Moving mailboxes to a different recipient subcontainer in Exchange Server

This article describes how to move mailboxes to a different recipient subcontainer and to change the name of a recipient subcontainer or container.

NOTE: If you delete a mailbox in the original container, and then create a new mailbox with the same name in a new container, the messages in the old mailboxes are destroyed permanently.

By design, when you use the Move Mailbox functionality in the Microsoft Exchange Server Administrator program, you cannot move a user to a different container on the same server or a different server within the same site, and you cannot move the user to a different site.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: To move any number of mailboxes (for example, mailboxes from an entire department to a new subcontainer) and to change the name of a subcontainer:

1. Start the Administrator program, and then click Directory Export on the Tools menu to export the individual subcontainer using either a custom .csv file created by Header.exe or using any of the following .csv files from the Exchange Server 4.0 CD-ROM:
   • Mailbox.csv (for mailboxes only)
   • Custom.csv (for custom recipients only)
   • Dl.csv (for distribution lists only)
2. Perform step one of the two-step Exmerge process to export the mail for the users in the subcontainer to individual .pst files.
3. If you are moving all the users in the subcontainer, delete the recipient subcontainer. If you are moving only part of the mailboxes out of the subcontainer, delete only the mailboxes within the subcontainer.
4. In the Administrator program, click the Exchange Server computer name, double-click the directory service in the right pane, and then click Update Now.
   
   Make sure the deletion has replicated throughout the site.
5. If the new subcontainer does not already exist, use the Administrator program to create the subcontainer or new container.
6. Edit the .csv file to change the name of the recipient subcontainer.
7. On the Tools menu, click Directory Import, and then use the .csv file to import the mailboxes into the proper subcontainer.
8. Perform step two of the two-step Exmerge process to import the mail from the .pst files back into the individual mailboxes.

NOTE: Test the directory import and export procedure on a recovery server first before you perform it on a production server.

Exmerge.exe is available in Microsoft BackOffice Resource Kit version 3.0. The latest version is available from Microsoft Product Support Services that is located at the following Microsoft Web site: NOTE: Messages that are imported with Exmerge no longer have single instance storage.

For more information about directory import and export, the use of the Exchange Server 4.0 .csv files, the use of the Header.exe tool, and ExMerge.exe, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about how to move distribution lists between different recipient containers, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: