Configure Mailbox Forwarding in Exchange Server 2007

To totally unlock this section you need to Log-in

Login
Exchange Server 2007 allows administrators to control the configuration of mailbox forwarding. This is useful in many different scenarios, such as when a staff member leaves the company and you need to forward any ongoing email to a different user.

It is also handy when you want to have different named mailboxes in the Global Address List for different purposes (eg, Payroll, Job Vacancies, OH&S) but have them all forward to one centralized mailbox (eg Human Resources).

How to View the Mailbox Forwarding Settings for an Exchange 2007 Mailbox

Forwarding is configured in the Mail Flow Settings properties of a mailbox, under Delivery Options.

You can also view the settings using the Exchange Management Shell.

[PS] C:\>get-mailbox john.woodard | fl name,*forward*


Name                       : John.Woodard


DeliverToMailboxAndForward : False


ForwardingAddress          :

Turning on Mailbox Forwarding for an Exchange 2007 Mailbox

To enable forwarding simply tick the box, then browse and select who you want to forward email messages to. You can optionally choose to deliver new messages to both mailboxes.

To do the same in the Exchange Management Shell run the Set-Mailbox command.

[PS] C:\>set-mailbox john.woodard -ForwardingAddress alan.reid


[PS] C:\>get-mailbox john.woodard | fl name,*forward*


Name                       : John.Woodard


DeliverToMailboxAndForward : False


ForwardingAddress          : exchangeserverpro.net/Company/Head Office/Users/Alan.Reid

When the user receives a forwarded email they will be able to see that it was addressed to the original mailbox that it was forwarded from. Aside from avoiding confusion this makes it easy for the receiver to set up Outlook rules to manage emails that are forwarded from other mailboxes.

Turning off Mailbox Forwarding for an Exchange 2007 Mailbox

To disable forwarding for a mailbox you can use the Exchange Management Console and simply uncheck the box that you used to enable it in the first place.

[PS] C:\>set-mailbox john.woodard -ForwardingAddress $null

Mailbox Forwarding for Disabled User Accounts

As a final note, some administrators will be wondering whether mailbox forwarding works for disabled user accounts. For example, when a staff member leaves can you disable their user account and forward their emails somewhere else?

The answer is yes, disabled user accounts can still have mailbox forwarding configured and it will work.

Deliver mail to both user mailbox and forward address

If you want incoming messages to be delivered to the mailbox as well as to the forwarding address configured, select the Deliver message to both forwarding address and mailbox check box. Clear this check box to forward all incoming messages without retaining copies in the mailbox.

In Properties, on the Mail Flow Settings tab, click Delivery Options, and then click Properties.

To deliver mail to John Smith's mailbox, for example, and at the same time to forward all mail for John Smith's mailbox to Sara Davis, run the following command.

Set-Mailbox -Identity "John Smith" -ForwardingAddress "[email protected]" -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $true