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

1. Use the following command to locate the soft-deleted mailbox:

Get-Mailbox -PublicFolder -SoftDeletedMailbox

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2. Use the following command to restore the selected mailbox:

Undo-SoftDeletedMailbox -PublicFolder

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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.

1. Use the following command to locate the soft-deleted mailboxes:

Get-Mailbox -PublicFolder -SoftDeletedMailbox

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2. Use the following command to restore the primary mailbox:

Undo-SoftDeletedMailbox -PublicFolder

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3. Use the following command to restore each secondary public folder mailbox (execute once per mailbox):

Undo-SoftDeletedMailbox -PublicFolder

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How to restore a secondary mailbox

1. Use the following command to locate the soft-deleted mailbox:

Get-Mailbox -PublicFolder -SoftDeletedMailbox

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Note: You can distinguish primary public folder mailboxes from secondary ones by checking the Type field.

2. Execute the following command for each secondary public folder mailbox you wish to restore (run once per mailbox):

Undo-SoftDeletedMailbox -PublicFolder

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About M365 Manager Plus

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