Generated phonebook and Office 365 shared contact sync issues

[dashbrook]

The 3CX generated phonebook that appears on the deskphone contains extension numbers from the 3CX hosted instance and the contacts from the Office 365 synchronized shared contact list. The web client only shows the shared contact list. It does not include the extension numbers from the 3CX hosted instance. If I add the extensions to the shared contact list manually, the information is listed twice on the deskphone, one is coming from the built-in extension list and the 2nd is from the shared contacts.

How do I adjust the shared contact list so the generated phonebook is displayed in the web client as well or how do I do the opposite, prevent duplication on the deskphone directory? We need the complete directory to display in both locations without duplication.

 

[NickD_3CX]

Hi there!

I think you are overthinking this. First of all, in the phonoebook file for the deskphones we bundle together Public Contact + the Extensions, so this is purposely done this way.
Now for the WebClient, if you type the name you want to dial in the field at the top, it will search public contact, provate contacts and extensions and the user can choose what they want to dial:

 

[dashbrook]

Yes I realize the user can search using this box. However, how are WebMeeting and other functions represented as icons next to the web client contact name used for a contact you have to search for?

We have multiple 3CX hosted instances running, one for each office across our WAN. I am using the shared contact capabilities to create a corporate-wide company phonebook for the web client since 3CX will not publish a corporate extension directory across multiple bridged instances, a limitation which should be addressed.

In order to prevent duplication of the extension & contact on the deskphone, I have to create a separate shared contact list for each location eliminating all extensions for that location but including all information for the other offices, a real maintenance headache.

 

[NickD_3CX]

As you pointed out, the Webclient offers much more capabilities than an IP Phone on how to use contacts, so it my mind it makes sense than when using the WebClient.

What you are trying to do, while I understand why you want to do it, is not currently implemented.

I re-read your initial post and your main problem is that with what you are doing, the IP Phone directory has duplicate entries.
Although this is unsupported, what you could do is make custom template, point all IP Phones to a different Phonebook file that will be in a centralized location, then what you need to do is find a way to update this "central phonebook file" with the records you want from all PBXs.