add the Contact to the Distribution Group.

# Create New Distribution Group:

1. In the **Microsoft 365 admin center**, navigate to **Groups** and **Add a Group**.
2. On the **Add group** window, under **Choose a group type** select **Distribution**. Click **Next**.
3. On the **Set up the basics** page, enter a **Name,** and **Description **if you choose. Click **Next**.
4. On the **Edit settings** page, **check the box** to **Allow people outside of my organization to send email to this distribution group**. Click **Next**.
5. On the **Review and finish adding group**, review the information and click **Create group**.
6. Once your **New group (is) created**, click **Close**.

# Create Contact for External Users:

1. In the **Microsoft 365 admin center**, navigate to **Contacts**. Then **Add a contact**.
2. On the **Add a contact** window, enter the required information and click **Add**.
3. Close the **Add a contact** window.
4. Verify that your contact was created.

# Add Contact to Group

1. In the **Microsoft 365 admin center**, navigate to **Groups**. **Double-click** to open the group.
2. In the Group details window, on the **Members** tab, click **View all and manage members**.
3. Click Add members.
4. In the **Add members** list, select the **Contacts** you created. Click **Save**.
5. Once Group members were added, click **Close**.
6. Click **Close**.
7. Click **Close** once again.
8. Your Distribution Group with external Contacts has been created and ready for use.

 

[View full post](https://www.cloudservus.com/blog/how-to-add-external-users-to-a-distribution-group)

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