Deprecation of "Skype for Business Contacts" folder in Outlook and Outlook Web App

In this update, the Skype for Business Contacts folder will no longer be visible in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Web App if an admin sets the policy to DisableExchangeContactFolder. In most cases, the ability to search your Skype for Business contacts in Outlook or Outlook Web App will not be affected. Meanwhile, any contact updates in Microsoft Skype for Business 2015 (Microsoft Lync 2013) will continue to get synchronized to Exchange Server that has the EnableExchangeContactSync parameter of the client policy settings enabled.

If you use the latest Office 365 Outlook Web App, you can see the Skype for Business contacts directly from the Skype for Business 2015 (Lync 2013) chat sidebar. Similarly, if you use the mobile and desktop client, you can use the Skype for Business 2015 (Lync 2013) client to view the Skype for Business contacts.

To get this update, install the April 4, 2017, update (KB3178731) for Skype for Business 2015 (Lync 2013).

Note Lync 2013 was upgraded to Skype for Business in April 2015.

After you install this update, on-premise Admin can set the DisableExchangeContactFolder policy to true by using the Set-CsClientPolicy cmdlet with the PolicyEntry parameter. For example:

$x = New-CsClientPolicyEntry -Name "DisableExchangeContactFolder" -Value "true"

Set-CsClientPolicy -Identity global -PolicyEntry @{Add=$x}

For more details and examples, see the Set-CsClientPolicy and New-CsClientPolicyEntry cmdlet help topic.

For Microsoft Office 365, this setting will be set to true by default in a future update at which point any Office 365 user with a client build of 15.0.4919 and higher will trigger the Skype for Business Contacts folder to be hidden.

In order to understand the effects of the DisableExchangeContactFolder GPO or in-band policy settings more clearly, you can refer to the following form:

* Skype for Business contacts including public and enterprise federated contacts are accessible through Skype for Business native or web app, enterprise contacts are available directly through People Search in Outlook and OWA.

** Searching Windows Outlook for Skype for Business contacts will work if Skype for Business windows client application is running in the background.