Bulk Update ProxyAddresses Using PowerShell

In this guide, you will learn how to add proxyaddresses in Active Directory with PowerShell and the AD Pro Toolkit. I’ll also show you how to remove proxyAddresses with PowerShell. Bulk updating the proxyaddresses attribute is often required when migrating to Office 365, creating new accounts, adding a new domain, and so on.

I recommend testing this with a few accounts to make sure the proxyAddresses update as needed. After verifying the accounts update correctly, then proceed with bulk update user accounts.

Add ProxyAddresses Using PowerShell

In this example, I’ll use set-aduser command to add a proxy address to a user account

Open PowerShell:

Copy and paste the script below:

Set-ADUser Adrienne.Williams -add @{ProxyAddresses="smtp:adrienne.williams.mail.onmicrosoft.com"}

Get ProxyAddresses:

Use this command to view the ProxyAddresses for a user.

get-aduser adrienne.williams -Properties ProxyAddresses | select Name, ProxyAddresses"}

Bulk add proxyaddress with PowerShell:

Use this command to add multiple proxyaddress.

Set-ADUser Adrienne.Williams -add @{ProxyAddresses="smtp:adrienne.williams.mail.onmicrosoft.com,SMTP:adrienne.williams.mail.onmicrosoft.com" -split ","}

Option#2 Bulk User Updater Tool

In this example, I’ll use the AD Pro Toolkit to add proxyaddreses to multiple users. This tool makes it easy to mass update user attributes.

Step 1. Download the CSV Template

Step 2. Add proxy addresses to the template

To add multiple proxy addresses separate them with a comma.

Step 3. Choose Options

Step 3. Select your template and click run.

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Bulk Add, Update, or Remove ProxyAddresses with AD Pro Toolkit

With the AD Pro Toolkit, you can easily perform bulk updates on the ProxyAddresses attribute.

Enter the user and proxyaddresses into the template.

Select from the two options.

Add New = This will add new proxyAddresses
Update Existing = This will modify a users existing proxyAddress. Use the proxyAddress_update column in the CSV template for this option.

Select your CSV file and click run.

How to Replace ProxyAddresses using PowerShell

You can use the -replace parameter to replace the user’s current ProxyAddress value.

Warning: Using the -replace parameter will replace all addresses with the values you provide.

Let’s list the user’s current addresses

get-aduser adrienne.williams -Properties ProxyAddresses | select Name, ProxyAddresses

So this user has two addresses listed. I’m going to pretend these addresses are wrong or no longer needed and replace them all.

Use this command to replace the ProxyAddresses.

Set-ADUser Adrienne.Williams -replace @{ProxyAddresses="SMTP:adrienne.williams.activedirectorypro.com"}

Now I’ll check the account.

You can see the -replace command cleared out both addresses and replaced it with the single address.

If you want to replace the value with multiple address use this command.

Set-ADUser Adrienne.Williams -replace @{ProxyAddresses="SMTP:adrienne.williams.activedirectorypro.com,SMTP:adrienne.williams.ad.com" -split ","}

How to Remove ProxyAddresses using PowerShell

You can use the -remove parameter to remove single or multiple addresses.

Remove single address.

Set-ADUser Adrienne.Williams -remove @{ProxyAddresses="SMTP:adrienne.williams.activedirectorypro.com"}

Remove multiple addresses.

Set-ADUser Adrienne.Williams -remove @{ProxyAddresses="SMTP:adrienne.williams.activedirectorypro.com,SMTP:adrienne.williams.ad.com" -split ","}

Bulk Add ProxyAddress for Multiple Accounts using PowerShell

To update multiple user accounts you will need to set up a CSV file with a samaccountname column and proxyaddresses column.

Enter as many proxyaddresses as you need and separate them by a comma.

Here is an example of a CSV file.

For this example, I’m going to update all the users in the Administrations organizational unit. To list all the users current addresses in an OU run the command below. You will need to change the value of the -SearchBase to the distinguished name of the OU.

get-aduser -filter * -SearchBase "OU=Administrations,OU=ADPRO Users,DC=ad,DC=activedirectorypro,DC=com" -Properties ProxyAddresses | select Name, ProxyAddresses

You can see two users have proxyaddresses and the rest do not.

To update these accounts with the information in the CSV file, use the command below. You will need to update the path to your CSV file.

Import-Csv "C:\it\bulk-proxy2.csv" | foreach {Set-ADUser -Identity $_.samaccountname -add @{Proxyaddresses=$_.Proxyaddresses -split ","}}

Now I’ll check the values if they have been updated.

Great!

It looks like all the accounts in the Administrations OU have been updated from the CSV file.

Summary

If you are using Azure AD connect or Office 365 then knowing how to bulk update users ProxyAddresses attribute is a must. In this guide, I showed you multiple examples for updating single accounts, adding multiple addresses, and bulk updating a list of accounts from a CSV file

PowerShell is a great tool for making mass changes to Active Directory users but for those that want a GUI option, the AD Bulk User Update tool is a simple and easy solution.

Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions.

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