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Covert users mailbox to shared mailbox?
We are running into a case where we are running out of licenses for user mailboxes. Because of this when a users is suspended pending an investigation we were pulling the license from their mailbox. Well, I found the hard way that after 30 days all emails are deleted. Once the users returns to work and I issue them a license to their mailbox again, they have an empty mailbox. Ooops!
Would the solution to this be converting their mailbox into a shared mail, pull the license and convert back once they return again? Would that preserve the emails in the mailbox?
The problem is the company doesn't want to purchase more licenses.
Hi finsfree
You are correct - convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox, then remove the licence and the emails will remain. If the person returns, then convert back to a user mailbox and assign a licence.
One thing to be wary of is if a mailbox is converted to a shared mailbox and the user account it was associated with is deleted or removed from AzureAD then the mailbox will be deleted - this is because a shared mailbox requires an "anchor" object.
Hi finsfree
You are correct - convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox, then remove the licence and the emails will remain. If the person returns, then convert back to a user mailbox and assign a licence.
One thing to be wary of is if a mailbox is converted to a shared mailbox and the user account it was associated with is deleted or removed from AzureAD then the mailbox will be deleted - this is because a shared mailbox requires an "anchor" object.
