Create Distribution Group(s) with CSV and PowerShell

To create Distribution Groups in Office 365/Exchange Online I’ve created a script which uses a CSV file for input. The file must be saved as “Unicode, Semicolon separated” (;) and must contain the following fields:

Name	Description
Name	Name of the Shared Mailbox (this field cannot contain spaces!)
Display Name	Full / Display Name
Email	Primary email address (this field can contain only one address)
Alias	Email alias address(es) – when using more than one: separate them by using a comma (,)
Members	Specify the primary email addresses for users who will have access to this mailbox – separate them by using a comma (,)
Hidden	Hide or show the Distribution Group in the Global Address List with this field (= required).It can contain only two values: TRUE or FALSE

Make sure that you give the right people (normally the IT department) owner rights for the Distribution Group(s). Because only owners can add members to a group. You need to specify the primary email addresses for the owners in the PowerShell script! Separate the email addresses by using a comma (,).

Script

Here’s the code for the script:

#### Set Variable
Set-Variable -name DGOwners -value admin@wortelltechready.com,user1@wortelltechready.com

#### Create Function Logon to Office365 - Exchange Online
function Logon {
    #### Pop-up a dialog for username and request your password
    $cred = Get-Credential
    #### Import the Local Microsoft Online PowerShell Module Cmdlets and Connect to O365 Online
    Import-Module MSOnline
    Connect-MsolService -Credential $cred
    #### Establish an Remote PowerShell Session to Exchange Online
    $msoExchangeURL = “https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/”
    $session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri $msoExchangeURL -Credential $cred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
    Import-PSSession $session
                }

#### Create Function Logoff Office365 & Exchange Online
function Logoff {
    #### Remove the Remote PowerShell Session to Exchange Online ----
    Get-PsSession | Remove-PsSession
    #Remove-PsSession $session
                }

############################################################################################################################
############################################################################################################################

#### Logon to Office 365 & Exchange Online
Logon

#### Ask the user for input CSV File
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
$ofd = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
#$ofd.InitialDirectory = "d:\scripts"
$ofd.ShowHelp=$true
if($ofd.ShowDialog() -eq "OK") { $ofd.FileName }
$File = $ofd.Filename

#### Create Log File + Start Logging
if ($File -ne $Null) {
$Log = $File + ".log"
$ErrorActionPreference="SilentlyContinue"
Stop-Transcript | out-null
$ErrorActionPreference = "Continue"
Start-Transcript -path $Log -append
   }

#### Import CSV
Import-csv -Delimiter ";" $File | ForEach {

#### Create DistributionGroup
New-DistributionGroup -Name $_."Name" -Alias $_."Name" -DisplayName $_."Display Name" -PrimarySmtpAddress $_."Email" -Type Distribution

#### Add Aliases
$Aliases = $_.Alias -split ','
if ($Aliases -ne $Null) {
Set-DistributionGroup -Identity $_."Name" -EmailAddresses @{add= $Aliases}
   }

#### Hide or show the DistributionGroup in the Global Address List
if ($_.Hidden) {
[boolean] $StoreBool = [System.Convert]::ToBoolean($_."Hidden")
Set-DistributionGroup -Identity $_."Name" -HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled $StoreBool
    }

#### Add Members
$Name = $_."Name"
$Member = $_.Members -split ","
$Member | Foreach-object {
Add-DistributionGroupMember -Identity $Name -Member $_
   }

#### Set Owners
Set-DistributionGroup $_."Name" -BypassSecurityGroupManagerCheck -ManagedBy $DGOwners

}

#### Stop Logging
Stop-Transcript

#### Logoff
Logoff

Copy and paste the code in notepad (for example) and save it as “CreateDistributionGorup.ps1”. Go through the following steps to use the script.

Steps

• Make sure you have the following tools installed before running the script:
  Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant (IDCRL7) – 32 bit version
  Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant (IDCRL7) – 64 bit version
  Microsoft Online Services Module for Windows PowerShell (32-bit version)
  Microsoft Online Services Module for Windows PowerShell (64-bit version)
  See: http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/Office365-enterprises/ff652560.aspx
• Edit the script (with notepad for example) and edit the following variables at the beginning of the script:
  Set-Variable -name DGOwners –value admin@wortelltechready.com,user1@wortelltechready.com
• Run the “CreateDistributionGroup.ps1” script from this window.
• You will be asked to logon to Office 365. Use you an Administrator account for this login.
• Next you will be asked for the CSV file. Browse to the appropriate file and click OK.
• A log file will be created with the CSV file name and is given the extension.log.

Other options you can use with a Distribution Group like Moderation, will have the default values. These can be set separately by using the web interface or with PowerShell.

This is part 4 of a series of posts about some PowerShell scripts I created or used and modified for some Office 365/Exchange Online migrations.

In part 5 of this series I will share a script which can be used to create External Contacts.

An overview of the series can be found here.

Download a sample CVS file from here: CreateDistributionGroup.csv. After the download, rename the file to “CreateDistributionGroup.csv”.

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