Microsoft Outlook Help

Error: Distribution List Has Reached The Maximum Size

One of the following error messages may be displayed on the screen, when you try to add too many items to a Microsoft Outlook contact distribution list:

This distribution list has reached the maximum size for your network e-mail server. No new members could be added.

This distribution list has reached the maximum size for your network e-mail server. Only the first number of TotalNumber members have been added.

This distribution list has reached the maximum size for your network e-mail server.

Cause of the Error

This error occurs due to a limitation of distribution lists that are created and stored either in a personal (.pst) folder file or in mailbox store on a Microsoft Exchange Server. The number of contacts you can store in a distribution list is controlled by the total size of the stored contacts.

For example, if a distribution list comprises only basic and essential information about the contacts, then you may store around 130 contacts in list. If only name and e-mail addresses of contacts are stored, one distribution list may have as many as 1000 contacts. Although, you can create large lists by adding very little information, they are not recommended.

In the best case scenario, you must try to restrict your distribution lists to contain around 50 to 70 contacts. And, if you want to store detailed information about your contact, you must restrict yourself to 25 contacts per list.

One more factor that controls the size of your distribution lists is the property size limit of computer on which your Microsoft Exchange Server is running, which is around 8 kilobytes (KB). All contacts are stored in one property store on the Exchange Server. This is the reason why, the size of the distribution list also depends on the:

• Average length of contact names.
• Average size of entry ID, which, in turn, is dependent on the e-mail address type and message length.

Resolution Steps

You can resolve this issue by creating multiple distribution lists, by limiting the total number of contacts per list according to the number discussed above.

To create multiple distribution lists, perform the following steps:

1. On the Navigation pane of the Microsoft Outlook window, display the Contacts folder.
2. On the right pane, double-click on your distribution list, say MyList.
3. Now, to create a copy of this distribution list, open the File menu and select the Save As command.
4. In the File name box, type a new name for the distribution list, say MyList01, in the Save as type list select the Outlook Message Format (*.msg), and then click on the Save button.
5. Close thedistribution list and then reopen it.
6. Now, sort the list according to names, and then depending on the maximum numbers of contact per list you determined earlier, delete all contacts that exceed this number.
7. Select the Save and Close button.
8. Now, open Windows Explorer, and navigate to the MyList01.msg file.
9. Right-click on the file, and then select Copy.
10. In the Contacts folder of Microsoft Outlook, open the Edit menu, and the select Paste to add the copy of your original distribution list to the contacts folder.
11. Repeat the above steps until you have created multiple distribution lists with number of contacts per list less than the maximum number you determined earlier.