Unable to Remove Shared Mailbox from Outlook. (Solved)
This guide contains detailed instructions on how to remove an Office 365 shared mailbox in Microsoft Outlook by disabling Automapping in Exchange Online.
Recently one of my clients working in Office 365 environment tried to remove a shared mailbox from the Outlook desktop application. However, when he tried to right click and close on the shared mailbox he got the message: "This group of folders is associated with an e-mail account. To remove the account, click the File Tab, and on the Info tab, click Account Settings. Select the e-mail account, and then click Remove".
The above issue occurs because in Microsoft Outlook, any mailbox for which a user has full access rights is automatically mapped via the "Autodiscover" feature and cannot be removed from the account settings either, because the shared mailbox is not listed there.
How to Disable Automapping on a Shared Mailbox in Microsoft 365 / Office 365.
As mentioned above, in Office 365 any shared mailbox that the user has "Full Access" permissions to, is mapped automatically in Microsoft Outlook.
The only way to disable the automapping of a mailbox and to remove it from MS Outlook, is to connect to Exchange Online through PowerShell, to remove the user's full access permissions on the shared mailbox and then re-add the permissions with Automapping disabled. To do that:
1. Connect to Exchange Online from PowerShell using an O365 Admin account.
2. To remove the user's full access permission from the mailbox, run the following command and press "y" (YES) when asked to confirm your decision:*
- Remove-MailboxPermission -Identity MailboxName -User UserName -AccessRights FullAccess
* Where:
- MailboxName: is the name or email address of the shared mailbox where the permissions are being removed from.
- UserName: is the name or email address of the user whose its rights on the mailbox will be removed.
For example: If you want to remove the permissions of the user "user1@example.com" on the mailbox "user2@example.com", issue the following command:
- Remove-MailboxPermission -Identity user2@example.com -User user1@example.com -AccessRights FullAccess
3. Then reassign to the user the full access permissions on the shared mailbox but with automapping disabled, with this command:*
-
Add-MailboxPermission -Identity MailboxName -User UserName -AccessRights FullAccess -AutoMapping $false
* Where:
- MailboxName: is the name or email address of the shared mailbox where the permissions are being added to.
- UserName: is the name or email address of the user who will have full access rights on the shared mailbox, with Outlook automapping disabled.
For example: If you want to give permissions to the user "user1@example.com" on the shared mailbox of "user2@example.com" but with automapping disabled , issue the following command:
- Add-MailboxPermission -Identity user2@example.com -User user1@example.com -AccessRights FullAccess -AutoMapping $false
4. After running the above command you should receive a similar screen bellow:
5. You're done! Restart Outlook and after a few minutes the additional shared mailbox will be removed from Outlook pane.
* Note: Follow the instructions on this article if you want to re-add manually the shared mailbox in MS Outlook or to access the shared mailbox in Outlook for web.
That's it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the issue with removing a shared mailbox from Outlook using the right-click method?
When you try to right-click and close a shared mailbox in Outlook, it prompts you to remove the account via Account Settings. However, because the shared mailbox is mapped automatically via the 'Autodiscover' feature, it doesn't appear in the account settings for removal.
Why can't a shared mailbox be removed from Outlook account settings directly?
Shared mailboxes with 'Full Access' permissions are automatically mapped by the 'Autodiscover' feature in Outlook, which means they are not listed in the account settings for direct removal.
How can I disable automapping for a shared mailbox in Office 365?
To disable automapping, you need to connect to Exchange Online via PowerShell. First, remove the user's 'Full Access' permission from the shared mailbox, then re-add it with the AutoMapping parameter set to $false.
What PowerShell command is used to remove a user's full access permissions from a shared mailbox?
Use the command: 'Remove-MailboxPermission -Identity MailboxName -User UserName -AccessRights FullAccess', replacing 'MailboxName' and 'UserName' with the appropriate shared mailbox and user email addresses.
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