When administering an Exchange 2010 environment, you might notice some mailbox icons display a distinctive green arrow pointing to the right. This visual indicator isn't just decorative - it carries important technical meaning about your mailbox architecture.

In Exchange 2010, the green arrow icon specifically indicates that the mailbox is:

1. A linked mailbox
2. Connected to a user account in a separate forest
3. Or a mailbox that has been moved between databases

This is different from Exchange 2007 where similar indicators had different meanings. The arrow doesn't necessarily mean the mailbox has been migrated, but rather that it has a connection to another directory object.

You can verify the actual status of these mailboxes using Exchange Management Shell:

Get-Mailbox -Identity "UserWithGreenArrow" | fl *linked*, *remote*, *move*

Common properties to check include:

- IsLinked
- IsDirSynced 
- Database
- ExchangeGuid
- ExternalDirectoryObjectId

During cross-forest migrations, you'll often see this icon appear. Here's a typical migration sequence:

1. Prep mailbox with Enable-RemoteMailbox
2. Perform mailbox move
3. Green arrow appears during migration
4. Complete migration batch
5. Arrow may persist in some hybrid scenarios

The Exchange Management Console (EMC) displays these icons based on the mailbox attributes. However, the visual representation sometimes lags behind actual status changes. Always verify through PowerShell.

If the green arrow appears unexpectedly:

# Check for orphaned linked mailboxes
Get-Mailbox -Filter {IsLinked -eq $true} | Where {$_.LinkedMasterAccount -eq $null}

# Verify Active Directory connections
Get-User "problemuser" | fl *recip*, *msExch*

In these cases, the green arrow is temporary:

- During mailbox moves
- During hybrid configuration changes

In these cases, it's permanent:

- Resource forest scenarios
- Permanent linked mailboxes
- Some third-party migration scenarios

To generate a complete report of all mailboxes with the green arrow indicator:

Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Where {$_.IsLinked -eq $true} | 
Select Name,Database,IsLinked,LinkedMasterAccount | 
Export-CSV "LinkedMailboxesReport.csv" -NoTypeInformation

When managing Exchange Server 2010, administrators often notice some mailbox icons display a green arrow pointing to the right. This visual indicator is actually Exchange's way of showing migration status, particularly in environments with multiple servers or during mailbox moves.

The green arrow specifically indicates that:

• The mailbox exists in the current mailbox database
• It has been configured to forward to another mailbox database or server
• This typically occurs during mailbox migrations or when implementing redundancy

Exchange implements this through the mailbox's attributes in Active Directory. You can check this programmatically using PowerShell:

# Check mailbox forwarding configuration
Get-Mailbox -Identity "username" | Select-Object Name,ForwardingAddress,ForwardingSmtpAddress,DeliverToMailboxAndForward

# Example output for a mailbox with green arrow
Name       : John Doe
ForwardingAddress : /o=ExchangeOrg/ou=Exchange Administrative Group/cn=Recipients/cn=JaneSmith
ForwardingSmtpAddress : jane.smith@domain.com
DeliverToMailboxAndForward : True

During cross-forest or server migrations, Exchange automatically sets these attributes. The visual cue helps administrators track migration progress. For example, when moving from Exchange 2007 to 2010, the arrow appears until the move completes.

To programmatically check migration status and verify if the green arrow indicates an active migration:

# Get all mailboxes with forwarding configured
Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Where-Object {$_.ForwardingAddress -ne $null} | 
    Select-Object Name,Database,ForwardingAddress | Format-Table -AutoSize

# Check specific mailbox move requests
Get-MoveRequest | Get-MoveRequestStatistics | 
    Select-Object DisplayName,Status,PercentComplete | Format-Table -AutoSize

If the migration completed but the arrow persists, you may need to manually clear the forwarding attributes:

# Remove forwarding configuration
Set-Mailbox "username" -ForwardingAddress $null -ForwardingSmtpAddress $null

# For bulk operations
Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | Where-Object {$_.ForwardingAddress -ne $null} | 
    ForEach-Object {
        Set-Mailbox $_.Identity -ForwardingAddress $null -ForwardingSmtpAddress $null
    }

In some scenarios, the green arrow might appear due to:

• Stale migration requests (clean up with Remove-MoveRequest)
• Orphaned attributes (use ADSI Edit to verify)
• Permission issues during migration

# Check for stale move requests
Get-MoveRequest | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "Completed"} | Remove-MoveRequest -Confirm:$false

# Verify Active Directory attributes
Get-ADUser "username" -Properties msExchMailboxMoveFlags,msExchMailboxMoveSourceMDBLink