Exchange Online

How to Get a List of All Shared Mailboxes in Exchange Online

Do you find it difficult to handle multiple shared mailboxes in Exchange Online? Improper management of shared mailboxes is a frequent issue, resulting in the accumulation of emails, neglecting assigned tasks, and ultimately hindering communication. Fortunately, you can use this guide to manage shared mailboxes in Exchange Online and ensure the security of your confidential information.

Using Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Microsoft 365 Permission Required

Global admin or Exchange Online admin.

Navigate to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Click the Shared mailboxes option under the Teams & groups section on the left pane.
This will list all the shared mailboxes in your Microsoft 365 environment.

Unfortunately, Microsoft 365 admin center lacks the ability to export the list of shared mailboxes.

Using Exchange Online Admin Center

Microsoft 365 Permission Required

Global admin or Exchange Online admin.

Navigate to the Exchange Online admin center.
In the Mailboxes section residing under the Recipients category, you’ll be able to see all the mailboxes available in your organization.
However, Exchange admin center doesn’t give us a separate page for shared mailboxes.
Instead, you must set filters to list only the shared mailboxes in your organization.

Using Windows PowerShell

Microsoft 365 Permission Required

Global admin or Exchange Online admin.

Run the below cmdlet to get a list of all shared mailboxes through PowerShell.

Windows PowerShell

 Connect-ExchangeOnline

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited -RecipientTypeDetails SharedMailbox

Using PowerShell Script

Microsoft 365 Permission Required

Global admin or Exchange Online admin.

Since PowerShell cmdlets return only limited information regarding the shared mailboxes, we have created a PowerShell script to export the list of all shared mailboxes with much information.

GetSharedMailboxReport.ps1

Using AdminDroid Office 365 Reporter
Simple & Quick

AdminDroid Permission Required None

Any user with report access assigned by Super Admin.

Open AdminDroid Office 365 Reporter.
Navigate to the All Shared Mailboxes report residing under Reports»Exchange»Shared Mailbox Info.

AdminDroid Exchange Online Reporter

Improve efficiency by simplifying the shared mailbox management

AdminDroid's Exchange Online reporting tool is a secret weapon for managing shared mailboxes in your Microsoft 365 organization. Say goodbye to clunky reports and hello to user-friendly insights that simplify your workload.

Visualize Mailbox Storage through Insightful Graphs

Visual charts aid in tracking and analyzing changes in shared mailbox size over time, crucial for resource planning and storage allocation.

Stay Alerted on New Forwarding Rules!

Get real-time alerts on external forwarding rules configured in a shared mailbox to uphold security and prevent sensitive information from being shared externally.

Streamline your Shared Mailbox Retention Policy

Effortlessly manage shared mailbox retention holds with simple date filtering for policy start and end dates, ensuring optimized data management and compliance.

Peak Time Analysis of External Emails

Analyze the peak hours of external emails received in shared mailboxes to find out when most emails are received and manage users' response time in Exchange Online.

Shared Mailbox Traffic Analysis

Efficiently monitor shared mailbox activity by tracking daily statistics on inbound and outbound emails, identifying high-traffic mailboxes engaged in active communication.

Regular Updates on Shared Mailbox Permissions

Regularly reviewing the permissions of a shared mailbox by scheduling this report to ensure controlled access and maintain the integrity of sensitive information.

In conclusion, monitoring a shared mailbox is vital for ensuring effective communication, maintaining security, and enhancing productivity within the Exchange Online environment.

Explore a full range of reporting options

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Important Tips

Maintaining security and privacy, especially under HIPAA regulations, requires robust audit trails, strict access controls, and data protection.

Ensure strong access controls and monitor shared mailbox daily activity to prevent potential security breaches.

Report suspicious messages found in Microsoft 365 shared and delegated mailboxes to maintain security and integrity.

Common Errors and Resolution Steps

The following are possible errors and troubleshooting hints while dealing with shared mailboxes in Microsoft Exchange Online.

Error WARNING: Couldn't convert the mailbox

This error occurs when you attempt to convert the already converted shared mailbox in your organization.

Fix Check the mailbox type detail before trying to change the mailbox type.

Get-Mailbox -Identity  | Select RecipientTypeDetails

Error ErrorMessage : Ex6F9304 | Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.ManagementObjectNotFoundException | The operation couldn't be performed because object '<UserPrincipalName>' couldn't be found on 'PN3PR01A12DC001.INDPR01A012.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM'.

This error occurs when attempting to convert a user mailbox to a shared mailbox without the user having a license.

Fix Check whether the user has an active license assigned.

Connect-MgGraph
Get-MgUserLicenseDetail -userid <UserPrincipalName>

Error You must call the Connect-ExchangeOnline cmdlet before calling any other cmdlets.

When you try to get the shared mailboxes through cmdlets before connecting to the Exchange online module, this error will occur.

Fix To overcome this error, install and connect your Exchange Online PowerShell module before using this cmdlet.

Install-Module ExchangeOnline
Connect-ExchangeOnline

Error PowerShell result shows only your mailbox

This error occurs when you don’t have sufficient permission to read the mailboxes in Exchange Online.

Fix Contact your global administrator to assign appropriate admin roles.

Error .\GetSharedMailboxReport.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system.

This error occurs when trying to run the script. The execution policy is set to "strict" by default to prevent scripts from running.

Fix To resolve this error, you can set the execution policy to run the script.

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
or
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

Exchange Online

Frequently Asked Questions

Enhance Your Organization Collaboration with Microsoft 365 Shared Mailboxes

How to create a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox and add members?

How to convert a user’s mailbox to a shared mailbox?

What are the limitations of a shared mailbox?

How to remove a license from a shared mailbox?

1. How to create a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox and add members?

Setting up a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox and managing its members is a straightforward process that enhances collaboration within organizations. Create a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox and add members by following these steps,

Create a Shared Mailbox

Login to the Exchange admin center.
Navigate to Mailboxes resided under Recipients.
Choose "Add a Shared mailbox" and provide basic details like display name and email address.
Click Create to create a shared mailbox in Exchange Online.

Add Members and Delegate Access to a Shared Mailbox

You can add members by using the Add users to this mailbox option.
Alternatively, you can also click on the specific shared mailbox from the list of all mailboxes to add users.
Now, add users by configuring the delegation like ‘Send as’ or ‘Read and manage (full access)’. These delegations allow users to access a shared mailbox with delegated permissions.

Note: Applied delegation may take a while to take effect.

Simplify shared mailbox management and monitoring in Exchange Online!

Where Microsoft 365 falls short, AdminDroid steps up! Seamlessly monitor and manage shared mailboxes with our enhanced reporting capabilities.

Navigate to the Recently Created Shared Mailboxes report residing under Reports»Exchange»Shared Mailbox Info.
This report contains the list of recently created shared mailboxes with the mailbox creation time along with the shared mailbox size quota.

PRO TIP: To explore any report in AdminDroid, hit 'Ctrl + Shift + F' and type fewer related keywords about the required report.

2. How to convert a user’s mailbox to a shared mailbox?

Converting a user mailbox to a shared mailbox in Microsoft 365 facilitates collaboration, access sharing, cost optimization, resource management, and data retention for departed employees.

Navigate to Recipients»Mailboxes in the Exchange admin center.
Select the user mailbox you want to convert. Click on the user's mailbox name to open its details.
In the Others tab, click 'Convert to shared mailbox'. A confirmation pop-up will appear. Click Convert to proceed.
After conversion, click on the shared mailbox and adjust member permissions through the Delegation tab.

To convert a shared mailbox to a user mailbox, you can use the Convert to regular mailbox option residing in the Others tab.

Convert a user mailbox to a shared mailbox using PowerShell

Connect to the Exchange Online module with your administrative account.
```
Connect-ExchangeOnline
```

Convert the user mailbox to a shared mailbox by running the below cmdlet.

Set-Mailbox -Identity <UserPrincipalName> -Type Shared 
#Replace <UserPrincipalName> with the UPN of the User.

To verify whether the shared mailbox conversion occured, run the below cmdlet and check whether the Recipient type details have changed or not.
```
Get-Mailbox -Identity <UserPrincipalName> | Select RecipientTypeDetails
#Replace <UserPrincipalName> with the UPN of the User.
```

Gain clarity on shared mailbox members to enhance security!

Discovering who has access to your shared mailboxes is crucial for maintaining security and managing permissions effectively.

To monitor shared mailbox members, navigate to the Shared Mailbox Members report present under the Shared Mailbox Info section.
This report shows all the Microsoft 365 users who have full access to the shared mailboxes.

With this level of insight, you can confidently manage your shared mailboxes and protect your organization's sensitive information.

3. What are the limitations of a shared mailbox?

Shared mailboxes allow multiple users to access and manage email communication together, providing a collaborative hub for teams. While shared mailboxes offer collaboration benefits, they also come up with certain limitations.

Confusion and Redundancy: With multiple users accessing the same mailbox, there's a higher risk of confusion about ownership of messages, duplicated efforts, and conflicting information.
Size Limitations: Shared mailboxes may have size limitations for storage, both in terms of the overall mailbox size and the size of individual messages or attachments being sent.
Lack of Audit Trail: Without clear user tracking and identification, creating a reliable record of activity (audit trail) becomes difficult. This lack of a complete history makes it hard to trace and investigate security breaches or policy violations effectively.

It's important to weigh the benefits and limitations of a shared mailbox against your specific needs and team workflow.

Unlock a comprehensive monitoring of shared mailbox permissions!

The most important security risk involved with shared mailboxes is the permissions assigned to the shared mailboxes.

It is crucial to monitor and manage shared mailbox permissions as it grants delegate access to the shared mailbox. Managing the permissions not only enhances operational efficiency but also ensures secure and well-regulated access to shared mailbox resources.

Navigate to the Shared Mailbox Info section which contains both the Shared Mailbox Permission Detail report and the Shared Mailbox Permission Summary report.
These reports provides a detailed list of users' access to shared mailboxes that helps you to manage permissions effectively.

4. How to remove a license from a shared mailbox?

Shared mailboxes are a great way to enable group collaboration in Microsoft 365. However, it's important to note that only user mailboxes converted to shared mailboxes will have a license assigned to them. You can remove the license from a converted shared mailbox if you no longer need it.

Here's how to do it as a Microsoft 365 administrator:

Login to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Navigate to Users»Active users and locate the shared mailbox.
Open its details and go to Licenses and Apps.
Uncheck the license and save the changes.

Note: You can't remove the assigned licenses in 'Shared mailbox' page.

How to Get a List of All Shared Mailboxes in Exchange Online

Using Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Using Exchange Online Admin Center

Using Windows PowerShell

Using PowerShell Script

Using AdminDroid Office 365 Reporter Simple & Quick

Improve efficiency by simplifying the shared mailbox management

Visualize Mailbox Storage through Insightful Graphs

Stay Alerted on New Forwarding Rules!

Streamline your Shared Mailbox Retention Policy

Peak Time Analysis of External Emails

Shared Mailbox Traffic Analysis

Regular Updates on Shared Mailbox Permissions

Important Tips

Maintaining security and privacy, especially under HIPAA regulations, requires robust audit trails, strict access controls, and data protection.

Ensure strong access controls and monitor shared mailbox daily activity to prevent potential security breaches.

Report suspicious messages found in Microsoft 365 shared and delegated mailboxes to maintain security and integrity.

Common Errors and Resolution Steps

Error WARNING: Couldn't convert the mailbox

Error ErrorMessage : Ex6F9304 | Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.ManagementObjectNotFoundException | The operation couldn't be performed because object '<UserPrincipalName>' couldn't be found on 'PN3PR01A12DC001.INDPR01A012.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM'.

Error You must call the Connect-ExchangeOnline cmdlet before calling any other cmdlets.

Error PowerShell result shows only your mailbox

Error .\GetSharedMailboxReport.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system.

Enhance Your Organization Collaboration with Microsoft 365 Shared Mailboxes

1. How to create a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox and add members?

Create a Shared Mailbox

Add Members and Delegate Access to a Shared Mailbox

2. How to convert a user’s mailbox to a shared mailbox?

Convert a user mailbox to a shared mailbox using PowerShell

3. What are the limitations of a shared mailbox?

4. How to remove a license from a shared mailbox?

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