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Configure Message Size Limits for a Mailbox or a Mail-Enabled Public Folder

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Applies to: Exchange Server 2010

This topic explains how to use the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and the Exchange Management Shell to configure message size limits for a mailbox-enabled user or a mail-enabled public folder.

Keep in mind that there are other settings in an Exchange organization that determine the maximum message size a mailbox can send and receive (for example, the maximum message size configured on a Hub Transport server). To learn more about the message size restrictions in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, including their scope and the order of precedence, see Understanding Message Size Limits.

Looking for other management tasks related to user mailboxes? Check out Managing User Mailboxes.

Use the EMC to configure message size limits

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

  1. For mailboxes, perform the following steps:
    1. In the console tree, navigate to Recipient Configuration > Mailbox.
    2. In the result pane, select the mailbox for which you want to configure message size limits.
    3. In the action pane, under the mailbox name, click Properties.
    4. In <Mailbox User> Properties, click the Mail Flow Settings tab.
    5. Select Message Size Restrictions, and then click Properties.
    6. Proceed to Step 3.
  2. For mail-enabled public folders, perform the following steps:
    1. In the console tree, click Toolbox.
    2. In the result pane, click Public Folder Management Console, and then in the action pane, click Open Tool. The Public Folder Management Console appears.
    3. In the console tree, expand Default Public Folders, and then click the public folder that you want to configure. If the public folder you want to configure is a top-level public folder, click Default Public Folders.
    4. In the result pane, select the public folder for which you want to configure message size limits.
    5. In the action pane, under the public folder name, click Properties.
    6. In <Public Folder> Properties, click the Mail Flow Settings tab.
    7. Select Message Size Restrictions, and then click Properties.
    8. Proceed to Step 3.
  3. In the Message Size Restrictions dialog box, select the Maximum message size (in KB) check boxes to set the maximum size for messages that can be sent and received by the mailbox or public folder. Use the corresponding text boxes to type the maximum message size allowed in kilobytes (KB). The message size must be from 0 through 2,097,151 KB. If a message larger than the specified size is sent to the mailbox or public folder, the message will be returned to the sender with a descriptive error message. Click OK to return to the Mail Flow Settings tab.
  4. Click OK.

Use the Shell to configure message size limits

You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section and the "Public folders" entry in the Mailbox Permissions topic.

This example sets both the sending and receiving message sizes for the mailbox of user John Smith to 10 megabytes (MB).

Set-Mailbox -Identity "John Smith" -MaxSendSize 10mb -MaxReceiveSize 10mb

This example sets both the sending and receiving message sizes for the mail-enabled public folder Accounting Department to 10 MB.

Set-MailPublicFolder -Identity "\Accounting Department" -MaxSendSize 10mb -MaxReceiveSize 10mb

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