Convert a User Mailbox to Shared & a Shared Mailbox to User Mailbox in Microsoft 365

Megha Sharma | Updated On - 12 Jul 2021 |

Read time 6 min

Microsoft 365 offers many advanced features that are helpful for teamwork and collaboration. A shared mailbox is such a feature. Unlike user mailboxes, shared mailboxes can be accessed by many for email communication and don’t require a license in normal situations. Users associated with the shared mailbox will be able to access all the emails and calendar entries. That makes teamwork easier. Also, there are situations where a shared mailbox is to be converted to a user mailbox.

Microsoft 365 administrators can convert a regular mailbox to a shared mailbox so that more than one user can access it.

Here, we will discuss the conversion of the regular mailbox to a shared mailbox. Also, we will show how to convert a shared mailbox back to a regular mailbox.

NOTE: : The user mailbox you need to convert to a shared mailbox must have assigned a license (without a license, the option for conversion will not be available). After conversion, you can remove the license as you don’t need a license for a shared mailbox if it holds data up to 50 GB only. To store more than 50 GB of data, you must have a license assigned to the mailbox.

Rules remain as it is even after the mailbox is converted to a shared mailbox.

STEPS TO CONVERT REGULAR MAILBOX TO SHARED MAILBOX

To convert a regular mailbox to a shared mailbox, follow the given simple steps:

1. Log in to your Microsoft 365 account. Go to Admin.
   
2. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, choose the Active users option.
   
3. Choose the user mailbox which you want to convert to the shared mailbox. Click Mail Settings.
   
4. Then, click Convert to shared mailbox to convert your regular mailbox to a shared one.
   
5. Finally, click Convert to convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox.
   
6. Your mailbox has been converted to a shared mailbox.
   

How to convert a regular mailbox to a shared mailbox using PowerShell?

Users must connect to the Exchange Online PowerShell first using the following procedure.

1. Run the Windows PowerShell as an administrator.
2. Execute this command.
   $UserCredential = Get-Credential

   A dialogue box asking to enter Microsoft 365 account credentials will get open. Provide the global administrator credentials and click on OK.

3. Next, execute the command as follows.
   $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

   Wait for the connection to be established.

4. Now, run the final command as follows.
   Import-PSSession $Session -DisableNameChecking
5. Now, you are connected to the Exchange Online PowerShell.
6. Microsoft 365 users can use the below command syntax to convert a regular user mailbox to a shared one through Exchange Online PowerShell.
   Set-Mailbox -Identity <user mailbox name@domainname> -Type:Shared

Note: Users must be a member of the Recipient Management or Organization Management Role group to run the above command.

We will now move to see how a shared mailbox can be converted to a regular mailbox in Microsoft 365.

STEPS TO CONVERT A SHARED MAILBOX BACK TO A REGULAR MAILBOX

One can convert a shared mailbox to a regular mailbox easily by following the steps:

1. Log in to your Office 365 account as an administrator. Navigate to Microsoft 365 Admin Center and select Exchange.
   
2. Go to Recipients>>Shared. Select the shared mailbox and then click Convert under Convert to regular mailbox.
   
3. A warning message will pop up, asking for confirmation. Click Yes to continue.
   
   Note: You need to assign a license and reset the password for the mailbox after conversion.
4. The conversion will take a little time. After that, a completion message is displayed. Once completed, click Close to exit.
   

   

5. When you sign in to Microsoft 365 again, you can find that this shared mailbox has been converted to a regular mailbox. The converted mailbox contains all the data of the shared mailbox.

Note: The Exchange Online PowerShell command syntax to convert a shared user mailbox to a regular mailbox is.

Conclusion

Microsoft 365, the most popular cloud email server nowadays, supports both regular and shared mailboxes. We have discussed how to convert regular and shared mailboxes to the other type in Microsoft 365. Also, we have an automatic solution to backup and restore your Microsoft 365 mailboxes to Outlook PST. Kernel Office 365 Backup & Restore software allows its users to backup Microsoft 365 mailboxes (shared, archive, & regular) to Outlook PST file and restore Outlook PST data to Microsoft 365. It allows migrating specific data selectively with filters like date, item type, etc. It also moves Microsoft 365 groups. The data remains well secured and safe during the migration.