Mailboxes are the primary element of Exchange Server which store users all important data like emails, address book, calendar etc., and works as individual or shared inbox during email transmission. We can add numbers of mailbox in Exchange Server according to requirement, and also can disable & delete if is not required.
So today, we’re discussing here the best way to delete and disable a mailbox in Exchange Server 2013, but before start the different procedures to do it; we’ll discuss about what is the primary difference between disabling and deleting a mailbox.
The main difference is that when you deleted an Exchange mailbox, the Active Directory user account and Exchange attributes are deleted. Whereas, user account is retained but Exchange attributes are removed if you disable a mailbox.
So, below are the steps to inactivate and erase mailboxes from Microsoft Exchange Server 2013. Check it-
How to disable Exchange Mailbox
There are two methods to disable mailbox in Exchange 2013-
(I) Use EAC to disable a mailbox
Follow the below procedure to disable a user mailbox-
a. In the EAC (Exchange Admin Center), navigate to Recipients> Mailboxes
b. Now click the mailbox from the list which you want to disable.
c. Now click More… then click Disable.
d. By clickingonDisable a warning box will appear and asks to confirm that you want to disable this user mailbox.
Now, simply click on Yes to disable that mailbox. The mailbox has been disable for the Exchange mailboxes list and currently not active.
Run the following command –
Disable-Mailbox <identity>
After run the above command, a message is displayed which ask to confirm that you want to disable this mailbox.
For Example:
Disable-Mailbox abcd
Disable-Mailbox "abcd Room 12/3456 (36)"
Disable-Mailbox sharedmbx@contoso.com
To verify that targeted mailbox has been disabled or not, go to Exchange Admin Center (EAC) and click Recipients. Now navigate to the appropriate page to verify that the mailbox is currently no longer listed here. OR, right click on disabled user account in Active Directory and Computer, and click Properties. Click E-mail under General tab to verify that E-mail field is blank.
You can see there mailbox has been disabled, but user account still exists on Exchange Server.
(I) Use EAC to delete a mailbox
a. In the EAC (Exchange Admin Center), navigate to Recipients> Mailboxes
b. Now select the mailbox from the list which you want to delete, then click Delete
c. A warning box will appear and ask you to confirm that you want to delete this selected mailbox, click Yes.
(II) Use Shell command to delete the user’s mailbox
Run the shell command-
Remove-Mailbox <identity>
Again a warning message will appear and ask you to confirm the mailbox deletion.
E.g. :-
Remove-Mailbox pilarp@contoso.com
Remove-Mailbox "Bruce Ven (16)"
Remove-Mailbox corpprint
To verify that it has been deleted, go to EAC and click Recipients. Now navigate to the appropriate page to verify that the mailbox is no longer listed here. Also check the corresponding user account does no longer exist in Active Directory Users and Computers.
However, it is always recommended to export Exchange mailbox data to your local computer before perform any of above procedure.
There is a most prominent Exchange mailbox extractor tool'Stellar Mailbox Extractor for Exchange Server' which not only exports mailboxes to PST, but also exports offline Exchange database (EDB) to live Exchange Server. And the best part of this prominent utility is that it support earliest version Microsoft Exchange 2013 too!
So don’t forget to take the backup of mailboxes before disabling or deleting, by exporting mailboxes using this software.
Hope, it helped.