Create user mailboxes in Exchange Online

You have to use the Microsoft 365 admin center or Exchange Online PowerShell to create an Exchange Online user mailbox. You can't create new user mailboxes using the new Exchange admin center (EAC). However, after Exchange Online mailboxes are created, you can manage them using the new EAC. For more information on adding users in Microsoft 365 admin center, see Add users and assign licenses.

What do you need to know before you begin?

• Estimated time to complete: 3 minutes.

• You need permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "Recipients" entry in the Feature permissions in Exchange Online article.

• It's a good idea to use strong passwords that are at least eight characters long, and combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

• To learn how to use Windows PowerShell to connect to Exchange Online, see Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

• For information about keyboard shortcuts that may apply to the procedures in this article, see Keyboard shortcuts for the Exchange admin center.

Use the Microsoft 365 admin center to create a new mailbox

You can use the Microsoft 365 admin center to create a new user account. When you assign the user account a license for Exchange Online, a mailbox is automatically created for the user. To create new user accounts in the Microsoft 365 admin center, see Add users individually or in bulk.

Use Exchange Online PowerShell to create a new mailbox

This example creates an Exchange Online mailbox and user account for Holly Holt. You're prompted to enter the password. The optional parameter ResetPasswordOnNextLogon requires the user to reset their password the first time they sign in to Microsoft 365 or Office 365.

New-Mailbox -Alias hollyh -Name hollyh -FirstName Holly -LastName Holt -DisplayName "Holly Holt" -MicrosoftOnlineServicesID hollyh@corp.contoso.com -Password (Read-Host "Enter password" -AsSecureString) -ResetPasswordOnNextLogon $true

After you create a mailbox by running the previous command, a user account is also created. You have to activate this user account by assigning a license. To assign a license in the Microsoft 365 admin center, see Add users individually or in bulk.