# Data Sources

The **Secure Contacts App (SCA)** can retrieve contacts from multiple sources.\
Some are available by default (“primary”), and others are optional.

All data sources can be enabled, disabled, or customized through App Configuration Policies in your MDM system. SCA always retrieves contact information exclusively from your organization’s own tenant and connected services.

SCA synchronizes on first launch and whenever a user pulls to refresh. During sync, it queries all enabled sources the user has permission to access.

### Primary Data Sources

These are included by default but can be managed via app configuration:

<table><thead><tr><th width="180.14263916015625">Source</th><th width="99.5712890625">Acronym</th><th>Description</th><th>Typical Use Case</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><a href="/pages/17CvenghMRuGJp9iboci">Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD)</a></td><td>AAD</td><td>Retrieves organizational user profiles from your tenant directory.</td><td>Core source for company user contacts.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/pages/pumZZhbuw3lVuDxILjG1">Global Address List (OrgContacts / GAL)</a></td><td>GAL</td><td>Retrieves organization-wide shared contacts from Azure AD.</td><td>To access shared or widely used org contacts.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/pages/G1K1h9szztL4yg36ej2Y">Personal Outlook Contacts</a></td><td>APC</td><td>Contacts stored in the user’s personal Exchange Online mailbox.</td><td>For including personal work-related contacts.</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Optional Data Sources

These can be additionally enabled via app configuration policies:

<table><thead><tr><th width="179.571533203125">Source</th><th width="99.857177734375">Acronym</th><th>Description</th><th>When to Enable</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><a href="/pages/scAteLCSG2jdF1ILXEcN">Dynamics 365</a></td><td>D365</td><td>Contacts stored in Microsoft Dynamics 365.</td><td>If your org uses Dynamics to manage customer or partner contacts.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/pages/66tjhvn9FbXCSLVZdbST">Microsoft Dataverse</a></td><td>DVRS</td><td>Contacts stored by apps built on Microsoft Dataverse.</td><td>For custom or business apps using the Dataverse platform (e.g. custom CRM, Power Platform).</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/pages/efLD2cvFFZYAnS1NjLI3">Azure Blob Storage</a></td><td>ABS</td><td>Contacts exported from any app (including on-premises) via CSV/JSON using the SCA Blob Storage connector.</td><td>If you want to integrate external contact data exported from any app (e.g. Lotus Notes, SAP, Excel-file, etc.)</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/pages/nOLrbLOJzM68X5g2htAY">Shared Mailbox Contacts</a></td><td>SMC</td><td>Contacts in Exchange Online shared mailboxes.</td><td>If teams use shared mailboxes and need those contacts in SCA.</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Splitting Data Sources

SCA allows you to **split data sources into multiple, separate sources** for better organization and easier navigation. This can be useful, for example, to separate contacts by **business unit, region, team, format, or origin system**.

Ways to achieve this:

* [AADGroups](/documentation/app-configuration-policy-name-values-for-sca/sca-configuration-aad-filters-and-groups-1.md) → make each Azure AD group appear as its own contact source.
* [OData filters](/documentation/app-configuration-policy-name-values-for-sca/sca-configuration-connect-additional-datasource.md) → use Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Dataverse API filters to split contacts (e.g. by region or data ownership).
* [Azure Blob Storage (ABS)](/documentation/data-sources/abs-azure-blob-storage.md) → use multiple CSV/JSON files within the same container, each representing a distinct contact dataset.

{% hint style="success" %}
Where possible, use [**CustomDatasourceNames**](/documentation/app-configuration-policy-name-values-for-sca/sca-configuration-seccontacts.customdatasourcenames.md) to give friendly display names to your data sources so end users clearly understand what they are seeing.
{% endhint %}


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