Create a Public Folder Mailbox

Applies to: Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Online

Topic Last Modified: 2013-02-14

Before you can create a public folder, you must first create a public folder mailbox. Public folder mailboxes contain the hierarchy information plus the content for public folders. The first public folder mailbox you create will be the primary hierarchy mailbox, which contains the only writable copy of the hierarchy. Any additional public folder mailboxes you create will be secondary mailboxes, which contain a read-only copy of the hierarchy.

For additional management tasks related to public folders in Exchange 2013, see Public Folder Procedures.

For additional management tasks related to public folders in Exchange Online, see Public Folder Procedures in Exchange Online.

What do you need to know before you begin?

• Estimated time to complete: less than 5 minutes.
• You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the “Public folders” entry in the Sharing and Collaboration Permissions topic.
• For information about keyboard shortcuts that may apply to the procedures in this topic, see Keyboard Shortcuts in the Exchange Admin Center.

What do you want to do?

Use the EAC to create a public folder mailbox

1. Navigate to Public folders > Public folder mailboxes, and then click Add .
2. In Public Folder Mailbox, provide a name for the public folder mailbox.
3. Click Save.

Use the Shell to create a public folder mailbox

This example creates the primary public folder mailbox.

New-Mailbox -PublicFolder -Name MasterHierarchy

This example creates a secondary public folder mailbox. The only difference between creating the primary hierarchy mailbox and a secondary hierarchy mailbox is that the primary mailbox is the first one created in the organization. You can create additional public folder mailboxes for load balancing purposes.

New-Mailbox -PublicFolder -Name Istanbul

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-Mailbox.

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you have successfully created the primary public folder mailbox, run the following Shell command:

Get-OrganizationConfig | Format-List RootPublicFolderMailbox