How to Configure Mailbox Forwarding in Exchange Server 2007

Exchange Server 2007 allows administrators to control the configuration of mailbox forwarding. This is useful in many different scenarios, such as when a staff member leaves the company and you need to forward any ongoing email to a different user.

It is also handy when you want to have different named mailboxes in the Global Address List for different purposes (eg, Payroll, Job Vacancies, OH&S) but have them all forward to one centralized mailbox (eg Human Resources).

How to View the Mailbox Forwarding Settings for an Exchange 2007 Mailbox

Forwarding is configured in the Mail Flow Settings properties of a mailbox, under Delivery Options.

You can also view the settings using the Exchange Management Shell.

[PS] C:\>get-mailbox john.woodard | fl name,*forward*

Name                       : John.Woodard
DeliverToMailboxAndForward : False
ForwardingAddress          :

Turning on Mailbox Forwarding for an Exchange 07 Mailbox

To enable forwarding simply tick the box,
then browse and select who  you want to forward email messages to.
You can optionally choose to  deliver new messages to both mailboxes.



To do the same in the Exchange Management Shell run the Set-Mailbox command.

[PS] C:\>set-mailbox john.woodard -ForwardingAddress alan.reid

[PS] C:\>get-mailbox john.woodard | fl name,*forward*

Name                       : John.Woodard
DeliverToMailboxAndForward : False
ForwardingAddress          : exchangeserverpro.net/Company/Head Office/Users/Al
                             an.Reid


When the user receives a forwarded email they will be able to see  that it was addressed to the original mailbox that it was forwarded  from.
Aside from avoiding confusion this makes it easy for the receiver  to set up Outlook rules to manage emails that are forwarded from other  mailboxes.

Turning off Mailbox Forwarding for an Exchange 2007 Mailbox

To disable forwarding for a mailbox you can use the Exchange  Management Console
and simply uncheck the box that you used to enable it  in the first place.



To disable email forwarding using the Exchange Management Shell use the Set-Mailbox command again to null the value.

[PS] C:\>set-mailbox john.woodard -ForwardingAddress $null

Mailbox Forwarding for Disabled User Accounts

As a final note, some administrators will be wondering whether  mailbox forwarding works for disabled user accounts.
For example, when a  staff member leaves can you disable their user account and forward  their emails somewhere else?

The answer is yes, disabled user accounts can still have mailbox forwarding configured and it will work.