restore a deleted user

Hi Denise Wells

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

Based on your description, I understand you need one email address to forward messages to two recipients, and you tried creating a Distribution List (DL) but encountered errors. I would like to provide some information from my side, which I hope proves useful and kindly let me know if I’m mistaken.

Deleted aliases can remain in the system for 24–48 hours due to retention policies. If you need to reuse the email address immediately, you can purge the deleted object (recommended if you only need the email for a DL) or restore the deleted user if you want to recover the original account and mailbox.

• If you need to keep the mailbox data, consider restoring the user instead. After restoring, you can change the email address or remove the alias from the restored account. Please find the detailed steps below:
  • Restore a user - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn
  • Restore or permanently remove recently deleted user - Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn
• If you only need the email address for a Distribution List, purging the mailbox is the fastest way to free up the alias. However, please note that this will permanently delete all mailbox data. Here are two options you might consider:

Option 1: Admin Center Steps

• Go to Microsoft 365 Admin Center > Users > Active Users and find your primary user > Edit > Remove the alias from the list of email addresses.
• Go to Deleted Users: If you see any user or mailbox with the same email address, select Permanently Delete.
• Go to Groups > Distribution Lists to check if the email address is already assigned to another group and please wait for 24–48 hours for the system to purge the alias or proceed with PowerShell for immediate cleanup.

Option 2: PowerShell Script to Check and Purge Alias

You can run the following script in PowerShell after installing the ExchangeOnlineManagement module:

# Install and import module
Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement -Scope CurrentUser -Force
Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

# Connect to Exchange Online
Connect-ExchangeOnline

# Set the email address you want to check
$EmailAddress = "******@domain.com"

Write-Host "Checking if $EmailAddress exists in your tenant..."

# Check active mail-enabled objects
$recipient = Get-Recipient -Filter "EmailAddresses -eq 'smtp:$EmailAddress'" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($recipient) {
    Write-Host "Alias is in use by:" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    $recipient | Format-Table Name,RecipientType,PrimarySmtpAddress
} else {
    Write-Host "Alias not found in active objects." -ForegroundColor Green
}

# Check soft-deleted mailboxes
$deletedMailbox = Get-Mailbox -SoftDeletedMailbox | Where-Object { $_.PrimarySmtpAddress -eq $EmailAddress }
if ($deletedMailbox) {
    Write-Host "Alias exists in Soft Deleted Mailboxes:" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    $deletedMailbox | Format-Table DisplayName,PrimarySmtpAddress
    Write-Host "`nTo purge, run
    Write-Host "Remove-Mailbox -Identity <MailboxIdentity> -PermanentlyDelete" -ForegroundColor Red } else {     Write-Host "Alias not found in soft-deleted mailboxes." -ForegroundColor Green }
 
    Write-Host "`nCheck complete.`n" -ForegroundColor Cyan

I hope these suggestions provide some helpful ideas.

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