Exchange Contact Photos GAL

So you may or may not have seen some organisations have Contact Card pictures when you browse the Exchange contact list.

They attach to the users Active Directory username and appear in a few locations, most which are seen in Outlook (Android can also use them when syncing your Exchange Email Account and Contacts).

Above: Hover Contact Card

This is done using a powershell command in the Exchange Console called Import-RecipientDataProperty

To read how to do this manually please visit this Technet Blog on GAL Photos in Exchange.

If you are interested in accelerating the process and prefer to use a GUI I have come across this very neat utility by CJWDEV called AD Photo Edit. There is a free version which allows for single imports (Which is what I use), and a paid version which allows bulk imports.

Above: AD Photo Edit Free Edition

Simply put a name into the search field and click search.

Above: Search Results

Now click on Edit Image

Above: Edit Image Window

Microsoft States that you need to have a MAXIMUM dimension of 96x96 for your Contact Image, fortunately this program has a 'Resize to recommended dimensions' which automatically resizes the image to 96 pixels on the longest side, maintaining aspect ratio. So simply click 'Select New Image' pick your image and then click on 'Resize to recommended dimensions' and click ok.

Above: New Image selected and Resized

Now click on the OK button and the program will resize the image and upload it to the AD database for you!

Above: Confirmation the upload was successful

Now you can go back to Outlook and if you are in non-cached mode the picture will update instantly.

Above: Updated GAL Photo

Now some notes..

- Outlook Cached clients will not see the new photos until you manually update the OAB which can be done using the following PS command.

Update-OfflineAddressBook "Default Offline Address Book"

For more information on this read the section titled "GAL Photos and the Offline Address Book" on the Technet Blog

- If you want to bulk resize without relying on the AD Photo Edit program I recommend Paint.Net with the Bulk Image Processor plugin which will allow you to select all photos and resize in one go.

- If you get any errors to do with thumbnailPhoto properties, please ensure your schema has the correct properties set as per the Technet Blog