How to recover a deleted public folder mailbox in Exchange Online
Public folder mailboxes can be deleted through the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) or by using the Remove-Mailbox -PublicFolder cmdlet. To delete a primary mailbox, all other mailboxes must be deleted first. Once deleted, the mailbox will no longer be visible in the EAC. Deleted public folder mailboxes are recoverable for up to 90 days.
Administrators may need to recover public folder mailboxes in Microsoft 365 that have been soft-deleted. Soft-deleted means the mailbox retention period hasn't expired, and the recycle bin hasn't been emptied.
How to restore a primary mailbox
- Use the following command to locate the soft-deleted mailbox:
- Use the following command to restore the selected mailbox:
Get-Mailbox -PublicFolder -SoftDeletedMailbox
Undo-SoftDeletedMailbox -PublicFolder
How to restore primary and secondary mailboxes
The Type field in the information returned by the Get-Mailbox cmdlet identifies public folder mailboxes as either Primary or Secondary. Primary public folder mailboxes must be restored first.
- Use the following command to locate the soft-deleted mailboxes:
- Use the following command to restore the primary mailbox:
- Use the following command to restore each secondary public folder mailbox (execute once per mailbox):
Get-Mailbox -PublicFolder -SoftDeletedMailbox
Undo-SoftDeletedMailbox -PublicFolder
Undo-SoftDeletedMailbox -PublicFolder
How to restore a secondary mailbox
- Use the following command to locate the soft-deleted mailbox:
- Execute the following command for each secondary public folder mailbox you wish to restore (run once per mailbox):
Get-Mailbox -PublicFolder -SoftDeletedMailbox
Note: You can distinguish primary public folder mailboxes from secondary ones by checking the Type field.
Undo-SoftDeletedMailbox -PublicFolder
About M365 Manager Plus
ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus is a Microsoft 365 reporting, auditing, management and monitoring tool. With M365 Manager Plus, you can:
- Keep an eye on your Microsoft services with intuitive reports that can be easily scheduled, mailed, and exported in various formats.
- Audit all the user and admin activities in your organization with detailed audit reports.
- Manage users, groups, contacts, licenses, mailboxes, and more with bulk management tasks that can be automated.
- Assign delegated tasks to technicians without elevating their native privileges.
- Constantly monitor the health and performance of your organization.
- Reduce your administrator's workload by delegating custom roles to help desk technicians.
Effortlessly perform public folder management in bulk.
Streamline your Microsoft 365 governance and administration with M365 Manager Plus
Get Your Free Trial