In some scenarios. if forwarding needs to be enabled for numerous mailboxes and you don’t want to create mail contacts for them in the microsoft exchange server.
Ideal scenario going to mailbox properties enable forwarding and choose a mail contact. let’s see how to create forwarding without a mail contact.
Forwarding without mail contacts can be enabled through remote domains. By default, AutoforwardEnabled to set to false.
Get-RemoteDomain default | fl Name,AutoForwardEnabled
Instead of enabling for all domains, it’s wise to enable for specific domains only. So that you have control over it. Still, it varies scenario by scenario.
New-RemoteDomain azure365pro.com -DomainName azure365pro.com
by default when you add a remote domain autoforwardenabled to set to true
Get-RemoteDomain azure365pro.com | fl Name,AutoForwardEnabled
Now you can set forwarding without adding a mail contact like below. These forwarding will not be visible in the exchange control panel (ECP) interface.
Set-Mailbox username -DeliverToMailboxAndForward $false -ForwardingSmtpAddress forwardingmailbox@localhost
Removing remote domain if it’s not required.