Recipients
[This is pre-release documentation and subject to change in future releases.]
Applies to: Exchange Server 2013 Preview
The people and resources that send and receive messages are the core of any messaging and collaboration system. In an Exchange organization, these people and resources are referred to as recipients. A recipient is any mail-enabled object in Active Directory to which Exchange can deliver or route messages.
Note
Similar to the products themselves, content for the next version of Exchange Server and Exchange Online is still being developed. If our Preview documentation doesn’t contain the information you’re looking for, there’s a good chance the content from previous releases may still apply. Browse our Exchange Server 2010 and Exchange Online documentation. If you still can’t find answers, please send feedback to Exchange 2013 Preview Help Feedback. Your comments will help us provide you with the most useful content.
Recipient Types
Microsoft Exchange 2013 Preview includes several explicit recipient types. Each recipient type is represented in the Exchange Administration Center (EAC) and identified by a unique value in the RecipientTypeDetails property in the Exchange Management Shell. The use of explicit recipient types has the following benefits:
- At a glance, you can differentiate between various recipient types.
- You can search, sort, and filter by each recipient type.
- You can more easily perform bulk management operations for each recipient type.
- You can more easily view recipient properties because the EAC uses the recipient types to render different property pages. For example, the resource capacity is displayed for a room mailbox, but isn't present for a user mailbox.
The following table lists the available recipient types. All these recipient types are discussed in more detail later in this topic.
Exchange 2013 Preview recipient types
| Recipient type | Description |
|---|---|
Dynamic distribution group |
A distribution group that uses recipient filters and conditions to derive its membership at the time messages are sent. |
Equipment mailbox |
A resource mailbox that's assigned to a non-location specific resource, such as a portable computer projector, microphone, or a company car. Equipment mailboxes can be included as resources in meeting requests, providing a simple and efficient way of utilizing resources for your users. |
Linked mailbox |
A mailbox that's assigned to an individual user in a separate, trusted forest. |
Mail contact |
A mail-enabled Active Directory contact that contains information about people or organizations that exist outside the Exchange organization. Each mail contact has an external e-mail address. All messages sent to the mail contact are routed to this external e-mail address. |
Mail user |
A mail-enabled Active Directory user that represents a user outside the Exchange organization. Each mail user has an external e-mail address. All messages sent to the mail user are routed to this external e-mail address. A mail user is similar to a mail contact, except that a mail user has Active Directory logon credentials and can access resources. |
Mail-enabled public folder |
An Exchange public folder that's configured to receive messages. For more information, see Shared Mailboxes. |
Distribution group |
A distribution group is a mail-enabled Active Directory universal distribution group object that can be used only to distribute messages to a group of recipients. |
Security group |
A security group is a mail-enabled Active Directory universal security group object that can be used to grant access permissions to resources in Active Directory and can also be used to distribute messages. |
Room mailbox |
A resource mailbox that's assigned to a meeting location, such as a conference room, auditorium, or training room. Room mailboxes can be included as resources in meeting requests, providing a simple and efficient way of organizing meetings for your users. |
Shared mailbox |
A mailbox that's not primarily associated with a single user and is generally configured to allow logon access for multiple users. For more information, see Shared Mailboxes. |
User mailbox |
A mailbox that's assigned to an individual user in your Exchange organization. It typically contains messages, calendar items, contacts, tasks, documents, and other important business data. |
Remote mailbox |
A remote mailbox consists of a mail-enabled user that exists in the on-premises Active Directory and an associated mailbox that exists in the cloud-based service. |
Linked user |
A linked user is a user that resides in one forest while their mailbox resides in another forest. |