In the open source world, we are used to having a web archive of every email sent to a mailing list. This is useful to search for old emails.
In the contex of the Microsoft Exchange email server, distribution lists (DL) are akin to traditional mailing lists. Emails sent to a DL can be archived in a public folder.
Microsoft Outlook is the email client for Exchange. And the problem is that accessing public folders in Outlook is not straightforward. Public folders do not seem to be visible in the default Mail view of Outlook.
To access and view public folders in Outlook: At bottom left corner of Outlook, click the … and choose Folders. The left pane of Outlook now displays all the folders in Exchange. Go to Public Folders and navigate the folder tree under it to find the DL you want. You can see all the emails sent to the DL now. Note that you may not have access to view the folder of DL that you do not belong to.
To add a public folder to your Favorites: Go to the DL public folder as described above. Right-click and choose Add to Favorites. But wait, this only adds the DL public folder to the Favorites list inside Public Folders! Now go to the Favorites section in Public Folders and right-click on the DL public folder and choose Add to Favorites again. This now adds the DL to your Favorite folders in the Mail view.