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How to View All Owners of a Mail-Enabled Security Group in Microsoft 365

Maira Mehtab Sep 21, 2026 869 views

Question details

Service desk staff need a reliable and restricted method to identify all owners of mail-enabled security groups or distribution lists in Microsoft 365.

Product: Microsoft 365
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Identifying full group ownership for administrative and service desk operations without exposing unrelated sensitive directory data.
Observed behavior: Outlook's Global Address List (GAL) and Offline Address Book (OAB) display limited information, failing to show all group owners.

Before you start

Ensure you have the necessary Exchange Online administrator permissions or a custom restricted role to access group ownership data, and that the Exchange Online PowerShell module is installed.

Solution 1Recommended

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to Retrieve Group Owners

Running a direct PowerShell command is the most efficient way to list all owners of a specific distribution group or mail-enabled security group.

PowerShell bypasses the limitations of the Outlook Global Address List by querying the Exchange Online directory directly, ensuring no owner is hidden from the output.

Connect to Exchange Online

Open PowerShell as an administrator and run the command 'Connect-ExchangeOnline' to authenticate with your Microsoft 365 tenant.

Run the retrieval command

Type the command 'Get-DistributionGroup -Identity GroupName | Get-DistributionGroupOwner' (replace GroupName with your actual group name or email address) and press Enter.

Review the output

The console will display a complete list of all users designated as owners for the specified mail-enabled security group.

PowerShell Module Requirement: You must have the ExchangeOnlineManagement module installed. If you do not have it, run 'Install-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement' before connecting.

Solution 2

Review Group Owners via the Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Service desk staff with appropriate restricted admin roles can view group ownership through the web portal interface without needing command-line tools.

Solution 3

Build a Restricted Power BI Reporting Dashboard

Create a read-only dashboard to expose group ownership data to service desk staff without granting them direct administrative access to Microsoft 365 portals.

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Document Service Desk Procedures with WPS Office

While Microsoft 365 requires specific administrative configurations for group management, documenting these PowerShell scripts, custom roles, and service desk guides can be efficiently managed using WPS Office. It provides a lightweight, free, and highly compatible alternative to Microsoft Office for all your internal IT documentation needs.

1. Download and Install: Visit the official WPS Office website to download and install the free suite on your computer.
2. Create IT Documentation: Open WPS Writer to draft your PowerShell script repositories, custom role guidelines, and service desk operational procedures.
3. Save in Compatible Formats: Save your documentation in standard Microsoft formats like .docx to ensure all team members can access them effortlessly.

Fully compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats (docx, xlsx, pptx) for seamless document sharing within your IT department.Free and lightweight suite, perfect for service desk staff to maintain IT knowledge bases and script repositories without heavy software overhead.Tabbed interface allows managing multiple IT procedure guides and reporting spreadsheets in a single, organized window.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't the Outlook Global Address List show all group owners?

Outlook's Global Address List (GAL) and Offline Address Book (OAB) are optimized for end-user email routing and basic contact lookup, not administrative auditing. They cache limited metadata for performance reasons, requiring administrative tools like PowerShell for complete ownership details.

How can I restrict service desk staff to only view group owners without giving full admin rights?

You can create a custom Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) role in the Exchange Admin Center that grants read-only access to group properties. Alternatively, setting up a Power BI dashboard fed by a background script ensures they only see the specific data you choose to expose.

Does the Get-DistributionGroupOwner cmdlet work for all Microsoft 365 groups?

No, it works specifically for distribution lists and mail-enabled security groups in Exchange Online. For standard Microsoft 365 Groups (Unified groups), you would typically use the 'Get-UnifiedGroupLinks -LinkType Owners' cmdlet instead.

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