Score:1

How to disable an Exchange 2016 mailbox and forward anything sent to it

ca flag

fyi i would consider myself an exchange-noobie

Ok, the scenario is:

User left the company, but still gets a lot of mails sent to their mailbox. The AD User-password has been changed so they no longer have access.

How do I configure Exchange, so that I can disable both the AD-User and the Exchange-mailbox while forwarding the mails sent to it?

Score:3
ae flag

You need to disable the account in AD. Then in the exchange admin center, find the users mailbox and enable forwarding. There should be an option to forward which does not keep a copy in the mailbox, and then forward and keep copy in the mailbox.

If the mailbox gets tons of email, or you want to see emails currently in the mailbox, you can delegate read access to another user. That user can then add that former employees mailbox to their Outlook as a separate mailbox. You have to be an exchange administrator to do this.

Learn about exchange admin center.

Https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/architecture/client-access/exchange-admin-center?view=exchserver-2019

Learn about managing mailbox including forwarding.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/recipients/user-mailboxes/user-mailboxes?view=exchserver-2019#mailbox-features

fraenzz avatar
ca flag
Thanks for the answer. I disabled AD-account and configured the forwarding and it works just like I want to. Can I also disable the mailbox in Exchange? If not, does it pose any risks keeping the Mailbox enabled?
joeqwerty avatar
cv flag
No, it doesn't pose any risk. The mailbox cannot be logged onto because the corresponding user account is disabled.
fraenzz avatar
ca flag
@joeqwerty Alright. Thank you.
Score:0
gp flag

If you want to clean up the user & mailbox, but still forward the emails; you can add the users email address as an available email address under another users mailbox. I do this all the time.

fraenzz avatar
ca flag
Thanks for your answer. I think I am going to use Jason Adams' solution, but I am sure this would work aswell.
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