9. Creating shared mailboxes
Shared mailboxes are mailboxes that are shared by multiple users.
Although shared mailboxes must have an associated user account, this
account is not used for logon in the domain and is disabled by default.
Users who access the shared mailbox do so using access permissions.
You can create a shared mailbox by using New-Mailbox, as shown in this example:
New-Mailbox -Shared -Name "Customer Service" -DisplayName
"Customer Service" -Alias Service -UserPrincipalName
[email protected]
In this example, a user account named CustomerService is created for
this mailbox. This user account is disabled by default to prevent logon
using this account. After creating the mailbox, you need to grant Send
On Behalf Of permission to the appropriate users or security groups by
using Set-Mailbox and the -GrantSendOnBehalfTo parameter. Finally, you
need to add access rights that allow these users or security groups to
log on to the mailbox by using Add-MailboxPermission and the
-AccessRights parameter. Ensure these rights are inherited at all
levels of the mailbox using -InheritanceType All as well. One way this
would all come together is shown in the following example:
New-Mailbox -Shared -Name "Customer Service" -DisplayName
"Customer Service" -Alias Service -UserPrincipalName
[email protected] | Set-Mailbox -GrantSendOnBehalfTo
CustomerServiceGroup | Add-MailboxPermission -User CustomerServiceGroup
-AccessRights FullAccess -InheritanceType All
In Exchange Admin Center, you can create a shared mailbox by following these steps:
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Select Recipients in the feature pane and then select Shared.
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Tap or click New. This opens the New Shared Mailbox dialog box. Figure 8 shows on-premises Exchange options on the left and Exchange Online options on the right.
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In the Display Name text box, type a descriptive name for the shared mailbox.
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For on-premises Exchange, the Organizational Unit text box shows
where in Active Directory the associated user account will be created.
By default, this is the Users container in the current domain. If you
want to use a different container, tap or click Browse to the right of
the Organizational Unit text box. Use the Select Organizational Unit
dialog box to choose the location in which to store the account, and
then tap or click OK.
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In the Email Address text box, type the Exchange alias. The Exchange alias is used to set the default email address.
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Use the drop-down list to select the domain with which the shared
mailbox is to be associated. The Exchange Alias and the domain name are
combined to set the fully qualified name, such as [email protected].
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Under
Full Access, tap or click Add. In the Select Full Access dialog box,
select users, security groups, or both that should have full access to
the shared mailbox. Select multiple users and groups using the Shift or
Ctrl keys.
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Under Send As, tap or click Add. In the Select Send As dialog box,
select users, security groups, or both that should be able to send
email from the shared mailbox. Select multiple users and groups using
the Shift or Ctrl keys.
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With on-premises Exchange, tap or click More Options to configure these additional options:
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Alias
. Sets the Exchange alias and overrides the default
value you set previously using the Email Address text box. This allows
a resource to have an alias that is different from the name portion of
its email address.
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Mailbox Database
. If you want to specify a mailbox database rather than
use an automatically selected one, tap or click Browse to the right of
the Mailbox Database text box. In the Select Mailbox Database dialog
box, choose the mailbox database in which the mailbox should be stored.
Mailbox databases are listed by name as well as by associated server
and Exchange version running on the server.
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Archive
. If you want to create an on-premises archive mailbox
as well, select the related check box. Optionally, tap or click Browse
to choose the mailbox database for the archive.
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Address Book Policy
. If you’ve implemented address book policies to
provide customized address book views, select the address book policy
to associate with the shared mailbox.
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Tap or click Save to create the shared mailbox. If an error occurs
during account or mailbox creation, neither the account nor the related
mailbox will be created. You need to correct the problem before you can
complete this procedure.