Powershell Commands To View and Change Exchange Mailbox File Size

Now, email is one of the major modes of business communication, a huge number of emails are exchanged daily. In most cases, Exchange Server individual mailboxes have a fixed size limit by default while creating an account. Touching the threshold of the mailbox quota means a problem for new incoming emails. 

To avoid this situation, it is important for the users to know How to Preview & Change Exchange Mailbox File Size. Even user go for tips to reduce exchange mailbox database size via Powershell. But In this post, we will be sharing some easy techniques of knowing these to the readers. As some additional tips, we will also discuss how to set the password for the Exchange User Mailbox.

How to View Exchange Mailbox Size using PowerShell in Exchange 2016/13/10/07

Before changing the mailbox size limit, the user can preview all statistics related to the mailbox. For that, Powershell commands that can be used to view different aspects of Exchange Mailbox size. To view the Total number of mailbox created with the Exchange Server.

 Use command:  get-mailbox

It will display “Alias Name, Server Name, and ProhibitSend Quota or mailbox storage quotas” for a specific mailbox. If mailboxes exceed a specified quota limit, notification is sent to mailboxes owner.

First, we need to understand mailboxes details of Exchange Mailboxes, for that basic command used: 

Get-MailboxStatistics  - server name    

After running the command get the result of Item count, Last Logon Time details.

The first command that we will discuss is how to know the individual mailbox size of every Exchange user. Using this command, we will also be able to know the item count of each mailbox. Here the user can view all the mailbox details and Last logon Time of to the mailboxes.

View Specific User Details

Now to view specific user details such as a number of items of the user mailbox and size of these items so that if the size reached to limit can be increased. Get-MailboxStatistics | ft DisplayName, TotalItemSize, ItemCount

After running above command, a user needs to provide the mailbox name and according to user details, data will be displayed:

View Details in Descending Order

If the hundreds number of user configured with Exchange then to know which mailboxes reaching its size limits, for that, you can use below query to sort or filter size according to “Megabytes” and Items Count

EX: Get-MailboxStatistics -server ost | Sort-Object TotalItemSize -Descending | ft DisplayName,@{label=”TotalItemSize(MB)”;expression={$_.TotalItemSize.Value.ToMB()}},ItemCount Export Details

To view all mailboxes details in text format, a user can export them into CSV or Text file format, for text file user command:

Get-MailboxStatistics -server ost | Sort-Object TotalItemSize -Descending | ft DisplayName,@{label=”TotalItemSize(MB)”;expression={$_.TotalItemSize.Value.ToMB()}},ItemCount > c:\mailbox.txt

In case someone is interested to know if their mailbox size is beyond or below the quota, they can use this command. Using these commands, users can easily view the mailbox size. If the size is reaching the threshold and they require more space, they can change the mailbox size in MS Exchange. Now in below section, we change the mailbox size limit in Exchange Server.

Reconfigure Mailbox Size in Exchange 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007 using PowerShell Command

In case you are not comfortable with GUI, simply use this command to change the Mailbox size:

Here, the exception will be made in the mailbox of a user named Alice and the new mailbox size will be 25 GB.

Change Exchange Mailbox Size in Exchange 2010 Using EMC

In the Older version of Exchange 2010, few more steps are needed as the comparison to New version of Exchange 2013/2016. Follow the simple command to increase /change the size of Exchange mailboxes.

• To begin with, open Exchange Management Console and from the left menu, select Recipient Configuration>> Mailbox. Select your preferred mailbox from the list and right-click on it.

• Now select Properties from the options to make the Properties dialog box appear.

• Click on Mailbox Settings Tab>> Storage Quotas. At this point Storage Quotas, the dialog box will pop up.

Note: Make sure the box beside Use Mailbox database Defaults is not checked. Then the users will be allowed to set limits on the three options according to their choice, similar to above screen.

• After setting the new limits, click on OK.

Exchange Admin center to Change Mailbox Size 2016/2013 Version

In Latest Exchange 2013/2016 version, it easy to change mailboxes size of the user within few clicks. With EAC it becomes only a few steps process:

Change Database Mailbox Size

• Open Exchange admin center and select Servers from the left panel. Then click on database tab in the detailed pane.

• Select the Database Name and click on Edit icon above the list.

• Click on limits and then reset the sizes. This new setting will be applicable to all mailboxes of this database.

Change Exchange Individual Mailbox Size

• Open Exchange admin center and click on Recipients. Select the mailbox that requires mailbox size quota change and click on the Edit icon.

• Select mailbox usage and click on the radio button beside Customize the quota settings for this mailbox.

• Now change the settings as per the need and Click on Save Button.

Additional Tips: How to Reset Password of Exchange Mailbox

Only Exchange Server Admins or Exchange members with Admin permission are eligible to make password configuration. If a mailbox is given to someone else or the mailbox owner forgets the password, the necessity to reset Exchange Mailbox arises. Here is how to reset the mailbox password of Exchange.

• Open your system and search for Active Directory Users and Computers. Once you have found it, click on it to open.
• A list of mailboxes will appear on the screen. Select the mailbox that requires a password reset.
• Right-click to get several options. Choose Reset Password.
• From the Reset Password Dialog Box, enter the new password and confirm it. Click on OK.
• If users want to change the password themselves, check the option "User must change the password on next login."

Conclusion

Exchange mailbox file size quota often causes problems for the users if they are unaware of the current size of their mailbox. In case the mailbox is reaching the limit, it becomes necessary to change the mailbox size quota. In this content, we have described some easy solutions to view and change Exchange Mailbox size. Additionally, we have also included techniques of viewing mailbox permission in Exchange and resetting mailbox password. It is expected that users will get benefited by learning these techniques.