Hi Rick,

Steps have not changed, but you must be in the Contacts folder to do this. From in there, open the Home tab and tab twice to the New contact group command (you don’t arrow into the lower ribbon). That said, I much prefer to maintain list of people in an Excel sheet and copy and past them into the address fields. I find it much easier to manage that Outlook contact groups.

Regards,

David

Hi again,

Why I much prefer maintaining such lists with Excel has less to do with creating the list, but rather with managing it over time. I find it horrendously difficult to remove people from the list and add new ones if it is an Outlook contact group. This is a million times easier to do in Excel.

David

Microsoft has called what often gets called a "distribution list" or "email list" a "Contact Group" for as long as I can remember.  There is no restriction built-in as far as what email addresses can be used in a Contact Group.  I do believe that now there is a limit of 100 addresses, total, that can be placed in any single contact group, and in my opinion even that's too high, as many email servers will instantly bounce a message that has that many addressees.

I took the liberty of tweaking Brian's instructions, though I'm using Outlook 2016, and here's the result (and it includes attribution):

Working with Outlook Contact Lists Using a Screen Reader

Based upon a post by Brian Lee on the JFW User’s Group on Groups.io

All that follows presumes you are already in Outlook Contacts before beginning:

Create the Contact Group itself:

1.      Hit CTRL + Shift + L to open the Contact Group dialog, you will be in the Name edit box when it opens.

2.      Type the name you want for that contact group.

3.      Hit ALT + H, AV, to save the Group.

Adding individual contacts to the Contact Group:

1.      Navigate to the Group in your Contacts list then hit Enter.

2.      You will land in the Name edit box, as above when the Contact Group Dialog opens.  If you wish to change it, you can do so.

3.      Hit Tab to land in the list of members in the Contact Group.  If you haven’t added anyone yet, it will be empty.  If there are existing members, you can then use down and up arrow keys to move through the list.

4.      Hit ALT + H, M, to add a new member.  You will immediately follow that command sequence with one of the following:

a.       C – if the member is found in your Outlook Contacts

b.      A – if the member is found in your Address Book

c.       E – if the member is an email address you have in neither of the above

5.      If you are adding a member from either Outlook Contacts or Address Book, then the Select Members: Contacts Dialog appears.  It is precisely the same for either choice, it’s just the source of the possible members that differs.  You will be placed in the Search edit box.  Here you can enter all or part of something, whether it be the email address or display name, associated with the individual contact you’re trying to locate.

6.      There will now be a list of results where the entries will depend on what you have entered in the search box.  If you gave an exact match for a single contact, there will only be one in the list, if not, there could be any number that match what you did enter. Hit TAB until you hear the first entry in the list announced.

7.      You can now use the up/down arrow keys to navigate the list.  If the contact that has focus in the list is the on you want, then hit ALT + B to activate the Members button.  This adds this member to “the collection” you’re building to add to the Contacts Group.

8.      If you have multiple contacts that you want to add that match the current search criteria you can hit SHIFT + TAB to go back to the list of contacts matched from the search and move up down among them to find others. You go back to to Step 7 to add them to “the collection.”  Once you have as many members in “the collection” as you want to add from the list, navigate to the OK button and activate it.  The contact or contacts you’ve collected will be added to the Contact Group.

9.      If there are more members you want, then jump back to Step 4 and follow through to Step 8 as many times as necessary to complete your Contact Group.  Otherwise, continue with Step 10.

10.  You are now back in the Contact Group Dialog and all of the members you’ve collected will now be a part of it. If you wish to review the membership, TAB until you hear the first member, then use the down and up arrow keys to review who’s in the list.  Once you’re satisfied with the result, continue to Step 11.

11.  Hit ALT + H, AV, to save the Contact Group and close the dialog.

Removing Members from an Existing Contact Group:

1.      Navigate to your Contact Group in your Contacts, then press Enter to open the Dialog for that Contact Group.  You will again have focus on the Group Name.

2.      Tab to the first member of the Contact Group, then move among the members using up or down arrow keys.  When you have focus on a member you wish to remove, simply hit the Delete key and they will be removed from the group.

3.      If you are happy with your changes, simply Hit ALT + H, AV, to save the Contact Group and close the dialog.  If you are not, and have decided you do not wish to save your changes, Hit ALT + NumRow 4.  You will be presented with a dialog asking if you want to save the changes you made.  There are three buttons:  Yes, No, and Cancel.  This allows you a graceful way out if you decide you screwed up something while editing the group.  Note that whether you answer Yes or No, you end up having an individual contact open after the Contact Group dialog closes.  This is different from when you use ALT + H, AV, which just closes the Contact Group Dialog and puts you back in the main Contacts window.

Deleting an Entire Existing Contact Group:

1.      Gain focus on your Contact Group in your Contacts then hit the Delete key. NOTE:  You will not be asked whether you really want to delete the Group or not, it will just be deleted.  Exercise caution and be certain you want to nuke the entire Contact Group before hitting Delete when it has focus.

--

Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 11 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 22621; Office 2016, Version 16.0.15726.20188, 32-bit; Android 12 (MIUI 13)  

It’s not lack of contact with the world off campus that leads to the liberal views common in academia — it’s being trained to think critically and practicing this craft daily as we look at the world around us that makes us the libs conservatives so dislike.

     ~ Eliot A. Brenowitz, Seattle; New York Times, Letters, Tales of Town and Gown: Is the Campus Isolated?, August 20, 2022

Hi Brian, Would I use the process you provided below to add a single person to the contact list?

Cheers,

Kevin

Microsoft has called what often gets called a "distribution list" or "email list" a "Contact Group" for as long as I can remember.  There is no restriction built-in as far as what email addresses can be used in a Contact Group.  I do believe that now there is a limit of 100 addresses, total, that can be placed in any single contact group, and in my opinion even that's too high, as many email servers will instantly bounce a message that has that many addressees.

I took the liberty of tweaking Brian's instructions, though I'm using Outlook 2016, and here's the result (and it includes attribution):

Working with Outlook Contact Lists Using a Screen Reader

Based upon a post by Brian Lee on the JFW User’s Group on Groups.io

All that follows presumes you are already in Outlook Contacts before beginning:

Create the Contact Group itself:

1.      Hit CTRL + Shift + L to open the Contact Group dialog, you will be in the Name edit box when it opens.

2.      Type the name you want for that contact group.

3.      Hit ALT + H, AV, to save the Group.

Adding individual contacts to the Contact Group:

1.      Navigate to the Group in your Contacts list then hit Enter.

2.      You will land in the Name edit box, as above when the Contact Group Dialog opens.  If you wish to change it, you can do so.

3.      Hit Tab to land in the list of members in the Contact Group.  If you haven’t added anyone yet, it will be empty.  If there are existing members, you can then use down and up arrow keys to move through the list.

4.      Hit ALT + H, M, to add a new member.  You will immediately follow that command sequence with one of the following:

a.       C – if the member is found in your Outlook Contacts

b.      A – if the member is found in your Address Book

c.       E – if the member is an email address you have in neither of the above

5.      If you are adding a member from either Outlook Contacts or Address Book, then the Select Members: Contacts Dialog appears.  It is precisely the same for either choice, it’s just the source of the possible members that differs.  You will be placed in the Search edit box.  Here you can enter all or part of something, whether it be the email address or display name, associated with the individual contact you’re trying to locate.

6.      There will now be a list of results where the entries will depend on what you have entered in the search box.  If you gave an exact match for a single contact, there will only be one in the list, if not, there could be any number that match what you did enter. Hit TAB until you hear the first entry in the list announced.

7.      You can now use the up/down arrow keys to navigate the list.  If the contact that has focus in the list is the on you want, then hit ALT + B to activate the Members button.  This adds this member to “the collection” you’re building to add to the Contacts Group.

8.      If you have multiple contacts that you want to add that match the current search criteria you can hit SHIFT + TAB to go back to the list of contacts matched from the search and move up down among them to find others. You go back to to Step 7 to add them to “the collection.”  Once you have as many members in “the collection” as you want to add from the list, navigate to the OK button and activate it.  The contact or contacts you’ve collected will be added to the Contact Group.

9.      If there are more members you want, then jump back to Step 4 and follow through to Step 8 as many times as necessary to complete your Contact Group.  Otherwise, continue with Step 10.

10.  You are now back in the Contact Group Dialog and all of the members you’ve collected will now be a part of it. If you wish to review the membership, TAB until you hear the first member, then use the down and up arrow keys to review who’s in the list.  Once you’re satisfied with the result, continue to Step 11.

11.  Hit ALT + H, AV, to save the Contact Group and close the dialog.

Removing Members from an Existing Contact Group:

1.      Navigate to your Contact Group in your Contacts, then press Enter to open the Dialog for that Contact Group.  You will again have focus on the Group Name.

2.      Tab to the first member of the Contact Group, then move among the members using up or down arrow keys.  When you have focus on a member you wish to remove, simply hit the Delete key and they will be removed from the group.

3.      If you are happy with your changes, simply Hit ALT + H, AV, to save the Contact Group and close the dialog.  If you are not, and have decided you do not wish to save your changes, Hit ALT + NumRow 4.  You will be presented with a dialog asking if you want to save the changes you made.  There are three buttons:  Yes, No, and Cancel.  This allows you a graceful way out if you decide you screwed up something while editing the group.  Note that whether you answer Yes or No, you end up having an individual contact open after the Contact Group dialog closes.  This is different from when you use ALT + H, AV, which just closes the Contact Group Dialog and puts you back in the main Contacts window.

Deleting an Entire Existing Contact Group:

1.      Gain focus on your Contact Group in your Contacts then hit the Delete key. NOTE:  You will not be asked whether you really want to delete the Group or not, it will just be deleted.  Exercise caution and be certain you want to nuke the entire Contact Group before hitting Delete when it has focus.

--

Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 11 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 22621; Office 2016, Version 16.0.15726.20188, 32-bit; Android 12 (MIUI 13)  

It’s not lack of contact with the world off campus that leads to the liberal views common in academia — it’s being trained to think critically and practicing this craft daily as we look at the world around us that makes us the libs conservatives so dislike.

     ~ Eliot A. Brenowitz, Seattle; New York Times, Letters, Tales of Town and Gown: Is the Campus Isolated?, August 20, 2022