Convert a mailbox in Exchange 2013

  • Article

Applies to: Exchange Server 2013

Converting a mailbox to a different type of mailbox is very similar to the experience in Exchange 2010. You must still use the Set-Mailbox cmdlet in the Shell to do the conversion.

You can convert the following mailboxes from one type to another:

  • User mailbox to resource (room or equipment) mailbox

  • Shared mailbox to user mailbox

  • Shared mailbox to resource mailbox

  • Resource mailbox to user mailbox

  • Resource mailbox to shared mailbox

Note that if your organization uses a hybrid Exchange environment, you need to manage your mailboxes by using the on-premises Exchange management tools. To convert a mailbox in a hybrid environment, you might need to move the mailbox back to on-premises Exchange, convert the mailbox type, and then move it back to Microsoft 365 or Office 365.

Important

If you are converting a user mailbox to a shared mailbox, you should either remove any mobile devices from the mailbox before the conversion, or you should block mobile access to the mailbox after the conversion. This is because once the mailbox is converted to a shared mailbox, mobile functionality will not work properly. For more information on blocking access, see Remove a former employee.

Use the Shell to convert a mailbox

Estimated time to complete: 5 minutes.

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Recipients Permissions topic.

This example converts the shared mailbox, MarketingDept1 to a user mailbox.

Set-Mailbox MarketingDept1 -Type Regular

You can use the following values for the Type parameter:

  • Regular

  • Room

  • Equipment

  • Shared

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Set-Mailbox.

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you have successfully converted the mailbox, run the following Shell command:

Get-Mailbox -Identity MarketingDept1 | Format-List RecipientTypeDetails

The value for RecipientTypeDetails should be UserMailbox.

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see Get-Mailbox.

Tip

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at Exchange Server.