Shared Mailboxes

Owned by Former user (Deleted)
Last updated: Nov 15, 2023 by Gregory Neumarke
3 min read

What are Shared Mailboxes

Most departments with an email address are now using "Office 365 Shared Mailboxes."

Here are the Microsoft instructions for accessing a Shared Mailbox, and how to send email from it: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/open-and-use-a-shared-mailbox-in-outlook-2016-and-outlook-2013-d94a8e9e-21f1-4240-808b-de9c9c088afd

  • If you are using the Outlook application installed on your desktop (Apple or Windows), completely close Outlook and then re-open it. The shared mailbox should appear below your inbox.

  • If you are using the Outlook web app on O365, follow the instructions below.

Accessing Shared Inboxes

Permissions

Supervisors should be diligent in requesting access, as well as removing expired access.

To request access to a Department's Shared Mailbox, please have your supervisor open a ticket with IT on your behalf.

Browser/Web Access

Once access has been granted by a supervisor, students should access the inbox via their O365 account.

  1. Sign in to your North Park email in a browser: https://outlook.com/northpark.edu

  2. Click on your picture in the top-right hand corner

  3. Select Open another mailbox

  4. Type in the name of the mailbox you wish to enter and select Open.

Client Access

Newer shared mailboxes should appear automatically in Outlook once someone has access. If it does not appear after restarting Outlook, follow these steps to add it to the Outlook client.

Windows Outlook Client

  1. Open Outlook

  2. Choose the File tab in the ribbon

  3. Choose Account Settings, then select Account Settings... from the menu

  4. Select the Email tab

  5. Click your own account to highlight it, then choose Change...

  6. Choose More Settings > Advanced (tab) > Add...

  7. Type the shared email address, such as "info@contoso.com"

  8. Choose OK > OK

  9. Choose Next > Finish > Close

Apple Outlook Client

To open the shared mailbox:

  1. On the Tools menu, click Accounts  > Advanced > Delegates

  2. Add the mailbox under Open these additional mailboxes

Sent Items

Shared mailboxes are different than licensed accounts like your own mailbox, so when you “send as” or “send on behalf of” a shared mailbox, you’re actually sending from your own account, and the message will be saved in your own Sent Items folder.

To also store a copy of sent items in the shared mailbox itself, Information Technology needs to set a couple of parameters. If you notice that sent items are not be preserved in your shared mailbox but they should be, please ask IT to change the sent items parameters for your shared mailbox.

Out of Office - Automatic Replies

Automatic Replies allow an inbox to send an Out of Office response to incoming emails. This is helpful for holidays or time away from the office.

These instructions are for Shared Inboxes, but they can also apply to an individual inbox as well.

  • To set an Out-of-Office or Automatic Reply message for a Shared Inbox, use the web version of Outlook:

  • Select your picture/initial icon at the top-right and choose "Open another mailbox"

  • Type the Shared Inbox you wish to access.

  • While in the Shared Inbox, select the Gear icon in the top navigation and choose "View all Outlook settings"

  • In Settings, navigate to Mail > Automatic replies

  • Toggle the option to "Turn on automatic replies" and adjust the options for your message and times/dates.