A shared mailbox is a single email address that multiple people can access and send from. Common examples include addresses like info@yourbusiness.co.za, accounts@yourbusiness.co.za or support@yourbusiness.co.za. Rather than one person owning the inbox, anyone with permission can read and respond to emails from that address.
Before you can access a shared mailbox in Outlook, someone with admin access needs to grant you permission. Once that has been done, adding it to your Outlook is straightforward.
Adding it in Outlook on your computer
Open Outlook and click on File, then Account Settings, then Account Settings again. Select your email account and click Change. Click More Settings, then the Advanced tab. Under Open these additional mailboxes click Add and type the email address of the shared mailbox. Click OK, then Next, then Done.
The shared mailbox will now appear in your left panel below your own mailbox folders.
Adding it in Outlook on the web
Go to outlook.cloud.microsoft and sign in. Right-click on your name or email address in the left panel. Select Add shared folder or mailbox. Type the email address of the shared mailbox and click Add. It will appear in your left panel.
Sending from a shared mailbox
When composing a new email, click the From field at the top of the message. If you do not see a From field, click Options and then From. Select the shared mailbox address from the list or type it in.
Any replies to emails sent from the shared mailbox will go to the shared inbox rather than your personal one.
If you are not seeing the option or getting an error
This usually means permissions have not been set up correctly on the admin side. Let your IT support know and they can check the mailbox delegation settings in the Microsoft 365 admin portal. Recloud manages shared mailbox setup and access as part of our Microsoft 365 service.
When to get help
If the shared mailbox is not appearing, if emails sent from it are showing the wrong sender name or if permissions need to be changed, these all require admin access to your Microsoft 365 tenant. If you need to forward emails rather than share a mailbox, see our guide on how to forward your Outlook email. Recloud handles shared mailbox configuration and troubleshooting for our clients.