Enable or disable Exchange ActiveSync mailboxes

You can easily enable or disable ActiveSync for all users and export a list of all mailboxes, including their ActiveSync status, to a single CSV file. In this article, you will learn how to enable or disable Exchange ActiveSync mailboxes in the Exchange admin center (EAC) and with Exchange Online PowerShell.

Exchange ActiveSync access to mailboxes in Exchange Server

Exchange ActiveSync enables mobile phone users to access their email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. Moreover, it allows users to retrieve this information even while working offline.

By default, ActiveSync is enabled for new user mailboxes. However, disabling ActiveSync on a mailbox restricts users from synchronizing their mailbox with a mobile device through ActiveSync.

We will show you two ways to enable or disable Exchange ActiveSync access for a mailbox:

• Exchange admin center (EAC)
• Exchange Online PowerShell

Enable or disable ActiveSync mailbox in Exchange admin center

You can change the ActiveSync for every single mailbox. To apply these changes to multiple mailboxes, read the next step.

Bulk enable or disable ActiveSync mailboxes in EAC

Follow the below step to bulk enable or disable Exchange ActiveSync mailboxes:

1. Sign into Exchange admin center
2. Click Recipients > Mailboxes
3. Select multiple users from the mailbox list

4. Click on Edit > App settings

5. The display pane opens. Click the drop-down arrow next to Mobile (Exchange ActiveSync). Select Enable or Disable. The changes will be applied to the selected mailboxes.

6. Click Save. You will get a notification message > Email app settings updated successfully. Close the display pane.

Enable or disable ActiveSync mailbox with PowerShell

To be able to run the PowerShell commands, you will need to Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

1. Start Windows PowerShell as administrator and run the Connect-ExchangeOnline cmdlet.

Connect-ExchangeOnline

We will use the Set-CASMailbox cmdlet to configure settings for Exchange ActiveSync.

2. Run the below PowerShell command to enable ActiveSync for a single user mailbox.

Set-CASMailbox -Identity "Amanda.Hansen@m365info.com" -ActiveSyncEnabled $True

3. Run the below PowerShell command to disable ActiveSync for a single user mailbox.

Set-CASMailbox -Identity "Amanda.Hansen@m365info.com" -ActiveSyncEnabled $False

Bulk enable or disable ActiveSync for all mailboxes

To enable or disable ActiveSync for the entire organization, we will use the Get-Mailbox cmdlet.

1. Bulk enable Exchange ActiveSync mailboxes for the organization with the below PowerShell command.

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Set-CASMailbox -ActiveSyncEnabled $True

2. Run the below PowerShell command to bulk disable Exchange ActiveSync mailboxes for the entire organization.

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Set-CASMailbox -ActiveSyncEnabled $False

Bulk enable or disable ActiveSync for users in a group

Let’s say that you have created groups in your organization. When you have a group of members in your organization, you can enable or disable Exchange ActiveSync for all these users in the group.

1. Run the below PowerShell command example to enable ActiveSync for the Sales Team.

$groupId = "Sales Team"
$members = Get-UnifiedGroup -Identity $groupId | Get-UnifiedGroupLinks -LinkType Members

foreach ($member in $members) {
    $smtpAddress = $member.PrimarySmtpAddress
    $casMailbox = Get-CASMailbox -Identity $smtpAddress -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    if ($casMailbox -ne $null -and -not $casMailbox.ActiveSyncEnabled) {
        Set-CASMailbox -Identity $smtpAddress -ActiveSyncEnabled $true
        Write-Host "ActiveSync enabled for user: $smtpAddress"
    }
}

ActiveSync enabled for user: Brenda.Smith@m365info.com
ActiveSync enabled for user: David.Kent@m365info.com
ActiveSync enabled for user: Susan.Brown@m365info.com

You can also bulk disable ActiveSync for the users in a group of your organization.

2. Use the below PowerShell command example to disable ActiveSync for the Sales Team.

$groupId = "Sales Team"
$members = Get-UnifiedGroup -Identity $groupId | Get-UnifiedGroupLinks -LinkType Members

foreach ($member in $members) {
    $smtpAddress = $member.PrimarySmtpAddress
    $casMailbox = Get-CASMailbox -Identity $smtpAddress -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    if ($casMailbox -ne $null -and $casMailbox.ActiveSyncEnabled) {
        Set-CASMailbox -Identity $smtpAddress -ActiveSyncEnabled $false
        Write-Host "ActiveSync disabled for user: $smtpAddress"
    }
    elseif ($casMailbox -eq $null) {
        Write-Host "User $smtpAddress does not have a license."
    }
    else {
        Write-Host "ActiveSync is already disabled for user: $smtpAddress"
    }
}

ActiveSync disabled for user: Brenda.Smith@m365info.com
ActiveSync disabled for user: David.Kent@m365info.com
ActiveSync disabled for user: Susan.Brown@m365info.com

Bulk enable or disable ActiveSync for multiple users

There is another way to enable or disable Exchange ActiveSync for multiple users, but you need the users’ mailbox names.

1. Use the below PowerShell command example to enable ActiveSync for multiple user mailboxes.

$users = "Brenda.Smith@m365info.com", "Chris.Lucas@m365info.com", "David.Kent@m365info.com", "Diana.Baker@m365info.com"
foreach ($user in $users) {
    Set-CASMailbox -Identity $user -ActiveSyncEnabled $True
}

2. Use the below PowerShell command example to disable ActiveSync for multiple user mailboxes.

$users = "Brenda.Smith@m365info.com", "Chris.Lucas@m365info.com", "David.Kent@m365info.com", "Diana.Baker@m365info.com"
foreach ($user in $users) {
    Set-CASMailbox -Identity $user -ActiveSyncEnabled $False
}

Enable or disable ActiveSync with CSV file

To enable or disable the ActiveSync of user mailboxes, you need to create a single CSV file.

Open Notepad and type the below data to enable ActiveSync:

1. Type User at the top
2. Type a list of the user mailboxes

The below picture is an example of how your CSV file should look like.

3. Name the file EnableActiveSync.csv in C:\temp
4. Save as type All files (*.*)
5. Click Save

You will see the Notepad CSV file in your folder.

To ensure that PowerShell can read the file, run the Import-Csv cmdlet.

Import-Csv "C:\temp\EnableActiveSync.csv"

Run the below PowerShell script to enable ActiveSync for selected user mailboxes from a CSV file.

Import-Csv "C:\temp\EnableActiveSync.csv" | foreach {Set-CASMailbox -Identity $_.User -ActiveSyncEnabled $True}

You can also disable ActiveSync with a CSV file.

Create a CSV file in Notepad:

1. Type User at the top
2. Type a list of user mailboxes you want to disable ActiveSync

3. Name the file DisableActiveSync.csv and save type as All files (*.*) in the C:\temp

You will see the Notepad CSV file in the same folder as the one you created before.

Run the below PowerShell script to disable ActiveSync for selected user mailboxes from a CSV file.

Import-Csv "C:\temp\DisableActiveSync.csv" | foreach {Set-CASMailbox -Identity $_.User -ActiveSyncEnabled $False}

Verify Exchange ActiveSync access to mailboxes

To verify you enabled or disabled Exchange ActiveSync, go to Exchange admin center > Recipients > Mailboxes. You must click on each user mailbox to check whether ActiveSync is enabled or disabled.

Or you can use the below PowerShell example to display ActiveSync for a single mailbox.

Get-CASMailbox -Identity "Amanda.Hansen@m365info.com" | ft Displayname, ActiveSyncEnabled

The PowerShell output shows the below result.

PS C:\> Get-CASMailbox -Identity "Amanda.Hansen@m365info.com" | ft Displayname, ActiveSyncEnabled

DisplayName   ActiveSyncEnabled
-----------   -----------------
Amanda Hansen             False

To check and display all Exchange mailboxes with their ActiveSync status, you must use PowerShell.

Get-CASMailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | ft DisplayName,ActiveSyncEnabled

The PowerShell output shows a list of ActiveSync enabled (True) or disabled (False) of all mailboxes.

PS C:\> Get-CASMailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | ft DisplayName,ActiveSyncEnabled

DisplayName              ActiveSyncEnabled
-----------              -----------------
Amanda Hansen                        False
Brenda Smith                         False
Chris Lucas                          False
David Kent                           False
Diana Baker                          False
Discovery Search Mailbox              True
George Wilson                         True
Info Box                              True
Jill Bates                           False
Julia Wood                            True
Kelly Test                            True
Mary James                            True
Project Pool 11                       True
Projector 21                          True
Projector 8                           True
René Gibs                            False
Room01                                True
RoomTest8                             True
Stephen Hunter                        True
Susan Brown                          False

Export list ActiveSync mailboxes to CSV

You can also export ActiveSync data of all mailboxes to a single CSV file. This way, you can easily search ActiveSync for all mailboxes.

Use the below PowerShell example command:

Get-CASMailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Select-Object DisplayName,ActiveSyncEnabled | Export-Csv "C:\temp\Export ActiveSync.csv" -Encoding UTF8 -NoTypeInformation

Once you export the information, you can find the CSV file in the C:\temp folder.

Open the CSV file with an application like Microsoft Excel to see the results.

That’s it!

Read more: Manage user mailbox with PowerShell »

Conclusion

You learned how to enable or disable Exchange ActiveSync to mailboxes in Exchange admin center (EAC) and Exchange Online PowerShell. In EAC, you can bulk enable or disable ActiveSync for all users. With PowerShell, you can also export a list of all mailboxes and their ActiveSync status to a single CSV file.

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