Azure AD Sync and Shared mailboxes

Question

Hi Guy's,

I have a query regarding shared mailboxes in an AD sync - office 365 environment, there is no On-Prem Exchange server either.  Is it best practise to create a user in AD, let it sync and then convert to a shared mailbox or create a shared mailbox in office 365 and manage that way?

Cheers

Answer 1

Hi FrankLutz,

The two solutions are both OK to create a shared mailbox. It depends on whether you have a requirement to manage the object from your AD. If not, we suggest you create the shared mailbox from Office 365 admin center or Exchange admin center. It is easier to manage it in the cloud. If you need to manage it from your AD, you need to create a common user account, sync it to the cloud and then convert it to a shared mailbox. However, it requires a valid Exchange Online license to provision the mailbox before you convert the mailbox and release the license. Moreover, since you have no on-premises Exchange server, you may need to modify the mail attributes with ADSI editor, which is not officially supported in Office 365.

If anything is unclear, please let us know.

Thanks,

Alex

Answer 2

Ok, I found it !

When the user have a licence, it's possible by clicking him in the Exchange Admin Center to see the option on the right :

"Convert in a shared mailbox"

Then we release the licence just like AlexSun_2012 explained. 

Great !

Thanks to everyone.

Answer 3

HI AlexSun_2012

Thanks for this answer but for my part, I'd like to know how to transform an AD Object to a shared mailbox.

No problem to sync AD objects to OWA, I can find them in Offce 365 Admin but how to transform it into shared mailbox ?

Thanks, in advance,

Regards,

Answer 4

Thanks Alex, That has answered my question, Thanks for your help

Answer 5

Hi FrankLutz,

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

Best Regards,

Alex