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MS Outlook is a powerful email management tool used by countless individuals and organizations worldwide. It simplifies daily communication with anyone in the world, making it an essential tool for those who want to stay on top of their emails. Shared mailbox is a particularly useful feature, facilitating collaboration among colleagues or in a team.
Adding a shared mailbox in MS Outlook is not difficult, but it can be confusing for those not familiar with the process. In this article, we’ll guide you through every step needed on how to add shared mailbox to MS Outlook and get started using this important feature.
A shared mailbox allows a group of people to receive, view, monitor and send emails from a common email address. It ensures up-to-date communication due to a quick response rate. When a member replies to a message, the sender’s email is that of the Shared Mailbox, not the individual’s. This mailbox is commonly used by a team interacting with a massive customer base on the same topic, like sales, marketing, or customer service.
You might be wondering what the need is for another mailbox. But to your surprise, there are multiple reasons behind professionals preferring Shared mailboxes apart from their own.
These are a few basic requirements that must be fulfilled as we move on to how to add shared mailbox in Outlook 2013, 2016, or 2019:
Once these prerequisites are met, you can add a shared mailbox in Outlook.
Ask the admin to add you to the shared mailbox in Microsoft 365, then you need to close and start MS Outlook again. After restarting Outlook, it might appear in your folder pane below the primary mailbox. However, if this doesn’t happen, you can add a shared mailbox in Outlook manually.
Shared mailboxes take some time to appear in the Outlook folder pane. However, if it doesn’t work for you, then you can add it manually by following the below steps:
The shared mailbox will now appear in your MS Outlook below the primary mailbox. Now, you can send or receive emails using this mailbox.
Once it is added successfully, let’s look at how to send emails from Shared Mailbox-
The email will be sent from the Shared Mailbox address.
Let us also learn how to reply to the email received in the Shared Mailbox. Follow the steps given under to do so:
Note that when you send a message from your shared mailbox, your shared mailbox address will only be shown to the recipient.
When you send an email from the shared mailbox, then the copy of the same is stored in the Sent Items folder and not in the shared mailbox. To make sent items be stored in the shared mailbox, you need to edit the settings of the shared mailbox. Let us learn how to do so:
Now the sent items of the shared mailbox will be copied into the shared mailbox.
You can use this method if you wish to monitor emails from your primary mailbox and a shared mailbox simultaneously. In Outlook on the web, you can access the shared mailbox and its folders every time you open the left navigation pane.
A shared mailbox calendar is shared with the members of the shared mailbox. As a member, you can create, edit, and delete events in the Calendar. However, if you don’t have access to the shared mailbox calendar, you can easily access it with the following steps. The steps are given for Outlook on the web.
Once the admin has added you as a member of the shared mailbox, restart Outlook. The shared mailbox’s contact list will be automatically added to the My Contacts list. To use contacts of the shared mailbox, follow the steps given below:
You can view the shared contacts now.
Adding and using Microsoft 365 Shared mailboxes with MS Outlook is one thing, but if you want to backup your shared mailboxes, then it’s necessary to have a backup plan in place, or you can also opt for an automated solution like Kernel Office 365 Backup & Restore to backup and restore Office 365 mailboxes automatically. Besides, if you want to import Outlook PST files to Office 365, then this software can be convenient. So, this is an essential tool for all Office 365 users.
With the help of this software, you can backup and restore your emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, notes, etc. from your Exchange Online account. The software provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface that makes it easy to use for all users. Moreover, the software supports all versions of Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook. So, if you are using any of these versions, then you can use this software to backup and restore your data easily.
Adding a Shared Mailbox in MS Outlook is a simple process that can be accomplished with just a few clicks. However, it is important to remember that backing up your mailboxes should be a top priority to prevent any unexpected data loss.
With the use of the Kernel Office 365 Backup & Restore tool, managing Shared Mailboxes becomes an effortless task. This tool restores Shared Mailboxes to their former state without any data corruption. By using this tool, you can save time and the headaches that come with data loss concerns.
A- To locate a shared mailbox, head to User Configuration & navigate to Administrative Templates, then select your version of Microsoft Outlook. From there, locate the Account Settings & Exchange options to easily find the Cached Exchange Mode. Once you’ve located the shared mailbox file, managing your emails & keeping your inbox organized will be much simpler.
A- The main difference lies in the fact that a shared mailbox is associated with a disabled user account, whereas a user mailbox is associated with an active user account. Shared mailboxes are intended to be used by multiple users who need access to the same information, but for security or permission reasons, do not require their own user accounts. A shared mailbox functions in the same way as a user mailbox, but it is designed with the explicit purpose of allowing multiple people to login & access its contents.
A- One reason for this may be that it can take a short time for the shared mailbox to automatically appear in your Outlook profile after your administrator has provided you access. If this is the case, patience will be necessary while you wait for the mailbox to display. Alternatively, if the shared mailbox fails to automatically show up in Outlook, a simple solution may be to restart the program.
This article really helped me to add a shared mailbox. I am very happy to share the content to others. Keep it up.
Great article. Thank you Himanshu for this very important and accurate information regarding the addition of shared mailbox to Outlook.