Hide private groups from GAL by default
As soon as someone creates a private group, this should by default be hidden from GAL.
There are PowerShell CmdLets which allow administrators to hide/show the groups from the GAL. However this is a post-facto activity. With many users and groups this is very tedious and many times we don't even come know that a group has been created by someone somwhere.
Abhitalks
shared this idea
AdminMicrosoft 365 Groups Feedback
(Product Owner, Microsoft Office 365)
responded
Following up on the previous update, if a workload (such as Planner) is enabled for Outlook by default, we don’t plan on hiding those groups from the GAL. The only other scenario currently under consideration where we would hide groups by default is “Secret Groups”. “Secret Groups” would be hidden from everywhere unless you are a member. “Secret groups” is on the Microsoft 365 Groups backlog, but there is no delivery date available at this time.
67 comments
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Rafael Varela Pet
commented
I completely agree with @Vilius.
We are a medium sized university and we have lots of groups created by students that have no value in the GAL.
All Office 365 Groups created should hidden by default in GAL and only be shown if published by an admin. Also it would be great to have O365 Groups in separate address list in the GAL.
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Chaz Weber
commented
This would be useful for scenarios where Teams are being deployed and the email function of the Group isn’t going to be used. While its possible to retroactively hide the items from the GAL, it would be nice to have this as an option presented to the Group creator
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Anonymous
commented
Why is though that for Groups hidden in GAL that I am a member of I do not see the group calendar in my calendar app? Or even have the option to explicity add it? Effectively groups hidden in the GAL have no usable calendar.
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Anthony Guange
commented
Only groups created by Admins should show in the GAL
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Anonymous
commented
I would like to echo the comment below, I agree that hidden from GAL should be the default, with the option for admins to run the command to publish in the GAL afterwards if desired. In our environment it would be rare that having the group in the GAL would be wanted at all.
Previous poster comment that sums it up perfectly:
It's great that Office 365 Groups created via Teams do not show up in the GAL, but it's really inconsistent that Office 365 Groups created via SharePoint, Outlook, Planner, OneDrive etc.do appear in the GAL.
From my point of view it would be the best to make the default setting that the Office 365 Groups do not appear in the GAL and then give the administrators of the group the possibility to change this setting.
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Jason Douglas
commented
We've recently started using O365 and having all of the Planner groups show in the GAL is quickly becoming terrible. Planner groups should be hidden from the GAL!
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Paweł Zieliński
commented
Great work with Teams but it is still an issue with Planner. Planner groups should also be hidden by default.
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Leif
commented
Status?
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Jan von Reith
commented
Is there any update on this topic?
It's great that Office 365 Groups created via Teams do not show up in the GAL, but it's really inconsistent that Office 365 Groups created via SharePoint, Outlook, Planner, OneDrive etc.do appear in the GAL.
From my point of view it would be the best to make the default setting that the Office 365 Groups do not appear in the GAL and then give the administrators of the group the possibility to change this setting.
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Caleb
commented
Microsoft - what happened to releasing this in 2016? And just use the same friggin attribute that already exists vs creating some sort of secret group.
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Vilius
commented
@Vijay Nelson The is not need for secret groups. All Office 365 Groups created should hidden by default in GAL (Outlook). This includes both private and public groups. GAL is like an official address book for the employees and it should not be littered with user's tests, private mini groups, the groups which are mostly created temporary, like project groups, etc. etc. For example we are large enterprise and we have hundreds of groups like "admin-todolist@domain.onmicrosoft.com" . This group email has no value in the GAL.
The best solution would be to allow users to unhide the group, but dedicated administrators should confirm this change. Also it would be great to have O365 Groups in separate address list in the GAL.
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Peter McDermott
commented
Just found this... which shows it was complete.
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Abdul Khan
commented
Secret Groups are not good enough. We need a flag or attribute populated which can be called for exclusion from the address lists like the GAL, Distribution Lists, etc.
Right now there is too much garbage in there. Exchange Online is supposed to be an Enterprise product...
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SDADM
commented
I fully agree with the poster who said, "User created groups of any kind should not show in the GAL."
In addition in cluttering the GAL, we recently discovered that since there are no naming controls, users can potentially create groups (public or private) that have the same name as an official mailbox (an office, department, or employee). Then they show up in the GAL because they are not hidden...
Do you realize what a HUGE security hole it is when any internal user can create an O365 Group called "Human Resources" or make one named after [Government Agency's] director in the GAL? When other users start to pick the wrong name in the GAL and now suddenly information is being sent to the wrong recipient(s)?
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Anonymous
commented
User created groups of any kind should not show in the GAL. The GAL is for organizing a companies contacts and distribution lists, not every single users whimsical fleeting ideas of group after group.
We need to be able to prevent users from making any sort of group.
We only have 80ish users and have been on Office 365 for 3 weeks and I am already looking for a way to stop users from making all types of groups. Our GAL is already cluttered with groups called "Test", "Trial", "Bob's Group", come on... -
Anonymous
commented
Not good enough! Secret groups will not solve the problem, which is that users are creating hundreds of needless groups with needless email addresses clogging up GAL's with JUNK! Most of the groups created by end users are simply for tracking or organizing work. People don't usually even WANT an email address, let alone know that it is being added to a huge company list. In fact, a better option than hiding the email from the list might be to not make an email address at all for the group, and make creating the email the optional part. I guarantee 90% of groups created would not check a box to use the email address. Please don't force people to use the produce the way you happened to program it and make it work the way people WANT to use it!
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Anonymous
commented
When is this happening? I just implemented O365 and the GAL is a mess with all these SharePoint & teams (etc.) groups.
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Chris Adams
commented
Microsoft, this is a very reasonable ask, we should be able to prevent private groups from showing up in the address book by default. Using a script after the fact is not a viable solution as the group still could still make it's way to the address book before a scheduled script is run.
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Michele Green
commented
It's disappointing that 2 years after the O365 Feedback Team responded here there's no update
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Anonymous
commented
We need private groups disabled from Global Address list.