How to create user mailboxes in Exchange Online

Mailboxes in Exchange Online are used to send and receive messages, create and store appointments, tasks, notes, and documents. You can create mailboxes from the Microsoft 365 admin center. The steps mentioned below can be used to create user mailboxes in Exchange Online. ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus, an extensive tool used for reporting, managing, monitoring, auditing, and creating alerts for critical activities in your Microsoft 365 environments, can also be used for this purpose.

The following table is a comparison on how to create user mailboxes using the native admin center and M365 Manager Plus.

Microsoft 365

Steps to create user mailboxes using the native admin center

Log in to the Microsoft Entra admin center with at-least an User Administrator account.
Navigate to Identity > Users > All users.
Click on New user > Create new user
Fill in the required details and select Review + create > Create to create an user object.

M365 Manager Plus

Steps to create user mailboxes using M365 Manager Plus

Log in to M365 Manager Plus and navigate to the Management tab > Azure Active Directory > User Management > Single User creation
Under SIngle User creation, fill in the required details.
To create a mailbox for the user you're creating, navigate to the Exchange tab, click Mailbox enabled, fill in the details, and click Apply.

Expert advice:

You can make adding users easier by creating user creation templates that you can use to fill in default values for attributes, make them mandatory to fill, or set up conditions to populate them with different values. You can do this by creating a template under the Management tab> Azure Active Directory > User Management > User Creation Templates, and use it in the Single User creation task to simplify mailbox provisioning.

Limitations of using the EAC admin center

Administrators must be assigned the required role to access individual native admin centers and carry out tasks in them.
Assigning granular permissions to execute individual tasks in a broad category is not possible.
Generating reports and conducting management tasks on services in Microsoft 365 have to be carried out in their respective admin centers, which can be exhausting and time-consuming.

Benefits of using M365 Manager Plus to create user mailboxes in Exchange Online

Delegate granular permissions to technicians without elevating their Microsoft 365 privileges and create custom roles with any combination of reporting, management, and auditing tasks.
Manage mailboxes, users, groups, sites, teams, and contacts effortlessly in bulk without PowerShell scripting.
Gain a thorough understanding of your Exchange Online, Entra ID, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive for Business, and other Microsoft 365 services with detailed reports.
Keep tabs on even the most granular user activities in your Microsoft 365 environment.
Monitor the health and performance of Microsoft 365 features and endpoints around the clock.
Back up Exchange Online emails, calendar entries, contacts, and tasks with periodic incremental backups and restore them fully or granularly based on your needs, way past the 180 day limit of the native retention period.

One-stop solution for your Microsoft 365 management needs.

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