Fix Exchange Online Plan 2 Not Increasing Mailbox Size Limit
Question details
The user is attempting to increase their email storage capacity by adding an Exchange Online Plan 2 license, but the primary mailbox remains restricted to the standard 100 GB limit.
- Product
- Microsoft Exchange Online
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Upgrading a Microsoft 365 E3 user's license to Exchange Online Plan 2 to provide additional mailbox storage space.
- Observed behavior
- The primary mailbox size does not automatically expand past 100 GB to 150 GB, making it seem as though the additional storage from the Plan 2 license was not applied.
Ensure you are signed in with Exchange Administrator or Global Administrator privileges in your Microsoft 365 tenant to modify archiving policies and mailbox features.
Enable Auto-Expanding Archiving for the User
Instead of expanding the primary mailbox, Exchange Online Plan 2 provides up to 1.5 TB of additional storage through an auto-expanding archive mailbox.
Microsoft sets a hard limit of 100 GB for primary mailboxes, regardless of whether you add an Exchange Online Plan 2 license. The extra capacity provided by Plan 2 is strictly allocated to the archive mailbox.
By enabling auto-expanding archiving, the system will automatically add storage space to the user's archive mailbox as needed, up to a maximum limit of 1.5 TB.
Log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center and navigate to the Exchange Admin Center or the Microsoft Purview compliance portal.
Go to Data lifecycle management, select Exchange (legacy), and then click Archive. Select the user whose mailbox is full and click 'Turn on' to enable their archive mailbox.
Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell and run the command 'Enable-Mailbox <user email> -AutoExpandingArchive' to ensure the archive can grow automatically up to 1.5 TB.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the maximum size of a primary mailbox in Exchange Online Plan 2?
The primary mailbox limit for Exchange Online Plan 2, as well as Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 plans, is capped at 100 GB.
How much total storage does auto-expanding archiving provide?
Once enabled, auto-expanding archiving automatically adds storage space to the user's archive as needed, up to a maximum service limit of 1.5 TB per user.
How do users access their new archive mailbox?
After an administrator enables the archive, the 'In-Place Archive' or 'Online Archive' folder will automatically appear in the left navigation pane of the user's Outlook desktop app and Outlook on the web.
