02 Methods to Convert a User Mailbox to a Shared Mailbox in Office 365

What are the User Mailbox and Shared Mailbox in Microsoft Office 365?

User Mailbox: A user mailbox is meant for single users. Each user gets their own inbox for personal email correspondence. The user’s credentials govern access to the mailbox. The mailbox’s content is only accessible to the selected user. Single-user mailboxes are used for personal email conversations and normally have a single owner. Users may establish and manage their own calendars, contacts, and tasks within their single-user inbox.

Shared Mailbox: A shared mailbox is meant for numerous people to access. It is not connected with a particular person and is used for information sharing or maintaining a group email address. Permissions assigned to users or groups govern access to a shared mailbox. The mailbox can be accessed by several people. Shared mailboxes are commonly used for group-related operations, such as a customer support email account that numerous support workers require. Calendars and contacts can be found in shared mailboxes, however, they are often used for group scheduling and contact management.

Benefits of Switching a User Mailbox to a Shared Mailbox

Converting a user mailbox to a shared mailbox can have various advantages, particularly in an organizational or team environment. Here are some of the benefits of making this switch:

1. Shared mailboxes consolidate communication for a certain function or department. For example, a customer support staff can share a mailbox, such as support@yourcompany.com, to keep all client requests in one location.
2. Shared mailboxes are intended for cooperation and have numerous users that may access them. This promotes collaboration by making it easier for a group of individuals to view, manage, and react to emails addressed to a single email account.
3. In this case, consider a former employee who left the company, but their respective email address is still in need, and all he is required to do is deactivate the account for security reasons. In such a case, he can convert to a shared mailbox. Office 365 is the best option.
4. It requires several users to manage the Mailbox.

Overall, these are some of the major reasons. Apart from this, there are many more reasons for conversion. Let’s move forward and discuss the two primary methods available for conversion.

Things to Know Before Converting from User Mailbox to Shared Mailbox:

Converting a user mailbox to a shared mailbox in an email system, such as Microsoft Exchange, is a common administrative task. Before you proceed with this conversion, there are several important things you should know and consider:

• Before making any changes, make a copy of the mailbox’s data. This is critical in the event that something goes wrong during the conversion procedure.
• If the mailbox belongs to a single user, ensure that they are aware of and agree to the conversion. This is especially true if the user will no longer have direct access to the mailbox following the conversion.
• Before you may convert a user mailbox to a shared mailbox, it must first have a license granted to it. If it doesn’t, you might not be able to convert it. If you withdrew the license, you must first re-add it. You may take it back later.
• You may store up to 500GB of data in a shared mailbox without purchasing a license. If you want more data, you must have a license.
• Determine who requires access to the shared mailbox and what degree of access they should have (e.g., full access, send-as permissions, and so on). Plan and configure access permissions appropriately.
• Examine your company’s data retention policy. Determine how long data in the mailbox must be maintained and ensure that the shared mailbox is established in accordance with these standards.
• If the user mailbox gets email forwarding from other accounts, you should prepare to configure forwarding for the shared mailbox to ensure that emails are handled appropriately.

Methods to Convert User Mailbox to Shared (Room) Mailbox in Office 365

There are three different methods to switch a user mailbox to a shared mailbox in Microsoft Office 365. Microsoft itself offers two manual methods that convert a user Mailbox into Office 365 Shared mailboxes using either Microsoft 365 Admin Center or Exchange Admin Center. Another is a third-party automated solution that converts User mailboxes to Shared Mailbox directly without any trouble. Manual procedures conversion of a user mailbox to a shared mailbox in the Admin Center can be done by using both methods, such as using Microsoft 365 Admin Center and the Exchange Admin Center. Let’s further both the process one by one below:-

Using Microsoft 365 Admin Center to Convert a User Mailbox:

In the case of the user settings, we can convert Mailbox from regular to shared directly:-;

• After login in to your Microsoft 365 account, look for the Admin option.
• Under the Admin menu, look for the ‘Active Users’ option.
• Choose the person you want to convert and then choose the ‘Mail Settings’ option.
• Then, select ‘Convert to shared mailbox.’
• Click the ‘Convert’ button to finish the process.

In the admin center, you can view the shared Mailbox under Teams & Groups > Shared mailboxes.

Using the Exchange Admin Center to Change a User Mailbox to a Shared Mailbox

Additionally, we can also use the Exchange Admin Center to change the User to a Shared Mailbox.

1. Go to the Exchange Admin Center.
2. Choose Recipients > Mailboxes.

3. Find the user mailbox and choose ‘Convert’ under ‘Convert to shared mailbox.’

4. If the mailbox is less than 50 GB, you can deactivate the license and cease paying for it. Don’t get rid of the user’s account. It serves as an anchor for the shared mailbox. If you are converting an employee’s mailbox who is leaving your firm, you should take extra precautions to ensure that they cannot log in again.

In the same mailbox list as the User, shared mailboxes are listed in the same. To check instantly if the Mailbox is shared in the Exchange Admin Center, we can make use of a built-in filter.

In the mailbox view, Click on the filter and select Shared Mailbox.

Note:- The above-mentioned manual process is not as simple as it seems. It carries multiple limitations along with it. The Manual technique to convert to shared Mailbox O365 is a long and time-consuming process. Moreover, it requires primary technical knowledge to overcome such a task. However, these are some of the main disadvantages of the manual procedure, because of which users simultaneously search for an alternate procedure to perform this task. An automated solution is by using Office 365 Backup & Restore Software. Let’s proceed further and discuss in detail regarding this automated solution.

Best Automated Solution to Convert Regular (User) Mailbox to Shared Mailbox

Aryson Office 365 Backup & Restore Tool is a secure and reliable utility that allows you to take the backup or migrate Office 365 mailboxes in multiple other file formats and email clients; it can convert a user mailbox to a shared mailbox. Also, this Software has multiple in-built additional filters with it, which helps to smoothen the process of conversions. Let’s proceed further and discuss the simple steps involved in this tool.

Follow the Given Steps to Directly Convert a User Mailbox to a Shared Mailbox

1. Download, Install, and Run the Office 365 Backup & Restore Tool on your operating system.
2. Now, choose the Backup Option from the displayed software interface. Further move forward, hit Continue.
3. Next, select the Backup Option from the displayed software interface. Further, to move forward, hit Continue.;
4. After that, choose Use Modern Authentication, provide your Office 365 ID, and hit the Sign in button.
5. Further, the Software will authenticate your provided Office 365 ID. After Successful Authentication, it goes back to the tool’s interface.
6. Pick the types of mailboxes from which you need to backup using a drop-down list from the Mailbox. Click the Next button.
7. Now, a tree structure of the selected Office 365 data items will appear. Tick mark the folders from the interface that you need to back up and click the Next button.
8. Pick Office 365 as a saves/ Backup / Migrate option. Select Use Modern Authentication, enter the Office 365 ID, and click the Sign in button.;
9. After the successful authentication, choose the additional inbuilt features as per the need and tap the Next button. Check the Mailbox and hit Next to move forward.
10. Lastly, map your Office 365 ID data to migrate it into the Public Folder and hit the Convert button.

Conclusion

In the end, we have covered the two major methods available to Convert a user mailbox to a Shared mailbox. The manual procedure has multiple drawbacks, and it is considered an inappropriate solution to accomplish this task. However, we suggest going for the Automated solution to perform this conversion process. A professional highly recommends this automated technique. Overall, it has multiple inbuilt features to enhance the conversion process. Additionally, users can download the free sample version online to check the efficiency of this software.

Convert a User Mailbox to Shared Mailbox in Office 365 – FAQs

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