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Create Exchange Management Shell tools

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Find information to get started creating Exchange Management Shell tools for Exchange.

Applies to: Exchange Online | Exchange Server 2013 | Office 365

The Exchange Management Shell provides a rich set of commands, based on the Windows PowerShell platform, for managing Exchange Online, Exchange Online as part of Office 365, or an on-premises version of Exchange starting with Exchange 2013. You can use Exchange Management Shell commands to automate the administration of a server by directly executing the commands, or by using command scripts.

If you need to use Exchange Management Shell commands from within a hosting application, such as an administrative application that is running on the administrator's desktop or through a web-based application, you can call Exchange Management Shell cmdlets from within your Visual Basic or C# application to manage an Exchange server.

Get started with Exchange Management Shell tools

If you are familiar with creating Windows PowerShell host applications and want to see an example that shows how to call the Exchange Management Shell cmdlets from an application, or to see an example of the types of applications that you can create by using the Exchange Management Shell cmdlets, see Get a list of mail users by using the Exchange Management Shell.

The Exchange Management Shell cmdlets are extensions to Windows PowerShell, a task-based command-line shell and scripting language that is designed specifically for system administration. Windows PowerShell is built on the .NET Framework, and provides an object-oriented API for cmdlet, provider, and host application developers. To learn about Windows PowerShell programming, see the Windows PowerShell SDK.

The Exchange Management Shell cmdlets accept and return objects. For a list of Exchange management shell cmdlets and their input and output types, see Exchange Management Shell cmdlet input and output types.

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