Problem: Using Outlook 2011, connected to an Exchange 2010 server. Using contacts that were on the server was easy to do but I could never find my distribution lists that I created. I thought for sure there was a setting that would “unhide†the contact groups. Unfortunately no. From what I gather distribution/contact groups are inaccessible from Outlook 2011 and iPad/iPhone which pretty much sucks.
Solution: For Outlook 2011, you have to create a Contact Group which will be saved to the local machine. Not the best solution but a solution. If your Contact Group is greyed out, go to Outlook Preferences and then General. Uncheck the “Hide on My Computer folders†option and then you will be able to create contact groups.