When you are using POP3 for Exchange Server 2010 you may wish to enable or disable it for specific mailbox users in your organization.

You can determine if a mailbox is enabled or disabled for POP3 using the Get-CASMailbox cmdlet.

[PS] C:\>Get-CASMailbox john.smith

Name                 ActiveSyncEnabled OWAEnabled           PopEnabled          ImapEnabled         MapiEnabled
----                 ----------------- ----------           ----------          -----------         -----------
John Smith           True              True                 True                True                True

To disable POP3 for a mailbox user use the Set-CASMailbox cmdlet.

[PS] C:\>Set-CASMailbox john.smith -PopEnabled:$false

To enable POP3 access again run the same command with a value of $true.

[PS] C:\>Set-CASMailbox john.smith -PopEnabled:$true

You can also enable or disable POP3 for multiple mailboxes at a time. For example to disable POP3 on all mailboxes run this command.

[PS] C:\>Get-Mailbox | Set-CASMailbox -PopEnabled:$false

Of course it may be easier to just disable POP3 entirely, but in some cases you might want a few people to still have access to it.

To find all mailbox users with POP3 enabled use this command.

[PS] C:\>Get-CASMailbox | where {$_.PopEnabled -eq $true}

Name                 ActiveSyncEnabled OWAEnabled           PopEnabled          ImapEnabled         MapiEnabled
----                 ----------------- ----------           ----------          -----------         -----------
Alan.Reid            True              True                 True                True                True
John Smith           True              True                 True                True                True

About the Author

Paul Cunningham

Paul is a former Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and Services. He works as a consultant, writer, and trainer specializing in Office 365 and Exchange Server. Paul no longer writes for Practical365.com.

Comments

  1. Hashir

    Just wondering why Outlook configures only via POP3 protocol, tried disabling POP3 and IMAP but got an error stating that failed to detect the server.

    1. Ilya Kutsev

      Thanks Rob!

  2. Ilya Kutsev

    Hi Paul.

    Is there any way to disable pop3 on new created mailboxes by default ?

    I mean that I can disable pop3 on all existing mailboxes, it’s not a problem. But next month I’ll have new 50 (or more) mailboxes with pop3 enabled.
    And it would be better do disable pop3 by default policy (when creating mailboxes) and, if needed, it could be enabled later.

    I cannot disable pop3 as a service because legacy software uses it.

  3. ZAK

    Hi Dear

    Could please tell me how can i disable POP3 for a mailbox users separate OU users?
    Not for entire users…

      1. Avatar photo

        That still won’t do it automatically for new mailboxes.

        If you want it automated there are two options:

        1) Use the scripting agent (eg https://www.practical365.com/using-scripting-agent-exchange-server-2013/) which is available in both 2010 and 2013
        2) Run a regular (eg nightly) scheduled task that runs a script that checks for new mailboxes and sets the options you want

        1. Ilya Kutsev

          Thanks Paul! I’ve never heard about scripting agent and I’ll check what I can do with it.

          My idea was to schedule a night script, but scripting agent looks better.

          by the way, do you have any experience with Exchange EWS Api ? Maybe you wrote some posts that I’ve missed.

  4. ZAK

    Thanks dear very useful article

  5. Serge

    Hello Paul,
    I hope you are good.

    Tell me, how do i can for disable all POP3’s mailbox without disable one account?

    I did this:

    Set-CASMailbox -PopEnabled:$false
    Set-CASMailbox -identity “username” -PopEnabled $true

    Is this correct?

    I need of your lights…

    Thank you in advance!

    Serge.

    1. Serge

      Thank you even i solved my own question.
      I did this:

      Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.E2010

      Get-Mailbox | Set-CASMailbox -PopEnabled:$false

      Set-CASMailbox -identity “ADdomain/BU/BU/username” -PopEnabled $true

      I have a new question:

      How can i do for disable the POP3 by default, i mean, when i create a mailbox (Enable-Mailbox) for a user ?
      I’m really stuck this time…

      Any help would be appreciated.

      Best Regards,

      Serge.

  6. Shane

    I assume you would still have to ensure the POP3 service is started and set to automatic?

  7. Jason

    Trying to disable POP3 and IMAP only on mailboxes that are in specific mailbox databases
    Get-Mailbox | where {$_.servername -like “xxusvmx*”} | foreach {Set-CASMailbox -Identity $_.UserPrincipalName –PopEnabled:$false -ImapEnabled:$false}

    I’m getting pipeline errors and I know that I’m not wording it correctly… Any help appreciated…

      1. Jason

        Thanks Paul!
        Since there are 6 mailbox databases, instead of running this 6 times with the different databases name you can do it this way:

        Get-Mailbox | where {$_.servername -like “xxusxx*”} | Set-CASMailbox -PopEnabled:$false -ImapEnabled:$false

  8. Mike

    Flipping this on its head, would …
    Set-CASMailbox john.smith -PopEnabled:$true
    Set-CASMailbox john.smith -ActiveSyncEnabled:$false
    Set-CASMailbox john.smith -OWAEnabled:$false
    Set-CASMailbox john.smith -ImapEnabled:$false
    Set-CASMailbox john.smith -MapiEnabled:$false

    …disable everything except POP access to a mailbox?

Leave a Reply