Applies to: Exchange Server 2007
Topic Last Modified: 2007-06-15

A mailbox is the combination of an Active Directory directory service user object that has mailbox attributes and the associated mailbox data that is stored in the mailbox database. Table 1 lists the mailbox types that are available in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

Table 1   Mailbox types in Exchange 2007

Mailbox type Description

User mailbox

User mailboxes are assigned to users in your Exchange organization. These mailboxes typically contain messages, calendar items, contacts, tasks, documents, and other important business data.

Room mailbox

Room mailboxes are resource mailboxes that are assigned to meeting locations, such as conference rooms, auditoriums and training rooms. Room mailboxes can be included as resources in meeting requests, providing a simple and efficient way of organizing meetings for your users.

Equipment mailbox

Equipment mailboxes are resource mailboxes that are assigned to non-location specific resources such as portable computer projectors, microphones, or even company cars. Equipment mailboxes can be included as resources in meeting requests, providing a simple and efficient way of utilizing resources for your users.

Linked mailbox

Linked mailboxes are user mailboxes that are accessed by users in a separate, trusted forest. Linked mailboxes may be necessary for organizations that choose to deploy Exchange in a resource forest. The resource forest scenario allows an organization to centralize Exchange in a single forest, while allowing access to the Exchange organization with user accounts in one or more trusted forests. For more information about resource forests, see How to Deploy Exchange 2007 in an Exchange Resource Forest Topology.

Shared mailbox

Shared mailboxes are user mailboxes to which multiple users can log on. Even though Exchange 2007 supports shared mailboxes, we recommended that you use resource mailboxes or Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server portals for collaboration instead of shared mailboxes.

Note:
You can only use the Exchange Management Shell to manage shared mailboxes. Shared mailboxes are not displayed in the Exchange Management Console.

Legacy mailbox

Legacy mailboxes are user mailboxes that reside on servers running Exchange Server 2003 or Exchange 2000 Server. You can manage legacy mailboxes by using the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell. However, not all Exchange 2007 features will apply to these mailboxes.

When you select the Mailbox node under Recipient Configuration, the result pane displays a list of all mailboxes in your Exchange organization. For more information about the Mailbox node, see Recipient Configuration > Mailbox (RTM).

Note:
To modify how recipient configuration objects are displayed in Microsoft Management Console (MMC), click View in the action pane. For more information about view options, see Recipient Configuration (RTM).

To focus on a set of mailboxes that have specific attributes, you can use a variety of expressions to filter the list. For more information about filters, see How to Filter the Result Pane.

When you select a mailbox in the result pane, the following actions are available either by right-clicking the mailbox name or by using the action pane.

Note:
If you have multiple mailboxes selected, the only actions that will be available are Disable, Remove, and Move Mailbox.
Disable

Click Disable to remove all Exchange attributes from the Active Directory user account. The user account will no longer be mailbox-enabled, but it will remain in Active Directory.

Remove
  • Click Remove to remove the user account that is associated with the mailbox from Active Directory.

    Important:
      When you remove a mailbox, not only are the Exchange data marked for deletion, but the associated user account in Active Directory is deleted as well.
  • The Exchange data will be retained based on the deleted mailbox retention settings of the mailbox database. You can recover the data by using the Connect-Mailbox cmdlet or the Connect Mailbox wizard. For more information about how to recover a deleted mailbox, see How to Recover a Deleted Mailbox.

  • To learn more about configuring deleted mailbox retention settings, see How to Configure Deleted Mailbox Retention.

Move Mailbox
  • Click Move Mailbox to open the Move Mailbox wizard. This wizard will help you to move selected mailboxes to a different mailbox database, storage group, or Mailbox server.

    Important:
    Users cannot access their mailboxes while the mailboxes are being moved.
  • For more information about managing mailboxes, see Managing User Mailboxes.

Enable Unified Messaging
  • Click Enable Unified Messaging to open the Enable Unified Messaging wizard. This wizard will help you enable Unified Messaging (UM) features for the selected mailbox.

    Note:
    This action is not displayed if UM is already enabled for the mailbox. It is also not displayed for legacy mailboxes.
  • For more information about enabling users for UM, see How to Enable a User for Unified Messaging.

Disable Unified Messaging
  • Click Disable Unified Messaging to disable UM on the selected mailbox and remove the UM configuration from the mailbox.

    Note:
    This action is not displayed if UM is not enabled for the mailbox.
Reset Unified Messaging PIN
  • Click Reset Unified Messaging PIN to open the Reset Unified Messaging PIN dialog box.

  • Use this dialog box to specify a new personal identification number (PIN) or automatically generate a new PIN. You can also use the dialog box to require that the user changes the PIN at first logon. This dialog box also displays whether the account is locked out of UM.

    Note:
    This action is not displayed if UM is not enabled for the mailbox.
  • For more information about how to reset a user's UM PIN, see How to Reset a User's Unified Messaging PIN.

Manage Mobile Device
  • Click Manage Mobile Device to open the Manage Mobile Device wizard. This wizard will help you remove or clear the partnership of a mobile device.

  • To learn more about managing mobile devices, see Managing Exchange ActiveSync Devices.

    Note:
    This action is displayed only if the mailbox user has established a device partnership.
Properties

Click Properties to view or change the settings for the selected mailbox.

For More Information

To learn more about managing mailboxes, see Managing User Mailboxes.