Help with Exchange Mail Rule that is not working :(

[kennysarmy]

Years ago we set up a distribution list called absence@school.com

 

As I can't convert it to a shared mailbox, which is now what is required, I thought I'd create a shared mailbox called absence2@school.com and then use a mail rule in Exchange Online to add absence2 as a CC address whenever anything gets sent to the original address.

 

Can't seem to get it to work

 

Any ideas, rule in attached screenshot.

 

 

[kennysarmy]

1 minute ago, kennysarmy said:

Years ago we set up a distribution list called absence@school.com

 

As I can't convert it to a shared mailbox, which is now what is required, I thought I'd create a shared mailbox called absence2@school.com and then use a mail rule in Exchange Online to add absence2 as a CC address whenever anything gets sent to the original address.

 

Can't seem to get it to work

 

Any ideas, rule in attached screenshot.

 

 

 

[Buzzer90]

I could be missing something (I usually am...) but can you not just delete the original distribution list and re create it as a shared mailbox?

[3s-gtech]

I wouldn't use pattern to do the match to address. I'd use 'address includes any of these words'. I'd then try that with the full email address.

[kennysarmy]

5 minutes ago, Buzzer90 said:

I could be missing something (I usually am...) but can you not just delete the original distribution list and re create it as a shared mailbox?

 

Yes but I believe there would be a period of time when the email is being released from the distribution list before it's available for reuse in the shared mailbox - and I've advised the best time to do this would be in the holidays....

[kennysarmy]

4 minutes ago, 3s-gtech said:

I wouldn't use pattern to do the match to address. I'd use 'address includes any of these words'. I'd then try that with the full email address.

 

Will give that a go.

[andy_b]

I think you can re-use pretty quick.

 

For testing I:

 

Created a DG

Sent and received an email to the DG

Deleted the DG

Created the Shared Mailbox

Added user to Shared Mailbox

Sent email to Shared Mailbox

Received email in Shared Mailbox

 

Took about 4 mins.

[kennysarmy]

This is on LearnMicrosoft...

 

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

I understand that you have a query on converting distribution list to shared mailbox.

If you've deleted a group, it will be retained for 30 days by default. This 30-day period is considered a "soft-delete" because you can still restore the group.

To hard delete/Permanently Office 365 group using PowerShell, use the following steps:

Here is how to permanently remove Office 365 Group using PowerShell: Assuming you have Office 365 global admin permissions, Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator.

1. Connect to Azure AD by typing Connect-AzureAD cmdlet. This opens the Sign-In page for azure AD. Enter your credentials and Sign-in.
2. Retrieve deleted groups using: Get-AzureADMSDeletedGroup cmdlet. This returns all deleted groups with their IDs.
3. Now, you can permanently remove the deleted group using the group ID. E.g Remove-AzureADMSDeletedDirectoryObject -id 22bdc734-251f-48db-8030-19eb5560ddc3

Regarding Creating a shared mailbox, The service typically takes less than 30 minutes to provision a user or to sync changes for a user. It could take up to 24 hours for provisioning to occur or for changes to sync. If the issue persists after 24 hours, submit a support service request.

Find this link for your reference regarding Delays in provisioning of user/mailbox or synchronizing changes in Exchange Online.

[andy_b]

I think that response is a little confused.  An M365 Group is "soft deleted", but not a distribution list.

 

They seem to be providing instructions for an M365 group even though the query was about lists.

 

Edited November 20, 2025 by andy_b

[MatthewL]

Just add absence2 mailbox to the distribution list and away you go.

 

In old exchange days you would just remove the DL and then add that SMTP address to that mailbox.