Add Shared Mailbox in MS Outlook

Updated on August 23, 2024 by Savita Sharma

If you've ever used Microsoft 365, you're probably aware of shared mailboxes, which are used by a number of individuals or workers to send or receive email from a single email account. It enables employees to easily do typical emailing jobs inside the firm. If the administrator grants access to a shared mailbox, several users can view it.

Adding and utilizing a shared mailbox in Microsoft 365 is rather simple. However, most users don't realize how to do so with Outlook. Therefore, in this post, we'll go through how to setup a shared mailbox in Outlook. Keep reading.

Before you add a shared mailbox in Outlook

As you need to add and use a shared mailbox in MS Outlook 2013, 2016, 2019, and the newest or earliest versions of whatever you have, it is essential for you to make sure that you have completed the following steps:

• In Office 365, the shared mailbox must be configured and accessible.
• Microsoft Outlook must be linked to your Office 365 account.
• You have the permission of admin to access the shared mailbox.

You must shut down and restart MS Outlook when the administrator adds you to the shared mailbox in Microsoft 365. By restarting Outlook, the shared mailbox may appear underneath the primary mailbox in the folder panel. If something doesn't occur, you may manually add the shared mailbox.

How to create a Shared Mailbox in Outlook?

The main topic of this article is how to add a shared mailbox in Outlook. But have you ever thought about how to create a shared mailbox? Keep reading the steps as follows.

1. Log in with a global administrator account or an Exchange administrator account. Usually, you are not really an administrator if you see the message "You do not have authority to access this page or execute this activity."
2. Navigate to the Teams & Groups and then go to the "Shared mailboxes" page in the admin panel.
3. Select the Plus icon and add a shared mailbox on the Shared mailboxes page. Give the shared mailbox a title. The email address is chosen by, but you can change it if necessary.
   
4. Choose to save changes. It could take a few seconds for you to be able to add users.
5. Click "Add members to this mailbox" under "Next actions." Members are the people who'll be allowed to see the incoming messages and outgoing responses to this shared mailbox.
   
6. Choose the "Add Members" option. Mark the people you wish to use this shared mailbox for with a check mark, and then click Save.
   
7. Choose Close.

Steps for adding a shared mailbox in Outlook

It requires significant time for shared mailboxes to display in the Outlook folder panel. Alternatively, if it does not perform for you, you may manually add it by reading the instructions below:

1. Run Microsoft Outlook and navigate to the File menu.
2. Account Settings may be accessed by clicking Account Settings and then selecting Account Settings from the dropdown.
3. Next, go to the Email section and make sure the correct account is marked.
4. The "Change" option is located at the bottom of the Email tab. Press it.
5. On the display, a new tab will open; select More Settings, then Advanced, and click Add.
6. Then, enter the shared email account that the administrator has connected you to, and afterwards, press OK.
7. Then, select Next, followed by Finish, and lastly, press Close to complete the process.
   

The shared mailbox will therefore show up underneath the primary mailbox in MS Outlook. You may now use this mailbox to send and receive emails.

Let’s send emails from the shared mailbox in Outlook

Generally, you may send and receive emails after adding the shared mailbox to Outlook. As we have successfully added the shared mailbox to our Outlook, let us send some emails to test if it is working well or not. The steps are as follows:

1. Run Microsoft Outlook and choose New Email from the folder menu. Upon that display, a short message field will emerge.
2. Choose Show From by clicking on the "three dot" icon symbol at the head of the message. Actually, the "Show From" feature indicates that perhaps the email will be delivered to the recipients from a shared mailbox account.
   
3. If this is your first experience using the shared mailbox, you must provide the email address in the "From" segment. To do that, right click on the From section and press "Remove". Input the shared mailbox address since it appears as an alternative in the 'From' drop-down list every time you send emails from the shared mailbox.
   
4. To add receivers, enter their email address or username from your contact list or institution's address database.
5. Input the topic of the mail followed by the information you want to send.
6. Once you've finished entering your message, hit Send.

As creating and adding the shared mailbox is somehow related to your Office 365 subscription, there is a possibility of data loss if you make any mistake. Besides, in regular online life, various difficulties come up that can hinder your office 365 account.

Final Conclusion:

In those cases, you will bet against yourself if you do not keep backup. You can use the Regain Office 365 Backup software to keep a backup of your Office 365 account on your device’s local disk. It is primarily developed with a simple and straightforward GUI interface that allows you to backup Office 365 mailbox documents in a variety of file formats.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q 1. Do we need Admin rights to add Office 365 Shared mailboxes to Outlook?

Ans. You must have permission to access the shared Mailboxes in Office 365, and Outlook should be connected to the Office 365 account. Also, you need a Global Administrator account or Exchange Admin to create Shared Mailboxes in Outlook.

Q 2. Is there any other way that facilitates having Shared Mailbox data in Outlook?

Ans. If you don’t want to struggle with the manual steps of adding Shared Mailboxes to Outlook, then backup in PST file format is a wise decision. You can simply download Shared Mailbox to PST file format and add PST files to Outlook and access them. It also provides a backup in local storage.

Q 3. We have a lot of data in Shared mailboxes; how will I manage the PST file as it has an upper size limit?

Ans. It is a matter of concern, but not when you have a professional Regain Office 365 Backup Software. We know that Microsoft has recommended an upper size limit of 50 GB; hence, to control the size, you get the resultant PST file split option. You can simply set the size, and the tool will create a PST file of a given size.

Q 4. I just want to check how this Regain Office 365 Backup Solution works; is it possible?

Ans. Yes, you can check this professional utility before making any purchase for the license. Simply download the software and take the backup. The demo version/free trial version allows you to process the first thirty items per folder.