How to Create CiraSync Contact Collections

Creating CiraSync Contact Collections

Updated on Sep 1, 2023 Tags: Contact Sync Global Address List (GAL) Sync Support Articles

Contact Collections are a CiraSync-specific functionality. This provides flexibility because it allows for the categorization and organization of users in the Global Address List. Contact Collections can then be used as a target, and, in some cases, the source of a sync configuration. It can also allow you to search for a specific user included in a Group, Distribution List or even in nested Groups within a larger one. The following procedure shows how to create CiraSync Contact Collections.

How to Create CiraSync Collections

1. Log in to the CiraSync Enterprise Edition dashboard.

2. Click the + in the Contact Collections pane. (See figure below.)

You will be taken to the Contact Collection dashboard. (See figure below.)

3. Click the Pen icon.

4. Name the Collection.

5. Add users to the Contact Collection.  

NOTE: Users can be added individually to the Collection or en masse by adding a user group as a user of the Collection. Furthermore, if you do not have many users that need to be synced, you can also add All Mailboxes to the Collection, expand the Collection, and then manually exclude undesired user mailboxes. In this example, a user group will be used to create the Contact Collection. (See figure below.)

6. Click SAVE in the top-right corner of the Dashboard once all desired users have been added to the Collection.

NOTE: Contact Collections can also be created from an Office 365 Dynamic Distribution Group on a singular Azure Active Directory Subscription. Learn how to use Dynamic Distribution Groups to create Contact Collections with Creating Contact Collections from Office 365 Dynamic Distribution Groups. 

Congratulations! You have just learned how to create a Contact Collection. Contact Collections are flexible constructs that can be used to mass target multiple users without the clutter when performing CiraSync procedures. As such, they can be used to filter users within your Tenant when setting up a procedure.

The targeted Collection can also be used under Auto-License to mass-license multiple users at a time. Once the configuration is set and Collections are used as a source/target, you can then update just the Collection every time a user comes in or leaves the company.

Now that you have created a Contact Collection, check out these useful articles to learn how to effectively use your Collection:

  1. How to use Contact Collections to Filter Users
  2. How to Exclude Users from Office 365 Distribution Groups with CiraSync Contact Collections

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