Manage equipment mailboxes in Exchange Server

Artikkel
03/07/2025

Tip

This article applies to on-premises Exchange servers. The cloud version of this article is available at Manage resource mailboxes in Exchange Online.

An equipment mailbox is one of the available resource mailbox types in Exchange. Unlike room mailboxes, equipment mailboxes aren't assigned to a physical location, such as a portable computer, projector, microphone, or a company car. Users can easily reserve equipment by including the equipment mailbox in meeting requests.

You can use the Exchange admin center (EAC), the Exchange Management Shell, and Outlook on the web (formerly known as Outlook Web App or OWA) to manage equipment mailboxes.

To allow users to manage the calendar in an equipment mailbox (for example, an executive assistant who needs to rearrange reservations), use the instructions in Manage permissions for recipients. After a user gets permission to access the equipment mailbox, they can open the mailbox using the instructions in Open and use a shared mailbox in Outlook for Windows.

Tip

Never set an equipment mailbox as the organizer of a meeting. Include equipment mailboxes only in the Attendee or Location fields in the meeting request.

To learn more about the types of recipients in Exchange, see Recipients.

What do you need to know before you begin?

Estimated time to complete: 5 minutes.
To open the Exchange admin center (EAC), see Exchange admin center in Exchange Server. To open the Exchange Management Shell, see Open the Exchange Management Shell.
You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. See the "Recipient Provisioning Permissions" section in the Recipients Permissions article.
If you're running Exchange Server in a hybrid scenario, be sure to create equipment mailboxes in the appropriate place. Create equipment mailboxes for your on-premises organization in Exchange Server, and create equipment mailboxes for your cloud organization in Exchange Online.
We don't recommend using Full Access permissions to manage the equipment mailbox calendar. Instead, share the equipment calendar with the user who needs to manage meetings. After the user accepts the sharing invitation, they can manage meetings in the equipment calendar. If the equipment calendar is shared with Delegate permissions, the user also receives copies of all meeting requests sent to the equipment mailbox in their own mailbox.
Sharing an equipment mailbox calendar doesn't prevent the calendar from having the Accept or decline booking requests automatically setting enabled. If the equipment calendar is shared with Accept or decline booking requests automatically enabled, meeting requests are accepted by default. But users with Editor or Delegate permissions to the equipment calendar can change the response.
For information about keyboard shortcuts that might apply to the procedures in this article, see Keyboard shortcuts in the Exchange admin center.

Tip

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange Server forum.

Create an equipment mailbox

Use the EAC to create equipment mailboxes

To create an equipment mailbox in the EAC, do the following steps:

In the EAC, go to Recipients > Resources tab.
On the Resources tab, select New > Equipment mailbox.
On the New equipment mailbox page that opens, configure the following settings:
- Equipment name: Enter a unique, descriptive name. This value is required and it can't exceed 64 characters.
Tip

Although other properties are available to describe the details of the equipment (for example, Location and Capacity), consider summarizing the important details in the Name value using a consistent naming convention. Users can easily see the details in the equipment name when they select the equipment mailbox from the address book.
- Alias: A unique value that's use on the left side of the @ symbol in the email address. This value is required.
- Organizational unit: Select Browse to specify the location in Active Directory where the equipment mailbox object is created.
- Select More options to reveal the following settings:
  - Mailbox database: Select Browse to specify the mailbox database where the equipment mailbox is created.
  - Address book policy: Select the ABP that includes the equipment mailbox. ABPs contain a global address list (GAL), an offline address book (OAB), a room list (not a room list distribution group), and a set of address lists. To learn more, see Address book policies in Exchange Server.
When you're finished on the New equipment mailbox page, select Save to create the equipment mailbox.

After you create an equipment mailbox, you can Change how an equipment mailbox handles meeting requests (including whether it responds automatically or someone needs to decide what to do). By default, the equipment mailbox has the following settings:

Automatically accept or decline meeting requests (depending on whether the requests conflict with any existing meetings on the calendar).
Allow recurring meetings.
Allow meetings up to 24 hours long up to 180 days from today (and decline longer meeting requests).

To change other mailbox settings, go to the Change other equipment mailbox properties section.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to create equipment mailboxes

To create an equipment mailbox in the Exchange Management Shell, use the following syntax:

New-Mailbox -Equipment -Name "<UniqueDescriptiveName>" [-Alias <AliasValue>] [-Database <DatabaseIdentity>]
 [-DisplayName <String>] [-OrganizationalUnit <OrganizationalUnitIdentity>] [-PrimarySmtpAddress <SmtpAddress>] [-ResetPasswordOnNextLogon <Boolean>] [-UserPrincipalName <UPN>]

This example creates an equipment mailbox named Car 02. Because we aren't using the Alias, DisplayName, PrimarySmtpAddress, or UserPrincipalName parameters, the following values are based on the Name parameter value:

Alias: Car02. If you specify an Alias value without using the PrimarySmtpAddress or UserPrincipalName parameters, the Alias value is used on the left side of the '@' symbol.
DisplayName: Car 02
PrimarySmtpAddress: Alias and domain values from the email address policy. If the policy doesn't specify an alias, the value Car02 is used if you don't use the Alias parameter.
UserPrincipalName: Car02@<default Active directory domain> if you don't use the Alias parameter.

New-Mailbox -Equipment -Name "Car 02"

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-Mailbox.

How do you know you successfully created an equipment mailbox?

To verify that you successfully created an equipment mailbox, do either of the following steps:

EAC: Go to Recipients > Resources tab. On the Resources tab, verify the equipment mailbox is listed. Select the mailbox, and then select Edit to view the mailbox properties.
Exchange Management Shell: To display information about the mailbox, replace <EquipmentMailboxIdentity> with the name, alias, user principal name (UPN), or email address of the mailbox, and then run the following command :
```
Get-Mailbox -Identity <EquipmentMailboxIdentity> | Format-List
```

Change how an equipment mailbox handles meeting requests

You can use the EAC, Outlook on the web options for the equipment mailbox, or the Exchange Management Shell to change how an equipment mailbox handles meeting requests.

All settings are available on the Set-CalendarProcessing cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell, but the following settings are available in Outlook on the web and not in the EAC:

Turn off reminders
Allow conflicts
- Allow up to this number of individual conflicts
- Allow up to this percentage of individual conflicts
These users can schedule automatically if the resource is available and can submit a request for owner approval if the resource is unavailable

Use the EAC to change how an equipment mailbox handles meeting requests

In the Exchange admin center, navigate to Recipients > Resources.
On the Resources tab, select the equipment mailbox, and then select Edit.
On the equipment mailbox properties page that opens, the following tabs are specific to how the equipment mailbox handles meeting requests:
- Booking Delegates tab:
  - Booking requests section: Select one of the following values:
    - Use customized settings to accept or decline booking requests: This is the default value.
    - Accept or decline booking requests automatically: Meeting requests are automatically accepted. Meeting requests are automatically declined in the following scenarios:
      - A scheduling conflict with an existing reservation.
      - The meeting request violates the scheduling limits of the equipment (for example, the meeting is too long).
    - Select delegates who can accept or decline booking requests: One of the people you add to the Delegates box is responsible for accepting or declining meeting requests that are sent to the equipment mailbox. If you assign multiple delegates, only one needs to act on a meeting request.
- Booking Options tab: The following settings are available:
  - Allow repeating meetings: Allows or prevents recurring meetings for the equipment. By default, this setting is selected, so recurring meetings are allowed.
  - Allow scheduling only during working hours: Accepts or declines meeting requests that aren't during the working hours defined for the equipment mailbox. By default, this setting isn't selected, so meeting requests are allowed outside the working hours. By default, working hours are 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday through Friday. You can set the working hours on a mailbox in the following locations:
    - Outlook on the web in Settings > Options > Calendar > Personalization > Calendar appearance > Show work week as and Set your working hours.
    - The WorkDays, WorkingHoursEndTime, WorkingHoursStartTime, and WorkingHoursTimeZone parameters on the Set-MailboxCalendarConfiguration cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell.
  - Always decline if the end date is beyond this limit: Controls the behavior of recurring meetings that extend beyond the date specified by the Maximum booking lead time (days) value:
    - Selected: Recurring meeting requests are automatically declined if the meetings start on or before the Maximum booking lead time (days) date, and the meetings extend beyond the Maximum booking lead time (days) date. This is the default setting.
    - Not selected: Recurring meeting requests are automatically accepted if the meetings start on or before Maximum booking lead time (days) date. However, any meetings that extend beyond the Maximum booking lead time (days) date are automatically removed (no meetings can extend beyond that date).
  - Maximum booking lead time (days): Specifies the maximum number of days in advance that the equipment can be booked. A valid value is an integer between 0 (today) and 1080 days. The default value is 180 days.
  - Maximum duration (hours): Specifies the maximum duration that the equipment can be reserved in a meeting request. A valid value is from 0 (unlimited) to 35,791,394 hours. The default value is 24 hours.
    
    This value applies to the length of each individual meeting in a recurring meeting request.
  - If you want the meeting organizer to receive a reply, enter the text below: This text is used in a reply message sent to users who send meeting requests to reserve the equipment.
When you're finished on the equipment mailbox properties page, select Save.

Use Outlook on the web options for the equipment mailbox to change how the mailbox handles meeting requests

Users with Full Access permission to an equipment mailbox can use Open another mailbox in Outlook on the web to change the scheduling settings of an equipment mailbox.

In your Outlook on the web, select your account in the top right corner, and then select Open another mailbox.
In the Open another mailbox dialog that opens, enter some or all of the equipment mailbox name, select Search directory, select the mailbox in the results, and then select Open.
In the equipment mailbox in Outlook on the web, go to Settings > Options > Calendar > Resource scheduling.
On the Resource scheduling settings page, configure the settings as described in the following subsections.

Scheduling options

The following settings are available in the Scheduling options section of the Resource scheduling settings page in Outlook on the web for an equipment mailbox:

Automatically process meeting requests and cancellations: Meeting requests are automatically accepted. By default, this setting is selected. Otherwise, a resource delegate manually accepts or declines meeting requests.
Turn off reminders: Disables reminders in the equipment mailbox calendar. Meeting organizers and attendees can still receive reminders.

By default, this setting isn't selected.
Maximum number of days in advance resources can be booked: A valid value is an integer between 0 (today) and 1080 days. The default value is 180 days.
- Always decline if the end date is beyond this limit: Controls the behavior of recurring meetings that extend beyond the date specified by the Maximum number of days in advance resources can be booked value:
  - Selected: Recurring meeting requests are automatically declined if the meetings start on or before the Maximum number of days in advance resources can be booked date, and the meetings extend beyond the Maximum number of days in advance resources can be booked date. This is the default setting.
  - Not selected: Recurring meeting requests are automatically accepted if the meetings start on or before Maximum number of days in advance resources can be booked date. However, any meetings that extend beyond the Maximum number of days in advance resources can be booked date are automatically removed (no meetings can extend beyond that date).
Limit meeting duration and Maximum allowed minutes: Specifies the maximum duration that the equipment can be reserved in a meeting request. A valid value is from 0 (unlimited) to 1440 minutes (24 hours). The default value is 1440 minutes.

This value applies to the length of each individual meeting in a recurring meeting request.
Allow scheduling only during working hours: Accepts or declines meeting requests that aren't during the working hours defined for the equipment mailbox. By default, this setting isn't selected, so meeting requests are allowed outside the working hours. By default, working hours are 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday through Friday. You can set the working hours on a mailbox in Outlook on the web (formerly known as Outlook Web App or OWA) in Settings > Options > Calendar > Personalization > Calendar appearance > Show work week as and Set your working hours.
Allow repeating meetings: Allows or prevents recurring meetings for the equipment. By default, this setting is selected, so recurring meetings are allowed.
Allow conflicts: Allow or prevent conflicting meeting requests (also known as double booking). By default, this setting isn't selected.

If recurring meetings are allowed on the equipment mailbox, this setting applies only to recurring meetings. Don't use Add rooms to include the equipment in the meeting request. Instead, include the equipment as a Required attendee in the meeting request.
- Allow up to this number of individual conflicts: When conflicts are allowed, this setting specifies the maximum number of conflicts for recurring meeting requests. A valid value is from 0 to 2147483647. The default value is 0.
  - The value 0 means recurring meeting requests are denied if there are any conflicting reservations.
  - A numerical value means recurring meeting requests are denied if the request conflicts with any existing reservations more than the specified number of times.
- Allow up to this percentage of individual conflicts: When conflicts are allowed, this setting specifies the maximum percentage of meeting conflicts for new recurring meeting requests. A valid value is from 0 to 100. The default value is 0.
  - The value 0 means recurring meeting requests are denied if there are any conflicting reservations.
  - A numerical value means recurring meeting requests are denied if the request conflicts with any existing reservations more than the specified percentage. For example, this setting is 10% and a recurring meeting request has 20 individual meetings:
  - Allowed if there's a conflict two or less of the individual meetings.
  - Denied if there's a conflict with three or more of the individual meetings.

Scheduling Permissions

The following settings are available in the Scheduling permissions section of the Resource scheduling settings page in Outlook on the web for an equipment mailbox:

These people can schedule automatically if the resource is available: Select one of the following values:
- Everyone: Anyone can automatically reserve the equipment. If the equipment isn't available, the meeting request is automatically declined. This is the default value.
- Specific people and groups: Only the specified users and groups can automatically reserve the equipment. If the equipment isn't available, the meeting request is automatically declined. Meetings requests from other users or groups are automatically declined. Selecting this value without specifying the users or groups is equivalent to selecting Everyone.
These users can submit a request for owner approval if the resource is available: Select one of the following values:
- Everyone: Anyone can request to reserve the equipment, but the request must be approved by a resource delegate (the Select delegates who can accept or decline booking requests setting in the EAC). If the equipment isn't available, the meeting request is automatically declined.
- Specific people and groups: Only the specified users and groups can request to reserve the equipment, but a resource delegate must approve the meeting request. If the equipment isn't available, the meeting request is automatically declined. Meetings requests from other users and groups are automatically declined.
  
  Selecting this value without specifying the users or groups is equivalent to selecting Everyone. By default, this value is selected, but no users or groups are selected.
These users can schedule automatically if the resource is available and can submit a request for owner approval if the resource is unavailable: Select one of the following values:
- Everyone: Anyone can automatically reserve the equipment. If the equipment isn't available, the meeting request must be approved by a resource delegate (the Select delegates who can accept or decline booking requests setting in the EAC).
- Specific people and groups: Only the specified users and groups can request to reserve the equipment. If the equipment isn't available, a resource delegate must accept the meeting request. Meetings requests from other users and groups are automatically declined.
  
  Selecting this value without specifying the users or groups is equivalent to selecting Everyone. By default, this value is selected, but no users or groups are selected.

Response message

Select Add additional text to be included in responses to event invitations and enter the text in the box.

Change other equipment mailbox properties

After you create an equipment mailbox, you can make changes and set other properties by using the EAC or the Exchange Management Shell.

Use the EAC to change equipment mailbox properties

In the EAC, go to Recipients > Resources.
On the Resources tab, select the equipment mailbox, and then select Edit.
On the equipment mailbox properties page that opens, several tabs are available:

The following tabs contain specific settings for equipment mailboxes:
- General
- Contact information
- Booking delegates and Booking options (previously described)
The remaining tabs contain identical settings to user mailboxes. These tabs and settings are described in the user mailbox article:

General tab in equipment mailbox properties

The following settings are available on the General tab of the mailbox properties for an equipment mailbox:

Equipment name: The maximum value is 64 characters.

Tip

Although other properties are available to describe the details of the equipment (for example, Location and Capacity), consider summarizing the important details in the Name value using a consistent naming convention. Users can easily see the details in the equipment name when they select the equipment mailbox from the address book.
Email address: You can change this value on the Email Address tab.
Capacity

Select More options to view or change these other properties that appear:

Organizational unit: The organizational unit (OU) that contains the account for the equipment mailbox. You can use Active Directory Users and Computers to move the account to a different OU.
Mailbox database: The mailbox database that hosts the equipment mailbox. You can use recipients > Migration in the EAC to move the mailbox to a different database.
Alias: When you change this value, the primary email address of the equipment mailbox is automatically updated if the mailbox is subject to email address policies.
Hide from address lists: Select this setting to prevent the equipment mailbox from appearing in the global address lists and other address lists in your Exchange organization. If you select this setting, users can still send meeting requests using the email address.
Department: Specify the department that the equipment is associated with. You can use this value to create recipient conditions for dynamic distribution groups and address lists.
Company: Specify the company the equipment is associated with. You can use this value to create recipient conditions for dynamic distribution groups and address lists.
Address book policy: Select the ABP that includes the equipment mailbox. ABPs contain a global address list (GAL), an offline address book (OAB), a room list (not a room list distribution group), and a set of address lists. To learn more, see Address book policies in Exchange Server.
Custom attributes: Select Edit to specify values for Custom Attribute 1 to Custom Attribute 15 on the mailbox. You can use this value to create recipient conditions for dynamic distribution groups and address lists.

Contact information tab in equipment mailbox properties

The following settings are available on the General tab of the mailbox properties for an equipment mailbox:

Location
Phone
Street
City
State/Province
ZIP/Postal code
Country/Region
Notes

Tip

You can use the State/Province box to create recipient conditions for dynamic distribution groups, email address policies, or address lists.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to change equipment mailbox properties

To view and change equipment mailbox properties, use the following cmdlets in the Exchange Management Shell:

Get-User and Set-User: View and set general properties such as location, department, and company names.
Get-Mailbox and Set-Mailbox: View and set mailbox properties, such as email addresses and the mailbox database.
Get-CalendarProcessing and Set-CalendarProcessing: View and set booking options and delegates.

Here are some examples of using the Exchange Management Shell to change equipment mailbox properties.

This example changes the display name and primary SMTP address (also called the default reply address). The previous primary SMTP address is kept as a proxy address on the mailbox.

Set-Mailbox "Van 01" -DisplayName "Van 01 - 13 passenger" -EmailAddresses SMTP:van01@contoso.com,smtp:01van@contoso.com -ResourceCapacity 13

This example configures equipment mailboxes to allow booking requests to be scheduled only during working hours and sets a maximum duration of 9 hours.

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited -Filter "RecipientTypeDetails -eq 'RoomMailbox'" | Set-CalendarProcessing -ScheduleOnlyDuringWorkHours $true -MaximumDurationInMinutes 540

This example uses the Get-User cmdlet to find all restricted equipment mailboxes, and then uses the Set-CalendarProcessing cmdlet to send booking requests to a delegate named Robin Wood to accept or decline.

Get-User -ResultSize unlimited -Filter "(RecipientTypeDetails -eq 'RoomMailbox') -and (DisplayName -like 'Restricted*')" | Set-CalendarProcessing -AllBookInPolicy $false -AllRequestInPolicy $true -ResourceDelegates "Robin Wood"

How do you know you successfully changed the equipment mailbox properties?

To verify that you successfully changed the properties for an equipment mailbox, either of the following steps:

EAC: Go to Recipients > Resources tab. On the Resources tab, Select the mailbox, and then select Edit to view the mailbox properties.
Exchange Management Shell:
- To display information about the mailbox, replace <EquipmentMailboxIdentity> with the name, alias, user principal name (UPN), or email address of the mailbox, and then run the following commands:
```
Get-Mailbox -Identity <EquipmentMailboxIdentity> | Format-List

Get-CalendarProcessing -Identity <EquipmentMailboxIdentity> | Format-List
```
- Run the following command to identify the equipment mailboxes that can only be scheduled during working hours:
```
Get-Mailbox -ResultSize unlimited -Filter "RecipientTypeDetails -eq 'EquipmentMailbox'" | Get-CalendarProcessing | Format-List Identity,ScheduleOnlyDuringWorkHours
```

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