Feb 06 2019 03:18 PM
3 Questions
Why I need to do this:
I have a client (accountant) that have created 20+ Shared Mailboxes for her own clients, so that a client would send their invoices, hours etc. to a mail like: clientcompanyname(at)fictivedomain.com. They then pick up thier mails and do their thing. - Downside to this is Outlook really hates this many shared mailboxes.
So what i want to do is setup a single bookkeeping(at)fictivedomain.com mail for my client convert/reuse the shared mailboxes aliases as aliases for bookkeeping(at)fictivedomain.com and then create rules to add incomming mails to the aliases to different subfolders. - This works great, as far as I have tested.
Problem, converting the shared mailboxes into alias addresses of the new bookkeeping(at)fictivedomain.com, is a hassel.
Second, also I do NOT want to delete a share mailbox, with mails in.
Third, as stated in the begining, what is the point of O365 creating an unlicensed user when i add a shared mailbox?
Looong post, sorry. :)
Feb 06 2019 11:34 PM
Every mailbox in Exchange comes with a corresponding user object, shared mailboxes included. The only difference is that for shared mailboxes this is a "managed" user account, for which you generally shouldn't care about.
Anyway, for your scenario simply add a new alias to the shared mailbox and remove the one you want to re-use. Do not delete the user object. After a min or so you should be able to assign the alias to another object.
Feb 07 2019 06:03 AM
I have tried what you suggested. Adding a new alias to the shared mailbox, set ithe new alias as primary and deleting the old one.
But instead of being able to reuse the alias, after 1min it just pops right back up as a secondary alias for the shared mailbox. And of course I am then unable to reuse it.
Feb 07 2019 06:37 AM
Feb 07 2019 10:05 AM
Um, there are no email address policies in O365. Most likely the OP is trying to make the change from the O365 admin center... which is known to cause more harm than good with its "helpful" "features". I'd suggest making the change via PowerShell or the EAC.
Feb 07 2019 10:07 AM
Aaaaand I just remembered that we do need to have at least one alias matching the UPN. Wonder why I blog about things, just to forget them later: https://www.michev.info/Blog/Post/2048/did-you-know-at-least-one-smtp-address-needs-to-match-the-upn...
Feb 07 2019 10:08 AM
Feb 07 2019 10:11 AM
Well there is, but it only applies to Groups. And we also have the "feature" that enforces at least one alias to match the UPN, which kinda works like an EAP.
Feb 07 2019 10:11 AM
Feb 07 2019 11:25 AM
Hey Chris
I'm on a pure cloud solution, and just starting out so all this policies/powershell is still new to me. But im getting there :)
Feb 07 2019 11:32 AM
Hey @Vasil Michev
Thanks for the post, thats seems spot on. Did I understand it correctly, that you are unable to control/change which alias matches the UPN? And therefore are unable to delete/reuse it?
Also thanks @Chris Webb for your comments, it all helps to get me going.
/Riko
Feb 07 2019 11:38 AM - edited Feb 07 2019 11:43 AM
Hmm if I rename the alias of the user object linked to the shared mailbox, it seems to work. Also that would be okay, since the shared mailboxes are going to be deleted later on.
Although i don not know if this is a bad way to do it and a noobish attempt to work with O365. I am still trying to figure out what is best practices vs idiot fumbling (me). :)
Feb 07 2019 11:34 PM
SolutionCan be either secondary or primary, but in any case you can just change the UPN to anything you'd like and "free" the alias.
Feb 07 2019 11:34 PM
SolutionCan be either secondary or primary, but in any case you can just change the UPN to anything you'd like and "free" the alias.