Create Shared Mailbox - MS Exchange 2016

Shared mailbox can be used to read and reply emails of same mailbox by multiple user. For example, support@company.com, info@company.com, etc. In shared mailbox, the user account is disabled and user can’t login to mailbox directly. You can only login to shared mailbox using another mailbox that have required permission to access the shared mailbox.

There are three different types of permission that can be provided to users in order to access shared mailboxes. They are: –

1. Full Access: Users that have full access permission have full control of shared mailbox. User can manage emails, calendars, etc. but can’t send emails unless they also have send as or send on behalf permission.
2. Send As: Users can send emails as if they are logged in with shared mailbox account. The recipient will see the email is coming from shared mailbox.
3. Send on Behalf: Users can send emails on behalf of shared mailbox. For example, if JWalda@mustbegeek.com sends email to a recipient the recipient will see the email was sent by “JWalda on behalf of info@mustbegeek.com”. You can’t assgn Send on Behalf permission using EAC, you have to use Exchange Management Shell. Set-Mailbox cmdlet with the GrantSendonBehalf parameter. 

I will create a shared mailbox called info@mustbegeek.com and provide two users with full access and send as permission so that they can read and reply emails using shared mailbox. Log on to Exchange Admin Center. Click recipients in the features pane. Select shared tab.

 Click + “Add” to create new shared mailbox.

Type display name of the shared mailbox. Type alias name. Under users, click + “Add” to assign permission for other mailboxes so that they can access this shared mailbox.

Select mailbox users and click add. Here I have selected two users, Denis Mathers and Diana Walda. Now, these two users can now access this shared mailbox (info@mustbegeek.com) to read and reply emails. These two users will have full access and send as permission assigned automatically. User can’t send email with just full access permission, send as or send on behalf permission is required for the user to be able to send emails using shared mailbox. Click OK. Then click save.

The shared mailbox has been created.

Here you can add or remove users from Full Access and Send As permissions. You can assign Send on Behalf permission only from Exchange Management Shell. Now, let’s check the shared mailbox. Login to outlook on the web using DWalda@mustbegeek.com user account.

Click user icon on top right corner and click open another mailbox option.

Type info@mustbegeek.com and click open.

You can now compose email using info@mustbegeek.com shared mailbox. In this way you can create shared mailbox in Exchange 2016.

Create User Mailbox - MS Exchange 2016

There are two options to create User Mailbox in Exchange 2016. You can create mailboxes for users that are already in Active Directory or create new mailboxes that will eventually create associated user account in Active Directory. However you create user mailbox, an active directory user account will be created and the associated mailbox will be created in Exchange server. I already have user accounts created in Active Directory so I will just create the mailbox.

Log on to Exchange Admin Center (EAC).

Click recipients in the features pane. Select mailboxes tab. Click + “Add” and select User mailbox.

Choose Existing user if you already have user account created in Active Directory. If not, you can choose New user and start filling the boxes which will create new user in Active Directory. Click Browse to browse associated user account from active directory.

Select the user account from the list to create it’s mailbox.

Click more option.

Under mailbox database click browse to specify custom mailbox database. Select the database. Click OK. You must create database prior to this step. Click save.

As you can see above, the user account is now created. You can also configure other mailbox types like, shared mailbox, linked mailbox and resource mailbox.

Move Mailbox from One Database to Other - MS Exchange 2016

Log on to Exchange Admin Center (EAC). Click recipients in the features pane. Select migration tab. Click + and click Move to a different database option.

New migration batch page opens.

You have two options to specify users you want to move. You can use CSV file or choose users from the list. The option, select the users that you want to move is select by default. I will choose the default option. Click + “Add”.

Chooser users that you want to move to new mailbox database. You can select multiple users with shift+left-click or ctrl+left-click. Here, I will select all mailboxes including default mailboxes. Click add. Click OK.

Click next.

Type name of migration batch. Under Archive, choose the first option as second and third option is not valid for Exchange 2016. Under Target Database, click Browse and choose the destination database. Click next.

Specify administrator to be contacted once the migration is complete. You can choose whether the migration batch should start automatically or manually. I choose automatically. Click new to start the migration. The migration will now start.

You can monitor the migration as shown above. Click view details to view more details of the migration.

As you can see above the mailbox DWalda@mustbegeek.com has completed migration.

In this way you can move mailbox from one database to other in Exchange 2016. You can also move mailboxes from Exchange 2013 or Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2016.