Applies to: Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Online
Topic Last Modified: 2013-02-19
After you create a user mailbox, you can make changes and set additional properties by using the EAC or the Shell.
You can also change properties for multiple user mailboxes at the same time. For more information, see Bulk edit user mailboxes.
What do you need to know before you begin?
- Estimated time to complete each user mailbox task: 2 to 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.
- For information about keyboard shortcuts that may apply to the
procedures in this topic, see Keyboard Shortcuts in
the Exchange Admin Center.
Tip: |
---|
Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at: Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or Exchange Online Protection. |
What do you want to do?
Change user mailbox properties
Use the EAC to change user mailbox properties
- In the EAC, navigate to Recipients
> Mailboxes.
- In the list of user mailboxes, click the mailbox that you want
to change the properties for, and then click Edit .
- On the mailbox properties page, click one of the following
sections to view or change properties.
General
Use the General section to view or change basic information about the user.
- First name, Initials, Last name
- * Name This is the name that's listed
in Active Directory. If you change this name, it can't exceed 64
characters.
- * Display name This name
appears in your organization’s address book, on the To: and From:
lines in email, and in the Mailbox list. This name can’t contain
empty spaces before or after the display name.
- * Alias This specifies the email alias for the
user. The user’s alias is the portion of the email address on the
left side of the at (@) symbol. It must be unique in the
forest.
- * User logon name This is the name
that the user uses to sign in to their mailbox and to log on to the
domain. Typically the user logon name consists of the user’s alias
on the left side of the @ symbol, and the domain name in which the
user account resides on the right side of the @ symbol.
- Require password change on next
logon Select this check box if you want the
user to reset their password the next time they sign in to their
mailbox.
- Hide from address lists Select this
check box to prevent the recipient from appearing in the address
book and other address lists that are defined in your Exchange
organization. After you select this check box, users can still send
messages to the recipient by using the email address.
Click More options to view or change these additional properties:
- Organizational unit This read-only box
displays the organizational unit (OU) that contains the user
account. You have to use Active Directory Users and Computers to
move the user account to a different OU.
- Mailbox database This read-only box
displays the name of the mailbox database that hosts the mailbox.
To move the mailbox to a different database, select it in the
mailbox list, and then click Move mailbox to another
database in the Details pane.
- Custom attributes This section displays
the custom attributes defined for the user mailbox. To specify
custom attribute values, click Edit. You can specify up to
15 custom attributes for the recipient.
Mailbox Usage
Use the Mailbox Usage section to view or change the mailbox storage quota and deleted item retention settings for the mailbox. These settings are configured by default when the mailbox is created. They use the values that are configured for the mailbox database and apply to all mailboxes in that database. You can customize these settings for each mailbox instead of using the mailbox database defaults.
- Last logon This read-only box displays
the last time that the user signed in to their mailbox.
- Mailbox usage This area shows the total
size of the mailbox and the percentage of the total mailbox quota
that has been used.
Note: |
---|
To obtain the information that's displayed in the previous two boxes, the EAC queries the mailbox database that hosts the mailbox. If the EAC is unable to communicate with the Exchange store that contains the mailbox database, these boxes will be blank. A warning message is displayed if the user hasn't signed in to the mailbox for the first time. |
Click More options to view or change the mailbox storage quota and the deleted item retention settings for the mailbox.
- Storage quota settings To customize
these settings for the mailbox and not use the mailbox database
defaults, click Customize the settings for this mailbox,
type a new value, and then click Save.
The value range for any of the storage quota settings is from 0 through 2047 gigabytes (GB).
- Issue a warning at (GB) This box
displays the maximum storage limit before a warning is issued to
the user. If the mailbox size reaches or exceeds the value
specified, Exchange sends a warning message to the user.
- Prohibit send at (GB) This box displays
the prohibit send limit for the mailbox. If the mailbox size
reaches or exceeds the specified limit, Exchange prevents the user
from sending new messages and displays a descriptive error
message.
- Prohibit send and receive at (GB) This
box displays the prohibit send and receive limit for the
mailbox. If the mailbox size reaches or exceeds the specified
limit, Exchange prevents the mailbox user from sending new messages
and won't deliver any new messages to the mailbox. Any messages
sent to the mailbox are returned to the sender with a descriptive
error message.
- Issue a warning at (GB) This box
displays the maximum storage limit before a warning is issued to
the user. If the mailbox size reaches or exceeds the value
specified, Exchange sends a warning message to the user.
- Deleted item retention settings To
customize these settings for the mailbox and not use the mailbox
database defaults, click Customize the settings for this
mailbox, type a new value, and then click Save.
- Keep deleted items for (days) This box
displays the length of time that deleted items are retained before
they are permanently deleted and can’t be recovered by the user.
When the mailbox is created, this value is based on the deleted
item retention settings configured for the mailbox database. By
default, a mailbox database is configured to retain deleted items
for 14 days. The value range for this property is from 0 through
24855 days.
- Don’t permanently delete items until the database is backed
up Select this check box to prevent mailboxes
and email messages from being deleted until after the mailbox
database on which the mailbox is located has been backed up.
- Keep deleted items for (days) This box
displays the length of time that deleted items are retained before
they are permanently deleted and can’t be recovered by the user.
When the mailbox is created, this value is based on the deleted
item retention settings configured for the mailbox database. By
default, a mailbox database is configured to retain deleted items
for 14 days. The value range for this property is from 0 through
24855 days.
Contact Information
Use the Contact Information section to view or change the user's contact information. The information on this page is displayed in the address book. Click More options to display additional boxes.
Tip: |
---|
You can use the State/Province box to create recipient conditions for dynamic distribution groups, email address policies, or address lists. |
Mailbox users can use Outlook or Outlook Web App to view and change their own contact information. But they can’t change the information in the Notes and Web page boxes.
Organization
Use the Organization section to record detailed information about the user's role in the organization. This information is displayed in the address book. Also, you can create a virtual organization chart that is accessible from email clients such as Outlook.
- Title Use this box to view or change
the recipient's title.
- Department Use this box to view or
change the department in which the user works. You can use this box
to create recipient conditions for dynamic distribution groups,
email address policies, or address lists.
- Company Use this box to view or change
the company for which the user works. You can use this box to
create recipient conditions for dynamic distribution groups, email
address policies, or address lists.
- Manager To add a manager, click
Browse. In Select Manager, select a person, and then
click OK.
- Direct reports You can't modify this
box. A direct report is a user who reports to a specific
manager. If you’ve specified a manager for the user, that user
appears as a direct report in the details of the manager's mailbox.
For example, Kari manages Chris and Kate, so Kari's mailbox is
specified in the Manager box of Chris's mailbox and Kate's
mailbox, and Chris and Kate appear in the Direct reports box
in the properties of Kari's mailbox.
Email Address
Use the Email Address section to view or change the email addresses associated with the user mailbox. This includes the user’s primary SMTP address and any associated proxy addresses. The primary SMTP address (also known as the default reply address) is displayed in bold text in the address list, with the uppercase SMTP value in the Type column.
- Add Click Add
to add a new email address for this mailbox. Select one of
following address types:
- SMTP This is the default address type.
Click this button and then type the new SMTP address in the
* Email address box.
- EUM An EUM (Exchange Unified Messaging)
address is used by the Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging service
to locate UM-enabled users within an Exchange organization. EUM
addresses consist of the extension number and the UM dial plan for
the UM-enabled user. Click this button and type the extension
number in the Address/Extension box. Then click
Browse and select a dial plan for the user.
- Custom address type Click this button
and type one of the supported non-SMTP email address types in the
* Email address box.
Note: With the exception of X.400 addresses, Exchange doesn't validate custom addresses for proper formatting. You must make sure that the custom address you specify complies with the format requirements for that address type.
- SMTP This is the default address type.
Click this button and then type the new SMTP address in the
* Email address box.
- Automatically update email addresses based on the email
address policy applied to this
recipient Select this check box to have the
recipient's email addresses automatically updated based on changes
made to email address policies in your organization. This box is
selected by default.
Mailbox Features
Use the Mailbox Features section to view or change the following mailbox features and settings:
- Sharing policy This box shows the
sharing policy applied to the mailbox. A sharing policy controls
how users in your organization can share calendar and contact
information with users outside your Exchange organization. The
Default Sharing Policy is assigned to mailboxes when they are
created. To change the sharing policy that’s assigned to the user,
select a different one from the drop-down list.
- Role assignment policy This box shows
the role assignment policy assigned to the mailbox. The role
assignment policy specifies the role-based access control (RBAC)
roles that are assigned to the user and control what specific
mailbox and distribution group configuration settings users can
modify. To change the role assignment policy that’s assigned to the
user, select a different one from the drop-down list.
- Retention policy This box shows the
retention policy assigned to the mailbox. A retention policy is a
group of retention tags that are applied to the user’s mailbox.
They allow you to control how long to keep items in users'
mailboxes and define what action to take on items that have reached
a certain age. A retention policy isn’t assigned to mailboxes when
they are created. To assign a retention policy to the user, select
one from the drop-down list.
- Address book policy This box shows the
address book policy applied to the mailbox. An address book policy
allows you to segment users into specific groups to provide
customized views of the address book. To apply or change the
address book policy applied to the mailbox, select one from the
drop-down list.
- Unified Messaging This feature is
disabled by default. When you enable Unified Messaging (UM), the
user will be able to use your organization’s UM features and a
default set of UM properties are applied to the user. Click
Enable to enable UM for the mailbox. For information about
how to enable UM, see Enable a User for Voice
Mail.
Note: A UM dial plan and a UM mailbox policy must exist before you can enable UM. - Mobile Devices Use this section to view
and change the settings for Exchange ActiveSync, which is enabled
by default. Exchange ActiveSync enables access to an Exchange
mailbox from a mobile device. Click Disable Exchange
ActiveSync to disable this feature for the mailbox.
- Outlook Web App This feature is enabled
by default. Outlook Web App enables access to an Exchange mailbox
from a web browser. Click Disable to disable Outlook Web App
for the mailbox. Click Edit details to add or change an
Outlook Web App mailbox policy for the mailbox.
- IMAP This feature is enabled by
default. Click Disable to disable IMAP for the mailbox.
- POP3 This feature is enabled by
default. Click Disable to disable POP3 for the mailbox.
- MAPI This feature is enabled by
default. MAPI enables access to an Exchange mailbox from a MAPI
client such as Outlook. Click Disable to disable MAPI for
the mailbox.
- Litigation hold This feature is
disabled by default. Litigation hold preserves deleted mailbox
items and records changes made to mailbox items. Deleted items and
all instances of changed items are returned in a discovery search.
Click Enable to put the mailbox on litigation hold. If the
mailbox is on litigation hold, click Disable to remove the
litigation hold. If the mailbox is on litigation hold, click
Edit details to view and change the following litigation
hold settings:
- Hold date This read-only box indicates
the date and time when the mailbox was put on litigation hold.
- Put on hold by This read-only box
indicates the user who put the mailbox on litigation hold.
- Note Use this box to notify the user
about the litigation hold, explain why the mailbox is on litigation
hold, or provide additional guidance to the user, such as informing
them that the litigation hold won't affect their day-to-day use of
email.
- URL Use this box to provide a URL to a
website that provides information or guidance about the litigation
hold on the mailbox.
Note: The text from these boxes appears in the user's mailbox only if they are using Outlook 2010 or later versions. It doesn't appear in Outlook Web App or other email clients. To view the text from the Note and URL boxes in Outlook, click the File tab, and on the Info page, under Account Settings, you'll see the litigation hold comment.
- Hold date This read-only box indicates
the date and time when the mailbox was put on litigation hold.
- Archiving If an archive mailbox doesn't
exist for the user, this feature is disabled. To enable an archive
mailbox, click Enable. If the user has an archive mailbox,
the size of the archive mailbox and usage statistics are displayed.
Click Edit details to view and change the following archive
mailbox settings:
- Status This read-only box indicates
whether an archive mailbox exists.
- Database This read-only box shows the
name of the mailbox database that hosts the archive mailbox.
- Name Type the name of the archive
mailbox in this box. This name is displayed under the folder list
in Outlook or Outlook Web App.
- Quota usage This read-only area shows
the total size of the archive mailbox and the percentage of the
total archive mailbox quota that has been used.
- Quota value (GB) This box shows the
total size of the archive mailbox. To change the size, type a new
value in the box or select a value from the drop-down list.
- Issue warning at (GB) This box shows
the maximum storage limit for the archive mailbox before a warning
is issued to the user. If the archive mailbox size reaches or
exceeds the value specified, Exchange sends a warning message to
the user. To change this limit, type a new value in the box or
select a value from the drop-down list.
- Status This read-only box indicates
whether an archive mailbox exists.
- Delivery Options Use to forward email
messages sent to the user to another recipient and to set the
maximum number of recipients that the user can send a message to.
Click View details to view and change these settings.
- Forwarding address Select the Enable
forwarding check box and then click Browse to display
the Select Mail User and Mailbox page. Use this page to
select a recipient to whom you want to forward all email messages
that are sent to this mailbox.
Important: When you use the EAC to configure mail forwarding, messages will be delivered only to the forwarding address. Messages won't be copied to the user's mailbox. You have to use the Shell to configure forwarding so that messages will be delivered to both the user mailbox and the forwarding address. For procedures on how to use the Shell to do this, see Configure Mail Forwarding for a Mailbox. - Recipient limit This setting controls
the maximum number of recipients the user can send a message to.
Select the Maximum recipients check box to limit the number
of recipients allowed in the To:, Cc:, and Bcc: boxes of an email
message and then specify the maximum number of recipients.
Note: For on-premises Exchange organizations, the recipient limit is unlimited. For Exchange Online organizations, the limit is 500 recipients.
- Forwarding address Select the Enable
forwarding check box and then click Browse to display
the Select Mail User and Mailbox page. Use this page to
select a recipient to whom you want to forward all email messages
that are sent to this mailbox.
- Message Size Restrictions These
settings control the size of messages that the user can send and
receive. Click View details to view and change maximum size
for sent and received messages.
- Sent messages To specify a maximum size
for messages sent by this user, select the Maximum message size
(KB) check box and type a value in the box. The message size
must be between 0 and 2,097,151 KB. If the user sends a message
larger than the specified size, the message will be returned to the
user with a descriptive error message.
- Received messages To specify a maximum
size for messages received by this user, select the Maximum
message size (KB) check box and type a value in the box. The
message size must be between 0 and 2,097,151 KB. If the user
receives a message larger than the specified size, the message will
be returned to the sender with a descriptive error message.
- Sent messages To specify a maximum size
for messages sent by this user, select the Maximum message size
(KB) check box and type a value in the box. The message size
must be between 0 and 2,097,151 KB. If the user sends a message
larger than the specified size, the message will be returned to the
user with a descriptive error message.
- Message Delivery Restrictions These
settings control who can send email messages to this user. Click
View details to view and change these restrictions.
- Accept messages from Use this section
to specify who can send messages to this user.
- All senders Select this option to
specify that the user can accept messages from all senders. This
includes both senders in your Exchange organization and external
senders. This option is selected by default. This option includes
external users only if you clear the Require that all senders
are authenticated check box. If you select this check box,
messages from external users will be rejected.
- Only senders in the following
list Select this option to specify that the
user can accept messages only from a specified set of senders in
your Exchange organization. Click Add
to display the Select Recipients page, which displays a list
of all recipients in your Exchange organization. Select the
recipients you want, add them to the list, and then click
OK. You can also search for a specific recipient by typing
the recipient’s name in the search box and then clicking
Search .
- Require that all senders are
authenticated Select this option to prevent
anonymous users from sending messages to the user.
- All senders Select this option to
specify that the user can accept messages from all senders. This
includes both senders in your Exchange organization and external
senders. This option is selected by default. This option includes
external users only if you clear the Require that all senders
are authenticated check box. If you select this check box,
messages from external users will be rejected.
- Reject messages from Use this section
to block people from sending messages to this user.
- No senders Select this option to
specify that the mailbox won’t reject messages from any senders in
the Exchange organization. This option is selected by default.
- Senders in the following list Select
this option to specify that the mailbox will reject messages from a
specified set of senders in your Exchange organization. Click
Add
to display the Select Recipients page, which displays a list
of all recipients in your Exchange organization. Select the
recipients you want, add them to the list, and then click
OK. You can also search for a specific recipient by typing
the recipient’s name in the search box and then clicking
Search .
- No senders Select this option to
specify that the mailbox won’t reject messages from any senders in
the Exchange organization. This option is selected by default.
- Accept messages from Use this section
to specify who can send messages to this user.
Member Of
Use the Member Of section to view a list of the distribution groups or security groups to which this user belongs. You can't change membership information on this page. Note that the user may match the criteria for one or more dynamic distribution groups in your organization. However, dynamic distribution groups aren't displayed on this page because their membership is calculated each time they are used.
MailTip
Use the MailTip section to add a MailTip to alert users of potential issues if they send a message to this recipient. A MailTip is text that is displayed in the InfoBar when this recipient is added to the To, Cc, or Bcc boxes of a new email message.
Note: |
---|
MailTips can include HTML tags, but scripts aren't allowed. The length of a custom MailTip can't exceed 175 displayed characters. HTML tags aren't counted in the limit. |
Mailbox Delegation
Use the Mailbox Delegation section to assign permissions to other users (also called delegates) to allow them to sign in to the user’s mailbox or send messages on behalf of the user. You can assign the following permissions:
- Send As This permission allows users
other than the mailbox owner to use the mailbox to send messages.
After this permission is assigned to a delegate, any message that a
delegate sends from this mailbox will appear as if it was sent by
the mailbox owner. However, this permission doesn’t allow a
delegate to sign in to the user’s mailbox.
- Send on Behalf Of This permission also
allows a delegate to use this mailbox to send messages. However,
after this permission is assigned to a delegate, the From:
address in any message sent by the delegate indicates that the
message was sent by the delegate on behalf of the mailbox
owner.
- Full Access This permission allows a
delegate to sign in to the user’s mailbox and view the contents of
the mailbox. However, after this permission is assigned to a
delegate, the delegate can’t send messages from the mailbox. To
allow a delegate to send email from the user’s mailbox, you still
have to assign the delegate the Send As or the Send on Behalf Of
permission.
To assign permissions to delegates, click Add under the appropriate permission to display a page that displays a list of all recipients in your Exchange organization that can be assigned the permission. Select the recipients you want, add them to the list, and then click OK. You can also search for a specific recipient by typing the recipient’s name in the search box and then clicking Search .
Use the Shell to change user mailbox properties
Use the Get-Mailbox and Set-Mailbox cmdlets to view and change properties for user mailboxes. One advantage of using the Shell is the ability to change the properties for multiple mailboxes. For information about what parameters correspond to mailbox properties, see the following topics:
Here are some examples of using the Shell to change user mailbox properties.
This example shows how to forward Pat Coleman’s email messages to Sunil Koduri's (sunilk@contoso.com) mailbox.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
Set-Mailbox -Identity patc -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $true -ForwardingAddress sunilk@contoso.com |
This example uses the Get-Mailbox command to find all user mailboxes in the organization, and then uses the Set-Mailbox command to set the recipient limit to 500 recipients allowed in the To:, Cc:, and Bcc: boxes of an email message.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited -Filter {(RecipientTypeDetails -eq 'UserMailbox')} | Set-Mailbox -RecipientLimits 500 |
This example uses the Get-Mailbox command to find all the mailboxes in the Marketing organizational unit, and then uses the Set-Mailbox command to configure these mailboxes. The custom warning, prohibit send, and prohibit send and receive limits are set to 200 megabytes (MB), 250 MB, and 280 MB respectively, and the mailbox database's default limits are ignored. This command can be used to configure a specific set of mailboxes to have larger or smaller limits than other mailboxes in the organization.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
Get-Mailbox -OrganizationalUnit "Marketing" | Set-Mailbox -IssueWarningQuota 209715200 -ProhibitSendQuota 262144000 -ProhibitSendReceiveQuota 293601280 -UseDatabaseQuotaDefaults $false |
This example uses the Get-Mailbox cmdlet to find all users in the Customer Service department, and then uses the Set-Mailbox cmdlet to change the maximum message size for sending messages to 2 MB.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
Get-Mailbox -Filter "Department -eq 'Customer Service'" | Set-Mailbox -MaxSendSize 2097152 |
This example sets the MailTip translation in French and Chinese.
Copy Code | |
---|---|
Set-Mailbox john@contoso.com -MailTipTranslations ("FR: C'est la langue française", "CHT: 這是漢語語言") |
How do you know this worked?
To verify that you’ve successfully changed properties for a user mailbox, do the following:
- In the EAC, select the mailbox and then click Edit
to view the property or feature that you changed.
Depending on the property that you changed, it might be displayed
in the Details pane for the selected mailbox.
- In the Shell, use the Get-Mailbox cmdlet to verify the
changes. One advantage of using the Shell is that you can view
multiple properties for multiple mailboxes. In the example above
where the recipient limit was changed, run the following command to
verify the new value.
Copy Code Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited -Filter {(RecipientTypeDetails -eq 'UserMailbox')} | fl Name,RecipientLimits
Copy Code Get-Mailbox -OrganizationalUnit "Marketing" | fl Name,IssueWarningQuota,ProhibitSendQuota,ProhibitSendReceiveQuota,UseDatabaseQuotaDefaults
Bulk edit user mailboxes
You can use the EAC to change the properties for multiple user mailboxes. When you select two or more user mailboxes from the mailbox list in the EAC, the properties that can be bulk edited are displayed in the Details pane. When you change one of these properties, the change is applied to all selected mailboxes.
Here’s a list of the user mailbox properties and features that can be bulk edited. Note that not all properties in each area are available to be changed.
- Contact Information Change shared
properties such as street, postal code, and city name.
- Organization Change shared properties
such as department name, company name, and the manager that the
selected users report to.
- Custom attributes Change or add values
for custom attributes 1 – 15.
- Mailbox quota Change the mailbox quota
values and the retention period for deleted items.
- Email connectivity Enable or disable
Outlook Web App, POP3, IMAP, MAPI, and Exchange ActiveSync.
- Archive Enable or disable the archive
mailbox.
- Retention policy, role assignment policy, and sharing
policy Update the settings for each of these
mailbox features.
- Move mailboxes to another database Move
the selected mailboxes to a different database.
Note: |
---|
The estimated time to complete this task is 2 minutes, but may take longer if you change multiple properties or features. |
Use the EAC to bulk edit user mailboxes
- In the EAC, navigate to
Recipients > Mailboxes.
- In the list of mailboxes, select two or more mailboxes.
Tip: You can select multiple adjacent mailboxes by holding down the Shift key and clicking the first mailbox, and then clicking the last mailbox you want to edit. You can also select multiple non-adjacent mailboxes by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking each mailbox that you want to edit. - In the Details pane, under Bulk Edit, select the mailbox
properties or feature that you want to edit.
- Make the changes on the properties page and then save your
changes.
How do you know this worked?
To verify that you’ve successfully bulk edited user mailboxes, do one of the following:
- In the EAC, select each of the mailboxes that you bulk edited
and then click Edit to view the property or feature that you changed.
- In the Exchange Management Shell, use the Get-Mailbox
cmdlet to verify the changes. One advantage of using the Shell is
that you can view multiple properties for multiple mailboxes. For
example, say you used the bulk edit feature in the EAC to enable
the archive mailbox and assign a retention policy to all users in
your organization. To verify these changes, you could run the
following command:
Copy Code Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited -Filter {(RecipientTypeDetails -eq 'UserMailbox')} | fl Name,ArchiveDatabase,RetentionPolicy