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VKantamneni's avatar
VKantamneni
Brass Contributor
Jun 03, 2025

Removing Public Folders in Exchange 2016 Hybrid

We have Public Folders, and Public Folder Mailboxes in Exchange 2016 Hybrid. All users' mailboxes have been migrated to Exchange Online. We want to discontinue, remove / Delete Public Folders in Exchange, don't want to migrate onto Exchange online. What is the best practice to delete Public Folders in Exchange 2016? Any guidelines to check Public Folders usage, backup, removing without business interruption much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

2016
Exchange Server
hybrid

2 Replies

  • Yasemin's avatar
    Yasemin
    Brass Contributor
    Jun 17, 2025

    You'd have to check each use case of a public folder and then choose the feature that's most compatible in Microsoft 365. For example: shared mailboxes or Microsoft 365 groups. 

  • Dan_Snape's avatar
    Dan_Snape
    Bronze Contributor
    Jun 03, 2025

    You can use the Get-PublicFolderStatistics cmdlet to view usage and other details of public folders. Once confirmed, remove the remote public folders from the organisation config in EXO and then delete the on-prem public folders and PF mailboxes.