Getting rid of those duplicate “Lync contacts” in Outlook

UPDATE:
Now a new policy settings enables the ability to hide this folder totally from Outlook.
https://support.microsoft.com/da-dk/help/4015948/deprecation-of-skype-for-business-contacts-folder-in-outlook-and-outlo

Method 1:
Sign out of the LYNC client, and wait for a few moments – now switch to outlook and go to “people” and delete the folder “LYNC contacts” don’t worry unless you are using UCS, this will not delete your contacts in LYNC, they are stored in your SQL database.

If that fails goto Method 2

Method 2
Log into the light version of OWA by using this link – replace generic address with the correct owa address for your installation

Next you select the “Lync Contacts” folder in the drop down and press delete

If this folder is “greyed out” goto Method 3.

Method 3 – the hardcore way.
If the above fails, you will have to script the folder deletion.

Install Exchange EWS managed API – can be downloaded from here
http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=42951
Can be installed on one of the existing exchange servers, or even on your own client.

Next you open a notepad and paste the following script, remember to change exchange version according to your specific needs, and also please make sure that the path for the API dll is correct.
And most important if you a running other language change the name of the “lync contacts” folder

Save this as deletefolder.ps1

$dllpath = “D:EWSMicrosoft.Exchange.WebServices.dll”
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFile($dllpath)
 $Service = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeService([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeVersion]::Exchange2010_SP1)
$Service.AutodiscoverUrl($MailboxName,{$true})
$RootFolderID = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderId([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.WellKnownFolderName]::Root,$MailboxName)
$RootFolder = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.Folder]::Bind($Service,$RootFolderID)
$FolderView = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderView(1000)
$FolderView.Traversal = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderTraversal]::Deep
$Response = $RootFolder.FindFolders($FolderView)
ForEach ($Folder in $Response.Folders) {
   if($folder.DisplayName -eq “Lync contacts”) {
     $folder.delete([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.DeleteMode]::SoftDelete)
   }
}

You must either run the script as the user owning the mailbox from where you want to delete the folder OR, run the script as a user with full mailbox permissions for the user with the duplicate entrys.
To make sure that the user running the script has the correct permission, try running the below version instead which will enumerate the folders – if you have insufficient permissions, the script will return “Free busy”
By doing this you also can verify the name of the folder in the specific mailbox.

Save this as enumeratefolder.ps1

$dllpath = “D:EWSMicrosoft.Exchange.WebServices.dll”
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFile($dllpath)
$Service = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeService([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeVersion]::Exchange2010_SP1)
$Service.AutodiscoverUrl($MailboxName,{$true})
$RootFolderID = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderId([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.WellKnownFolderName]::Root,$MailboxName)
$RootFolder = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.Folder]::Bind($Service,$RootFolderID)
$FolderView = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderView(1000)
$FolderView.Traversal = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.FolderTraversal]::Deep
$Response = $RootFolder.FindFolders($FolderView)
ForEach ($Folder in $Response.Folders) {
write-host $folder.DisplayName
}

To run either script open powershell and cd to the directory where you have placed the ps1 file and run them.