Remove-AddressList

This cmdlet is available in on-premises Exchange and in the cloud-based service. Some parameters and settings may be exclusive to one environment or the other.

Use the Remove-AddressList cmdlet to remove existing address lists.

In Exchange Online, this cmdlet is available only in the Address Lists role, and by default, the role isn't assigned to any role groups. To use this cmdlet, you need to add the Address Lists role to a role group (for example, to the Organization Management role group). For more information, see Add a role to a role group.

For information about the parameter sets in the Syntax section below, see Exchange cmdlet syntax.

Syntax

Remove-AddressList
      [-Identity] <AddressListIdParameter>
      [-Confirm]
      [-DomainController <Fqdn>]
      [-Recursive]
      [-WhatIf]
      [<CommonParameters>]

Description

You can use the Remove-AddressList cmdlet with the Get-AddressList cmdlet in the following scenarios:

  • Use the Get-AddressList cmdlet to get address list information, and then pipe the output to the Format-List cmdlet to get the GUID, distinguished name (DN), or path and name of an existing address list.
  • Use the Get-AddressList cmdlet to get a specific existing address list, and then pipe the output directly to the Remove-AddressList cmdlet.

You need to be assigned permissions before you can run this cmdlet. Although this topic lists all parameters for the cmdlet, you may not have access to some parameters if they're not included in the permissions assigned to you. To find the permissions required to run any cmdlet or parameter in your organization, see Find the permissions required to run any Exchange cmdlet.

Examples

Example 1

Remove-AddressList -Identity "AddressList1" -Recursive

This example removes the address list named AddressList1 and all of its child address lists.

Parameters

-Confirm

The Confirm switch specifies whether to show or hide the confirmation prompt. How this switch affects the cmdlet depends on if the cmdlet requires confirmation before proceeding.

  • Destructive cmdlets (for example, Remove-* cmdlets) have a built-in pause that forces you to acknowledge the command before proceeding. For these cmdlets, you can skip the confirmation prompt by using this exact syntax: -Confirm:$false.
  • Most other cmdlets (for example, New-* and Set-* cmdlets) don't have a built-in pause. For these cmdlets, specifying the Confirm switch without a value introduces a pause that forces you acknowledge the command before proceeding.
Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:cf
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Exchange Server 2010, Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019, Exchange Online

-DomainController

This parameter is available only in on-premises Exchange.

The DomainController parameter specifies the domain controller that's used by this cmdlet to read data from or write data to Active Directory. You identify the domain controller by its fully qualified domain name (FQDN). For example, dc01.contoso.com.

Type:Fqdn
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Exchange Server 2010, Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019

-Identity

The Identity parameter specifies the address list that you want to remove. You can use any value that uniquely identifies the address list. For example:

  • Name
  • Distinguished name (DN)
  • GUID
  • Path: "\AddressListName" or "\ContainerName\AddressListName" (for example, "\All Users" or "\All Contacts\Marketing")

If the address list has child address lists that you also want to remove, you need to use the Recursive switch.

Type:AddressListIdParameter
Position:1
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Exchange Server 2010, Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019, Exchange Online

-Recursive

The Recursive switch specifies whether to remove all child address lists. You don't need to specify a value for this switch.

If you don't use this switch, and the address list has child address lists, the command will fail.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Exchange Server 2010, Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019, Exchange Online

-WhatIf

The WhatIf switch simulates the actions of the command. You can use this switch to view the changes that would occur without actually applying those changes. You don't need to specify a value with this switch.

Type:SwitchParameter
Aliases:wi
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False
Applies to:Exchange Server 2010, Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019, Exchange Online

Inputs

Input types

To see the input types that this cmdlet accepts, see Cmdlet Input and Output Types. If the Input Type field for a cmdlet is blank, the cmdlet doesn't accept input data.

Outputs

Output types

To see the return types, which are also known as output types, that this cmdlet accepts, see Cmdlet Input and Output Types. If the Output Type field is blank, the cmdlet doesn't return data.