How to Copy all Emails from One Shared Mailbox to Another Shared Mailbox?

A shared mailbox, in Exchange Server, is a type of mailbox that is used by multiple users (with authorized access) for reading and sending emails. However, sometimes, you need to copy emails from one shared mailbox to another mailbox due to various reasons. In this article, we will be discussing the ways to copy all the emails from one shared mailbox to another.  

Why You Need to Copy All the Data From One Shared Mailbox to Another?

There are many reasons why you need to copy all the contents from one shared mailbox to another shared mailbox. Below we are listing some common reasons:

• Permission Changes: When you would need to keep the shared mailbox for historical data but you also want the users to make changes. So, the original mailbox remains there and the users can modify the copy.
• Mailbox Cleanup: Cleanup is required to preserve the historical data separately from the source mailbox.
• Organizational Restricting: Some departments or teams are required to consolidate or merge the shared mailboxes to ensure seamless communication.
• Team Transition: When a person is moved to a new team, though the responsibilities and ownership remain the same, a copy of the mailbox data is needed.

Methods to Copy Emails from One Shared Mailbox to Another

Below are some methods that you can use to copy all emails from one shared mailbox to another shared mailbox.

Method 1: Use the Import/Export Feature in Outlook

You can copy emails from one shared mailbox to another by using Microsoft Outlook. For this, the Microsoft Outlook configured profile must have access to the source and destination mailboxes. Let’s see the stepwise process:

Step 1 - Export the Data

First, you need to export the emails from the shared mailbox to PST. Follow these steps:

• In Outlook, click on File and then click on Open & Export.
• Click on Import/Export.
• Click Export to a file and click Next.
• Click on Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.
• Select the root of the shared mailbox to export and click Next.
• Select the destination to save the PST file and click Finish.

Step 2 - Import the Exported Data (PST) into the Other Mailbox

Now, you need to import the PST file into other shared mailbox. Here are steps:

• Click on File and click on Open & Export.
• Click on Import/Export.
• Click Import from another program or file and click Next.
• Click on Outlook Data File (.pst) and click Next.
• Click on the Browse button to select the PST file and click Next.
• Select the root of the mailbox data to import and the option to import into the current folder or the same folder, and then click Finish.

Method 2: Use the PowerShell Commands

You can also use the PowerShell commands in the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) for copying emails from one mailbox to another. This method is suggested for large shared mailboxes and is more reliable.

To import or export using PowerShell commands, you need to fulfil some prerequisites. First, you need to get the necessary rights and permissions to export and import the mailboxes. For this, open the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) and run the following PowerShell command.

In the above command, you can replace the “AdminUser” with the user you will be using for exporting and importing the data.

Next, you need to create a shared folder to store the PST file. This must be a shared location. You need to also give the admin user full permissions to the share folder and the group Exchange Server Subsystem the same access.

Once the above prerequisites are met, you can export the data from the mailbox. For this, open the Exchange Management Shell (EMS) and run the following PowerShell command.

To check the status of the export process, you need to run the below command.

This will show the status as in-progress, successful, or failed.

Once the export is successful, you should have the PST file in the specified shared folder. Now, you need to use the below command to import the exported PST into the mailbox.

To check the status of the import process, you can run the below command:

Once it is done, there is no need for user interaction as it is all done in the background from the server side.

Method 3: Use the Search-Mailbox Command

This is similar to the previous method but there is no need to separately export and import the mailbox. In this, the eDiscovery command is used to import directly from one mailbox to another.

For this command to be successful, the user which is doing the export must have full access rights to both the source mailbox and the destination mailbox. For this, you can use the below commands:

In the above commands, you can replace SourceMailbox and DesinationMailbox to match the situation, and change the AdminUser to the user who will be doing the export.

Once this is done, you can go ahead and use the Search-Mailbox command as given below.

This command will tell the eDiscovery services to search the SourceMailbox and export all the information to the DestinationMailbox. It will import all the items into a specified TargetFolder (for example, CopiedEmails). You can remove the -TargetFolder parameter if you want to import into the root folder.

After running the command, you can use the below command to verify and check the status of import process.

Limitations of Above Methods

You can use the above methods to export and import the data into another shared mailbox but there are challenges associated with these methods.

• With Microsoft Outlook, you may face performance issues. When processing larger mailboxes, the Outlook application may crash or become unresponsive. You cannot continue the import if the process is interrupted.
• For using the PowerShell commands, you need scripting skills and permissions on the server. Also, there are chances of human error. For example, the exported file can be imported into the wrong mailbox or vice-versa.
• In all methods, the process is dependent on the source database. This means that if the database is offline, you cannot export from it.

An Easy and Quick Solution to Copy Data from One Shared Mailbox to Another

To overcome the challenges of above methods, you can use Stellar Converter for EDB. With this tool, you can open online or offline/orphaned databases from any version of Exchange Server and of any size. After a quick scan, you can easily and granularly export the user mailboxes, user archives, shared mailboxes, public folders, and even deleted/purged items to a live Exchange Server or Microsoft 365. It has an easy-to-use user interface and offers features, such as automatic mailbox matching, continuation in case of interruption, priority exports, and parallel exports.

Conclusion

There are different reasons why you would need to copy emails from one shared mailbox to another. We have mentioned different methods that you can use to copy a shared mailbox data to another. Such operations can be catastrophic if not executed with care and precision. We have also mentioned an EDB to PST converter tool that can export the shared mailboxes from EDB file by maintaining complete data integrity.