Comments on: Shared Mailboxes vs Inactive Mailboxes for Preserving Exchange Online Mailbox Data of Departed Users

By: BISI sysadmin

BISI sysadmin — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 22:00:07 +0000

that what the internet archive is for. get an account, and archive any MS links you refer to. Then you can paste the link to the wayback machine’s copy. I have a couple of hundred I’ve created. I know this because I also keep them in my own Internet Archive collection for easy reference later.

https://archive.org/account/login

By: Vasil.Michev

Vasil.Michev — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 16:02:03 +0000

In reply to Jeff Allen. Technically, nothing is stopping you from doing that. Now whether it's OK from licensing perspective is another story, but for all such questions you should rely on official documentation or support statements from Microsoft, not random guys on the internet :)

By: Jeff Allen

Jeff Allen — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 14:37:06 +0000

In reply to Vasil.Michev. If a user has exchange online plan 1 and is terminated, can I flip that user to exchange online plan 2 to obtain the in place hold, then delete the user? This would avoid the need to pay for the more expensive plan 2 on a recurring basis.

By: Vasil.Michev

Vasil.Michev — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 14:53:28 +0000

In reply to Martin M.. That shouldn't be the case, are you certain those mailboxes arent on any type of litigation/in-place/retention hold?

By: Martin M.

Martin M. — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 08:27:59 +0000

Sorry for reviving this thread.
I just stumbled upon an interesting (though creative solution). For accounts where we take away the license, the mailbox disappears after 30 days (all fine so far). Btw, we run a hybrid solution and do not delete users.
For those where we have in-place archiving, this does not happen. The mailbox remains there, as well as the archive mailbox. Even better, the mailbox will allow the setup of a) auto-reply and b) auto-forwarding.
I asked Microsoft support, if that is correct, and interestingly got a positive answer. So, I am tempted to try enabling in-place archiving, adding an auto-reply or forward, take the license and see if I get a “free” this mailbox is closed down message along (and the intended use is just 2-3 months after the person has left).

By: Vasil.Michev

Vasil.Michev — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 15:50:42 +0000

In reply to Anelko. Thanks, you cannot trust Microsoft with links to documentation...

By: Anelko

Anelko — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 10:46:35 +0000

Great article! Thank you!
I think that the link “Inactive mailboxes” is wrong. Apologize if I am mistaken.

By: Sol Fulliton

Sol Fulliton — Sat, 30 Jun 2018 17:42:14 +0000

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By: Jozef Woo

Jozef Woo — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 20:50:54 +0000

Forgot to mention: great article! Has been very useful already!

By: Jozef Woo

Jozef Woo — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 08:44:57 +0000

In reply to Vasil Michev.

I contacted O365 support and they said that I need to keep a user account AND an appropriate license that supports legal hold (in my case Exchange Online Plan 2) for the inactive mailbox if I want to keep it longer than 30 days.

(The other option of course is to convert it to a shared mailbox.)

And all along I was thinking inactive mailboxes come at no cost. I’ve been had! 😉