I am trying to figure out how OAB handles including additional lists. In testing I am editing my Default Offline Address Book, which by default includes the GAL. What I am trying is checking the box "Include the following address lists:" and then adding a few address lists that I have created. What I am expecting to see is when offline in Outlook, these additional lists would be available. However, in testing on the Outlook client when I go offline and use the OAB only the GAL is accessible, if I click on any of the lists that I have added I recieve the error that the lists cannot be displayed because the server is offline. I am curious what adding additional lists to the OAB actually does?

Try rebuilding the OAB. Also, your Outlook client will need to download the OAB first before it is available offline. You can configure how Outlook downloads the OAB. How to configure how the Offline Address Book is downloaded when you use Outlook in Cached Exchange Mode

Try rebuilding the OAB. Also, your Outlook client will need to download the OAB first before it is available offline. You can configure how Outlook downloads the OAB. How to configure how the Offline Address Book is downloaded when you use Outlook in Cached Exchange Mode

I have recreated and downloaded the OAB on Exchange and on Outlook. This does not fix the problem. It would appear that this "add additional lists" option simply does not work the way you would expect and I think it is a misleading setting. Apparently this issue is still present in Exchange 2010: same issue:http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/exchange2010/thread/7f875874-cdfe-404e-8405-857f4fe7348b

Hi, Please try to create a custom offline address book via the steps below: 1. Please uncheck the Include the default Global Address List option and then check the Include the following address lists option. 2. Click Add button to add your customized address list. 3. Click Next button, please check both Enable Web-based distribution and Enable public folder distribution option. 4. Click Add button to add your OAB virtual directory. Click Next, New and Finish to complete the wizard. 5. Right click the new OAB and select Update to manually generate OAB files. After that, please wait about 15 minutes for OAB generation. 6. On CAS server, please restart Microsoft Exchange File Distribution service. Please ensure that outlook is in cache mode. We need to download the new create OAB and then check the issue again.Xiu Zhang TechNet Community Support

Hi, Please try to create a custom offline address book via the steps below: 1. Please uncheck the Include the default Global Address List option and then check the Include the following address lists option. 2. Click Add button to add your customized address list. 3. Click Next button, please check both Enable Web-based distribution and Enable public folder distribution option. 4. Click Add button to add your OAB virtual directory. Click Next, New and Finish to complete the wizard. 5. Right click the new OAB and select Update to manually generate OAB files. After that, please wait about 15 minutes for OAB generation. 6. On CAS server, please restart Microsoft Exchange File Distribution service. Please ensure that outlook is in cache mode. We need to download the new create OAB and then check the issue again.Xiu Zhang TechNet Community Support

I have recreated and downloaded the OAB on Exchange and on Outlook. This does not fix the problem. It would appear that this "add additional lists" option simply does not work the way you would expect and I think it is a misleading setting. Apparently this issue is still present in Exchange 2010: same issue:http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/exchange2010/thread/7f875874-cdfe-404e-8405-857f4fe7348b Hi, The way that OABs work is not new to Exchange 2010. Adding different Address Lists to an OAB will only create the problem described in this thread I've seen it too many times.Martina Miskovic

I have recreated and downloaded the OAB on Exchange and on Outlook. This does not fix the problem. It would appear that this "add additional lists" option simply does not work the way you would expect and I think it is a misleading setting. Apparently this issue is still present in Exchange 2010: same issue:http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/exchange2010/thread/7f875874-cdfe-404e-8405-857f4fe7348b Hi, The way that OABs work is not new to Exchange 2010. Adding different Address Lists to an OAB will only create the problem described in this thread I've seen it too many times.Martina Miskovic

Thanks for the replys. Again, I think this is a misleading setting with little official "clearly stated" documentation. The setting makes it appear that you can add as many lists as you want to an OAB as well as including the GAL so that you would be able to have multiple lists as well as the GAL available offline. Reality is: OAB's should only include 1 list and should not include the GAL. It would be nice if the feature would prevent you from adding many lists along with the GAL as it is simply only possible to use one list with OAB.

Thanks for the replys. Again, I think this is a misleading setting with little official "clearly stated" documentation. The setting makes it appear that you can add as many lists as you want to an OAB as well as including the GAL so that you would be able to have multiple lists as well as the GAL available offline. Reality is: OAB's should only include 1 list and should not include the GAL. It would be nice if the feature would prevent you from adding many lists along with the GAL as it is simply only possible to use one list with OAB.