Forum Discussion
Using Office 365 Groups without Exchange Online
TonyRedmond jcgonzalezmartin, what are the implications if Exchange Online is operational and users have a license but the primary SMTP / Mailbox is on prem and not in Exchange Online, so in actual fact Exchange Online is using the .onmicrosoft address?
Would this work? I have a few customers that have Exchange on prem and no plans to move to Exchange Online in the immediate future, but would like to use Groups....
AFAIK, you need an Exchange Online mailbox to access the group mailbox. Someone with an on-premises mailbox can't access that mailbox.
It is possible to use Groups with onpremises mailboxes in a hybrid scenario according to this article:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt668829(v=exchg.150).aspx
I have not set it up myself yet but according to these settings this should work and you should be able to communicate with a group from Outlook 2016.
- What the article is saying is that with Azure AD Connect you can write back groups to your OnPrem environment but it's not saying you will setup an OnPrem Inbox for the Group...it's also interesting that you need Azure AD Premium for this
That is correct: the group inbox will be on Exchange Online. But Onprem users will be able to communicate with Groups. Yes, it is a downside that you need AAD Premium. But it may be a solution if a hybrid setup is needed for a longer timeframe.
