While I know everyone seems to love distribution lists, it’s not my
favorite way to deal with group emails. However, I don’t want to
impose my beliefs on everyone so I’m including 3 different ways to
handle this. I just want to let everyone know of your options in
this area. I hope this helps!
1) The best way I know of to accomplish what you want is to not use
a distribution list. The way mail is sent out over the internet will
always break down the distribution list name and display the
individual email addresses. There’s nothing you can do about that.
Instead, you’ll use a mail merge process with the output as an
email. Select the names from the contact folder>Tools>Mail Merge.
You don’t have to put in merge fields in the letter if you don’t
want to. When you have completed the content of what you want sent
to each person, use the Merge to E-Mail toolbar button. This will be
part of the Mail Merge Toolbar. Put in a subject that will be common
to all the emails, click OK. As soon as you click OK, the emails are
sent out individually to each person, with only their name in the To
field. If you are sending this out to 25 people, you’ll see 25
individual emails in your sent items folder, all looking exactly the
same except for the email addresses in the To field. Once the emails
have been sent, you still have the merged document that you can
either save on your computer or delete as not saved. Your record
that you sent the email is in your sent items folder.
2) Then there’s always 3rd party products for this very thing. See
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/mail.htm#massmail
3) FOR THOSE THAT LOVE USING DISTRIBUTION LISTS: Here’s something
that you may also consider. Follow the directions below:
To display only the name of your distribution list in the To box of
an
e-mail message, create a Contact item for your distribution list:
1. In the Folder List pane, double-click Contacts.
2. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Contact.
3. Type a name for your distribution list in the Full Name box,
press
the TAB key to have it entered in the File As field, and then click
OK.
4. Type your e-mail address in the E-mail box, and then press the
TAB
key.
5. Double-click the e-mail address that you entered in step 3 to
open
the E-mail Properties dialog box.
6. Replace your e-mail address in the Display Name box with the name
of your distribution list, click OK, and then click Save and Close.
7. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Mail Message.
8. Click To, and then click the Contact item that you just created.
9. Click Bcc, and then type the name of your distribution list from
your Personal Address Book.
Andrea Kalli
Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC
Your resource for Outlook training and SharePoint training