Our company uses resource mailboxes for a variety of purposes other than rooms and equipment. How do we choose between these two mailbox types if, for example, we are creating a shared mailbox for a specific group to use for different purposes?

Hello, for this purpose you probably want to use the "Shared Mailbox" which is also an option.

Thanks, Neil, but my version of the EM Console doesn't offer Shared Mailbox as an option. I do see how to convert the mailbox to Shared after creation - but I'm not at all sure what this extra step would do, other than change the way the mailbox is displayed in the console.

Hi Neil, whilst your answers did clear up some things, it still didn't answer the original question, which is still the answer I'm looking for :). What is the *actual difference* between a room, equipment and a shared (which you added now :)) mailbox? As an unknowing, mainly guessing, user, there is no difference for me. All 3 have a disabled user account associated with them and are used by other users thus by assigning rights to the mailbox. Where do they differ? Reading the help didn't clarify much. As I understand it now, the difference is not with the mailbox, but with the scripts attached to them (if that's technical correct, I'm still guessing how the low technical stuff handles). A room mailbox can 'automatically process incoming requests'. Is the assumption right that exchange just attaches a 'script' to accept incoming invites? That would mean there is no differences in the mailboxes itself, just in the scripts that get attached to the mailbox. TIA

I agree with FreakyNL, the original question was not answered. Can anyone specifically identify the difference(s) between a "Room Mailbox" and an "Equipment Mailbox"? Thanks in advance for the help. Regards, Rob

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. 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. Don't think there are any other complicated differences between the two types of mailboxes.

Neil, So what are the default calendar permission for -shared and -room mailboxes ? Are they the same? After creating the resource mailbox do we need to go in and tweak the calendar permissions as in Exchange 2003/2007 Z-Hire -- Automate IT Account creation process Z-Term -- Automate IT account termination process

Still not quite clear to me either. Basically the only difference you describe between a room and an equipment mailbox is, well nothing to a computer. It seems to be only that one resource is mobile (microphones, cars, etc) whilst the other is not. Does it take into account then the location of the resource or something? So it can say well, the car is in London at 9:00 so there's now way you can have it in New York at 12:25? Other than that, both are mailboxes that can be included as resources in meeting requests, providing a simple and efficient way of utilizing resources for your users. I'm looking for the low technical differences between these things :).

Behaviorally they are the same. They both allow policy based resource scheduling and use of a delegate. The real value comes from the ability to set custom resource properties: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb201697.aspx These properties are visible to users via Outlook. For example you can have an Equipiment mailbox and set "Phone" as a custom property, and one as "Projector." You can set a property "Conference Room" on the Room mailbox. When booking a meeting by scheduling the room, you can for example automatically schedule the booking of the projector and phone. Users in Outlook can see this information to know they have the room, projector, and phone all booked at the same time for the meeting.

Does anyone know if you can set Equipment Resources to NOT automatically populate the location field? I can see why you'd want that for Room resources, but I specifically don't want that for equipment, because I don't need clients seeing what internal equipment I need setup for a meeting they're invited to

How do you book an Equipment? When you set an appointment, you can either click on the "Add Room" or select "All Rooms" from the directory but there is nothing for an "Equipment". And the mailboxes set as "equipment doesn't show with the "Room" Mailboxes. Thanks for the info!