Add Multiple Users to a Shared Mailbox in Microsoft 365

Read time 4 minutes

To align with its approach of getting things done and staying connected, Microsoft 365 has launched a variety of features within its suite of applications. As an Exchange Online user, you might be familiar with the concept of a shared mailbox. It is a unique mailbox which is used by a group pf people to send and receive emails from a common email ID. By using this common email address, any group member can send an email which will be received by all other members automatically and even the reply on that email can be viewed by others also as it remains in the shared mailbox only. This service turns out to be an effective one especially for the people who are working on the same project.

However, a shared mailbox can only be created and managed by a global admin account or Exchange Online admin account.

This article is specially written for Exchange Online admins who are new to this role and want to learn how to create and add multiple users to a shared mailbox.

Creating a Shared Mailbox

Generally, there are two ways to create a shared mailbox in Exchange Online. You can either use the Exchange Admin Center or Exchange PowerShell to create shared mailboxes.

But creation of Shared mailbox through Exchange PowerShell requires technical expertise and accurate knowledge of the commands which is difficult to have. In contrast, the Exchange Admin Center is ideal for new admins since it involves a straightforward process.

These are the steps to create a shared mailbox using the Exchange admin center-

1. Open Exchange Admin Center and go to Groups.
2. In the Groups section, select the Shared Mailboxes page.
3. The Shared Mailbox page will appear on the screen, select ‘+ Add a mailbox.‘
4. Now, provide the name and email address for the shared mailbox.
5. After providing the details for the Shared mailbox, click Add.

It will take a few minutes to create a shared mailbox. Once it is successfully created, you can add members to it.

If you want to add users to the recently created shared mailbox, then select ‘Add members to this mailbox’ and follow the given process. However, if you are going to add members to any other shared mailbox, then follow the given steps below:

1. Sign into Exchange Admin Center and go to Groups and select Shared Mailboxes.
2. The shared mailboxes will appear on the screen, select the mailbox to which you want to add members to.
3. From the Details Pane menu, select Edit.
4. Now, click the ‘Add members‘ button on the top.
5. The list of users in your organization will display in the pane. You can select multiple users by selecting the checkbox next to their names, or you can also search for the users if you have a lengthy list of names.
6. After selecting the users, click Save.

It will take at least 60 minutes to show up the added users to the shared mailbox.

You can easily remove any member from a shared mailbox by using the Exchange Admin Center.

1. Select the shared mailbox from which you want to remove the user.
2. In the Details Pane menu, select Edit.
3. The shared mailbox users will be displayed in the pane, click the ‘X‘ icon next to the user that you want to remove from the shared mailbox.
4. Once you are done removing the users, click Save.

It will take the sometime to remove the users from the shared mailbox.

Adding and removing users from shared mailboxes is extremely easy with the help of the Exchange Admin Center. But, when it comes to migrating shared mailboxes from one tenant to another, you need to have adequate knowledge of PowerShell commands; else you won’t be able to do that manually.

However, you can use an automated solution like Kernel Office 365 Migration if you are not comfortable using Exchange PowerShell to migrate shared mailboxes. This tool provides you with additional functionalities that make it easier for users to migrate Microsoft 365 mailboxes from one tenant to another.

Wrap Up

Microsoft 365 shared mailboxes are convenient for users who are working on the same task and dealing with the same clients. This allows them to communicate well from a common email id without any confusion. But, when it comes to adding more users to the shared mailbox, it becomes a little complicated for the admin. So, this article helps you to understand the procedure of adding multiple users to your Shared mailboxes in Microsoft 365.