# Using Distribution Groups **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [August 11, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-distribution-groups/7015 "2013-08-11T14:59:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jrichards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@jrichards](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jrichards)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-distribution-groups/7015/1 "2013-08-11T14:59:24Z")
I’ve tried all of the “User Sources” to find which one gives me the ability to use distribution groups or email contact lists stored on the Active Directory and cannot seem to my answer. Am I missing something? I have setup different lists from the hybrid source from the AD, and that all works, but the emails are now individual emails instead of to a distribution list. Even as a work around, is there a place to type in the email address for the distribution group, ie: [WelderAlertGroup@emailaddy.com](mailto:WelderAlertGroup@emailaddy.com) in the new Notification Module? Thanks a bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 2:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-distribution-groups/7015/2 "2013-08-12T14:31:48Z")
Can you create a ‘WelderAlertGroup’ user, set up the email contact info to be ’ [WelderAlertGroup@emailaddy.com](mailto:WelderAlertGroup@emailaddy.com)’, add just that user to a roster, then use that roster when notifying? ---
**Author:** ![jrichards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@jrichards](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jrichards)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-distribution-groups/7015/3 "2013-08-13T13:44:34Z")
ah, I got it. Seems like a work around when the Distribution Lists should come up with the users when you connect Ignition to the AD. Maybe this could be a feature in a future release 😃 Thank You Kevin ---
**Author:** ![jrichards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@jrichards](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jrichards)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-distribution-groups/7015/4 "2013-08-17T19:21:52Z")
I’m still having problems with this… If I have 8 maintenance mechanics in the On-Call Roster, all from the AD under individual email addresses and I add the [maintenancemechanics@addy.com](mailto:maintenancemechanics@addy.com) to the On-Call Roster, everybody should receive two emails. One because they are on the On-Call as a separate entry and one because they are part of the distribution list. I want to be able to see, based off the On-Call Roster, who received the email in the TO: box on the email. This seems so easy. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-distribution-groups/7015/5 "2013-08-18T01:54:36Z")
Sorry, I can’t tell: did you not receive some of the emails you expected to receive or are you just concerned about the contents of the ‘To’ field on the ones you did receive? ---
**Author:** ![jrichards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@jrichards](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jrichards)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-distribution-groups/7015/6 "2013-08-19T20:32:22Z")
Just the TO: field. I removed the individual entries (from the AD) for maintenance mechanic’s emails and dropped in the distribution group email account. No emails were sent out and no warnings appeared in the console. I expected to see something like user not found or authentication error; I received no email and no warning. With the individual email addresses in the On-Call Rosters, no problems. What I was hoping to see by using the distribution group email address is the distribution name in the TO: field of the email, and then from there I could open up the individual email addresses. I figured it was more of a function of the Exchange server and Outlook rather than Ignition. Ignition should just send an email to [maintenancemechanics@addy.com](mailto:maintenancemechanics@addy.com), which in turn is a distribution group on the Exchange server. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-distribution-groups/7015/7 "2013-08-19T20:36:01Z")
Ignition is just sending an email to [maintenancemechanics@addy.com](mailto:maintenancemechanics@addy.com), if the user you assigned to that email address to is on the chosen roster. You only see errors or warnings in the console if an error occurs while sending; if you want to verify it’s being sent you can search for ‘EmailNotificationProfile’ in the loggers, turn it to TRACE, and then trigger an alarm and look in the console. The distribution group email address being expanded into the users is definitely something that your SMTP server would have to do. ---
**Author:** ![jrichards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@jrichards](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jrichards)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-distribution-groups/7015/8 "2013-08-19T20:58:35Z")
OK! I didn’t suspect this was Ignition, maybe Java or something else. Finally I was able to convey my issues coherently enough for you or someone to understand. My IT guy removed the [color=#FF0000]authentication[/color] requirements for an email sent from a server (Ignition) to the Exchange Server if they are on the same subnet. This part is over my head, that’s the IT stuff. It works now. ![:thumb_left:](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/1X/e26afb081ddde6df016df6ee49159cf56aaca688.gif ":thumb\_left:") Thanks Kevin, all is stable on 7.6.3 rc3