Shared Mailbox in Office 365: The Definitive Guide

Earlier in this post, we discussed the online archive in office 365. Today, I’m going to show you about the shared mailbox in Office 365.

A shared mailbox is an outlook mailbox that is very much like a user mailbox, however, it is shared by several different people. This is great for a company to manage a load of customer inquiries and handle project queries. When an email is sent from a shared mailbox, the from address appears as a shared mailbox email address. Similarly, a separate calendar is available to shared mailbox members to manage meetings.

A shared mailbox can’t be accessed by members without permission and it doesn’t have a password to access it so users should seek help from admins to provide the necessary permission to access a mailbox. Once this is done, you can then access the mailbox via browser or Outlook.

How do I create a shared mailbox?

There are a couple of options to create a shared mailbox: Microsoft 365 Admin Center and Powershell.

• Go to “Microsoft 365 Admin Center.”
• In the left navigation, select “Teams & Groups.”
• Select “Shared Mailboxes.”

• Click “Add a shared mailbox“.

• Enter the name of the shared mailbox that you wish to use and the email address.

• The shared mailbox is created but it doesn’t have any members.
• Click on “Add members to your shared mailbox“

• Click “Add members“.

• Search for users and add them to the shared mailbox.
• Click “Save.”

• After saving, allow an hour to replicate. After 60 minutes, try accessing the mailbox using the browser or Outlook.

How do I create a shared mailbox using PowerShell?

• Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.
• Execute the command below.
  New-Mailbox -Name “Techie Test” -Shared

• Once this is created, follow the steps mentioned above to add members and wait for 60 minutes.

How do I access the shared mailbox in outlook?

There are a few ways to access the shared mailbox in outlook. They’re listed below.

Option 1:

• In Outlook click on “File“.
• Select “Account Settings” -> Account Settings.
• Under the Email tab, click on Change, then More Settings.
• go to “Advanced.”
• Click “Add.”
• Type in “Name of the shared mailbox.”
• Click OK.
• Click Apply and OK to complete adding the shared mailbox.
• If you have more than one, you can add the rest at the same time. Apply and OK to complete adding the shared mailboxes.
• Access to the shared mailbox will be resumed and you will now be able to “Send As” the shared mailbox without getting a non-delivery failure.

Option 2:

• From Outlook 2016 and latest versions, click on File -> Click “Add account.”
• At the ‘Add Account’ screen, it will ask you to enter an email address. Type the email address of the shared mailbox.
• Click “Connect” and select “Microsoft 365.”
• You will be prompted to enter the password.
• Replace the shared mailbox email address on the sign-in page and enter your email address and your password.
• Click “Sign-in” and wait for 5-10 minutes.
• Close Outlook and launch it again.
• The shared mailbox will appear in the left hand corner of outlook.

How do I add an external user to the shared mailbox?

Shared mailboxes are only accessible to internal users and external users can’t be added as members. This is mainly because shared mailbox members require an active directory account, which is impossible for external users to have.

How do I convert a user mailbox to shared mailbox?

Admins would receive a request to convert a user mailbox to a shared mailbox or vice versa. This can be achieved using the Microsoft 365 Admin Center or PowerShell.

• Go to “Exchange Admin Center.”
• In the left navigation, select “Recipients” and select “Mailboxes.”
• Search a mailbox and open it.
• Now, click “Others” and click “Convert to shared mailbox.”

We can also use PowerShell to convert the mailbox.

Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell and execute the command below. You should be good to go.
Set-mailbox “Enter the shared mailbox name or email address” -Type Shared

If you are interested in converting a shared mailbox to a user mailbox, follow these steps.

• Go to “Exchange Admin Center.”
• In the left navigation, select “Recipients” and select “Mailboxes.”
• Search a mailbox and open it.
• Now, click “Others” and click “Convert to regular mailbox“.

To convert from a shared mailbox to a user mailbox, the mailbox type should be Regular. The PowerShell command is below.
Set-mailbox “Enter the shared mailbox name or email address” -Type Regular

Microsoft 365 shared mailbox limitations

There are some limitations in Microsoft 365 shared mailbox and they are listed below.

• It doesn’t require any license and is free to use. By default, it comes with 50 GB of quota.
• If it exceeds it, exchange online license is required.
• Exchange Online Kiosk licensed users cannot be accessed.
• Email archive cannot be done without the license.
• Journaling cannot be supported.
• A shared mailbox cannot have a user name and password so users cannot sign into it directly. It can be accessed only after a user has accessed their mailbox using permissions.
• ActiveSync clients cannot be accessed.

Also Read:

• How to solve shared mailbox showing as mail user?
• How to schedule teams meeting from shared mailboxes?

For more information about shared mailboxes, check the Microsoft website.

Want to improve your Exchange Online experience for better productivity? Check out the tips and tricks mentioned here.

Now I’d like to hear from you:

Which finding from today’s report did you find most interesting? Or maybe you have a question about something that I covered.

Either way, I’d like to hear from you. So go ahead and leave a comment below.