Programmatically configure Outlook's options for address lists

Question

I need to to programmatically (ideally via PowerShell) configure Outlook setting the options:

"When sending e-mail, check address lists in this order:" to "Start with contact folders".
"When opening the address book, show this address list first:" to "Outlook Address Book".

This problem has proved particularly elusive and I have been investigating this over the course of many hours so my consolidated findings may seem a bit thrown together.

Option #1

If I recall correctly, the following PowerShell commands successfully configured the options:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name "000b3d1c" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x00,0x00 -Force;
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name "00033d1b" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x02,0x00,0x00,0x00 -Force;

Option #2

Exporting the registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name> to a REG file, recreating the mail profile, importing the REG file, and opening Outlook shows that the options are set as desired. So, it can be done via the registry.

Process Monitor, configured to monitor registry operations with filters Process Name is OUTLOOK.EXE Include and Operation is RegSetValue Include, always outputs slightly different results but the consistent results are:

15:48:56.9983649 OUTLOOK.EXE 531284 RegSetValue HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Student\9207f3e0a3b11019908b08002b2a56c2\01023d06 SUCCESS Type: REG_BINARY, Length: 44, Data: 00 00 00 00 FE 42 AA 0A 18 C7 1A 10 E8 85 0B 65

15:48:56.9991115 OUTLOOK.EXE 531284 RegSetValue HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Student\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\000b3d1c SUCCESS Type: REG_BINARY, Length: 2, Data: 00 00

15:48:56.9996963 OUTLOOK.EXE 531284 RegSetValue HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Student\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\00033d1b SUCCESS Type: REG_BINARY, Length: 4, Data: 02 00 00 00

15:48:57.0052360 OUTLOOK.EXE 531284 RegSetValue HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Student\4ae4e14443f96d4982c25a0b9340e560\000b048b SUCCESS Type: REG_BINARY, Length: 2, Data: 01 00

15:49:03.0985853 OUTLOOK.EXE 531284 RegSetValue HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Student\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\1102039b SUCCESS Type: REG_BINARY, Length: 308, Data: 01 00 00 00 1D 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 14 00 00 00

15:49:03.0990695 OUTLOOK.EXE 531284 RegSetValue HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Student\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\000b0415 SUCCESS Type: REG_BINARY, Length: 2, Data: 00 00

However, the following PowerShell commands did not successfully configure the options:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name "000b046b" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x01,0x00 -Force;
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\9207f3e0a3b11019908b08002b2a56c2\" -Name "01023d06" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0xFE,0x42,0xAA,0x0A,0x18,0xC7,0x1A,0x10,0xE8,0x85,0x0B,0x65 -Force;
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name "000b3d1c" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x00,0x00 -Force;
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name "00033d1b" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x02,0x00,0x00,0x00 -Force;
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name "000b0340" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x01,0x00 -Force;
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\9207f3e0a3b11019908b08002b2a56c2\" -Name "11023d05" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x02,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x1E,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x24,0x00,0x00,0x00 -Force;
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\b9e1c8a47102f24688ede3f23cbc5224\" -Name "0102663b" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x0F,0x00,0x01,0x00,0x8C,0x01,0x21,0x00 -Force;
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name "1102039b" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x01,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x1D,0x01,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x14,0x00,0x00,0x00 -Force;
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\<Outlook version>\Outlook\Profiles\<mail profile name>\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name "000b0415" -PropertyType "Binary" -Value 0x00,0x00 -Force;

Set Outlook's 'show this address list first' option suggests that this can be done by use of ComObjects but tests showed that Outlook detected the activity as malicious and prompted with a security warning that required manual intervention, which, obviously, is problematic in that it is not 100 % programmatic.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/exchange/en-US/85a392d4-fc85-43c5-9c02-c07ec86e2ade/default-address-list?forum=exchangesvrclientslegacy and https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/6bb9b40f-b794-41ce-93b4-711e77c53607/gal-default-adress-book-gpo says that registry key *\<mail profile name>\9207f3e0a3b11019908b08002b2a56c2 -> value 01023d06 is responsible which was detected by Process Monitor but, as referenced above, it has not worked in my testing.

Dmitry Streblechenko · Answer 1 · 2022-04-27T16:04:53.320

1

That option is set using IAddrBook.SetDefaultDir and IAddrBook.SetSearchPath in Extended MAPI (C++ or Delphi only). Outlook Object Model does not expose that functionality. If using Redemption is an option (I am its author - any language), it exposes the RDOAddressBook.DefaultAddressList and SearchPath properties.

edited Apr 27 '22 at 16:04

answered Aug 23 '16 at 15:27

Dmitry Streblechenko

62,942
4
53
78

Sorry, I should (and now) have clarified that I'd prefer to use PowerShell, as this is a smaller part of a larger script. By any chance, do you know what system-level changes those make? – mythofechelon Aug 24 '16 at 12:27
These settings are not system-wide, they are stored on the per-profile basis. – Dmitry Streblechenko Aug 24 '16 at 15:25
Yes, that's fine as the script runs on logon. – mythofechelon Aug 24 '16 at 21:29
Can you advise what registry changes those make? Thanks. – mythofechelon Aug 31 '16 at 13:13
The names of the registry keys will different for different profiles as the profile sections guids are generated randomly. You really need to use the documented API to set these options. – Dmitry Streblechenko Aug 31 '16 at 15:27

Dmitriy Kiselev · Answer 2 · 2017-01-20T09:34:45.227

I wrote this PS script to change "When opening the address book, show this address list first:"

## Script for setting default address book view in Outlook for CU
#
# Input (const):
#   <$cAddrList> GUID for needed address list
#   Dump REG_BINARY value of '01023d06' from key
#   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Outlook\9207f3e0a3b11019908b08002b2a56c2\
#
# Version 1.2
# (c)kMit 2017
#

#AddressList string - 'BigBoxList'
$cAddrList = 'fe000000000000000000000000000000000000ff01000000000100002f677569643d393536324239433038413232374234454236313831443644364236323635353100'

#Outlook profiles registry path
$cMSOProf = '\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\'
$cMSOPFil = '*Outlook'
$cMSORK01 = '\9207f3e0a3b11019908b08002b2a56c2'
$cMSORSrc = '11023d05'
$cMSORTrg = '01023d06'
$cMSORK02 = '\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046'
$cMSORBFM = '000b3d1c'
#\''

#Get list of Outlook profiles
$pList = (Get-ChildItem -Path HKCU:$cMSOProf -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)

#Select profile - profile name doesn't matter if it's single, or the first one that matches $cMSOPFil
if($pList) {
    if($pList.GetType().BaseType.Name -eq 'Array') {
        $pTarg = ($pList | ? {$_.Name -like $cMSOPFil})[0]
    } else {
        $pTarg = $pList
    }
}

#Change profile
if($pTarg -and (Get-ChildItem HKCU:$pTarg -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
    $rKey = 'HKCU:'+$pTarg.Name.Substring(17)

    try {
        $is = (Get-ItemProperty -Path ($rKey+$cMSORK01)).$cMSORSrc

        #Make value and copy header
        $it = @(($cAddrList -split '([a-f0-9]{2})') | ForEach-Object {if($_) {[System.Convert]::toByte($_,16)}})
        for($i=0;$i -lt 20;$i++) {$it[$i] = $is[$i+20]}

        #Write result
        Set-ItemProperty -Path ($rKey+$cMSORK01) -Name $cMSORTrg -Type Binary -Value ([byte[]]($it))
        #Disable auto-select ('Choose automatically')
        Set-ItemProperty -Path ($rKey+$cMSORK02) -Name $cMSORBFM -Type Binary -Value ([byte[]](0,0))
    }
    catch {
        break
    }
}

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Partial answer here, addressing how to change the first setting requested by the OP.

The setting When sending e-mail, check address lists in this order can be changed by modifying the following the Registry as follows:

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\[OutlookVersion]\Outlook\Profiles\[OutlookProfileName]\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046

[OutlookVersion] is the version of Outlook (e.g. 15.0)
[OutlookProfileName] is the user's Outlook profile name (e.g. Outlook).

Value name: 00033d1b (type: REG_BINARY)

Data:

01 00 00 00 enables Start with Global Address List
02 00 00 00 enables Start with contact folders

PowerShell to Change Setting

Assuming Outlook 15.0 and a profile name of "Outlook":

Enable Start with Global Address List:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Outlook\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name 00033d1b -Value ([byte[]](0x01,0x00,0x00,0x00))

Enable Start with contact folders:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\Outlook\0a0d020000000000c000000000000046\" -Name 00033d1b -Value ([byte[]](0x02,0x00,0x00,0x00))

Notes:

This can be changed while Outlook is open; the change takes effect immediately.
Use of Set-ItemProperty assumes the value 00033d1b already exists in the Registry.
Credit to this SO answer for explaining how to use the [byte[]] syntax.
Credit to this SO question for providing a starting place for finding this answer.

Programmatically configure Outlook's options for address lists

3 Answers3

PowerShell to Change Setting