Last updated on February 2nd, 2022 at 10:36 am
Many privileges come with a popular Microsoft Office 365 application. One of those features is that it offers a shared mailbox. The Office 365 administrator can at any time create a shared mailbox with the Office 365 interface and instruct full members to access the data in this mailbox (share or receive data). To share information about meeting details and other activities, the shared mailbox also includes a calendar function. The most important aspect of a shared mailbox is that the administrator does not need a license to hold 50 GB of data. However, to store more than 50 GB of data, you need to purchase a license.
Need for Converting User Mailbox to Shared Mailbox
Microsoft Office 365 allows successful conversion of the regular mailbox to Shared mailboxes of Office 365 account. It also allows reversed conversion, shared mailbox to the regular user mailbox. But the main question arises that why do users want this conversion? Let us try to understand with the help of some scenarios mentioned below:
Scenario 1: When an organization wants to share some information with multiple specific users from a user mailbox and requires that with the help of this data, the team can work on the same project.
Scenario 2: When former employees leave the organization and have a license, their mailbox needs data backup. It is now possible to convert, release the license, as well as to specify the data.
Scenario 3: When the manual migration method, such as a cut or staged migration, is carried out in office 365, shared mailboxes are migrated in the same way as user mailboxes. These mailboxes will be valid for 30 days without a license. To avoid this licensing price, the users can convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox.
All scenarios indicate the need to convert the Office 365 user mailbox into a shared mailbox. In the next section, we’ll learn how to convert a user’s mailbox to Office 365 shared mailbox.
IMPORTANT: if you are looking for migration, then one important thing that you have to keep in mind before moving forward for the conversion process is that the user’s mailbox must be licensed before converting to a shared mailbox. Otherwise, you will find it very difficult to see the ‘Convert the Mailbox’ option.
Convert User Mailbox to Shared Mailbox in Office 365
If you want to convert a regular mailbox to Office 365 shared mailbox (with allotted license), follow these steps:
1. Log in to your Office 365 accounts, with proper Global Administrator details.
2. Click on the ‘Admin’ option that opened on the screen.
3. The Office 365 Admin Center window will open. Click here on ‘active users’ option.
4. Now select mailbox of user from the list for conversion and click ‘Mail Settings’ option.
5. Next, click the Convert to shared mailbox option to convert it to shared mailbox.
6. The final confirmation message will appear. Confirm the convert option by clicking on it
7. A message will appear on screen, successful conversion of the user’s mailbox. Click Close.
8. Now, you can find your converted mailbox in the shared mailbox category.
Sometimes the situation may change and you may need help to transfer your shared mailbox to the user mailbox. Let’s see how it happens;
- Open an Office 365 account by entering administrator credentials.
- Go to the Office Admin Center and just click on Exchange from the right panel list.
- Now, navigate to Recipient>>Shared. Select the desired shared mailbox for conversion and then go to the left panel. Click Convert option under Convert to Regular Mailbox.
- A final warning message will appear for confirmation. Click ‘Yes’ to proceed.
- The conversion process will begin. After some time, depending on the size of the data, the conversion process will end with a message. Click Close.
- You can find the changed user mailbox under the mailbox category.
- Don’t forget to license this converted mailbox as it will only work for 30 days without a license.
Thus, after giving a lot of the explanations listed above, I hope that by now, users have learned how a user can convert their mailbox to a shared mailbox and a shared mailbox to Office 365 user mailbox. It is further possible to implement this manual method of converting mailboxes into Office 365 as it’s so simple and easy. If you’d like to confirm, you can try it once.
Users who need to back up their Office 365 data to a secure location, including shared mailbox data, can follow the Office 365 to PST software, which is the most reliable tool. It easily backups the required data from all mailboxes in Office 365 to PST format at the system location. Users can access this Outlook file at any time in their Outlook application. The device has an excellent interface with easy-to-understand features and icons. Users can visit the software website to clarify their views on this particular tool.
Final Words
Migration from regular mailboxes to shared mailboxes and shared mailboxes to regular mailboxes is well demonstrated with in-built Office 365 features. License is also considered when converting mailboxes. The Office 365 data security concern is met with the advanced third party tool Office 365 Backup and Restore software.
FAQs
Q. Is there a data hierarchy maintained by this software?
A. The tool efficiently creates backups of files without causing data loss and keeps the data hierarchy intact. It fully preserves the information’s Metadata attributes, such as To, CC, BCC, Subject, Date, and so on.
Q. Is it possible for me to access my Office 365 mailbox while the backup is taking place?
A. Yes, you can access the Office 365 mails and complete other tasks while the backup occurs. The procedure runs in the background and is unaffected by any additional system functionality.
Q. Which versions of Outlook and Windows are supported by this Tool?
A. This system works with all versions of Outlook, including Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003, 2002, 2000, 98, and 97.
Q. Is there a specific location where this software saves backup data?
A. No, it is entirely dependent on the users. To finish the backup process and save the PST file, the user must choose a destination path.
Q. Is it true that this software changes to the mailbox data following the backup and restore process?
- A. The original mailbox data will not be altered by the Office 365 Backup & Restore software. All emails, attachments, and other data are kept safe by software.