Spartan 365 - Frequently Asked Questions About Shared Mailboxes

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General Information

What is a shared mailbox?

A shared mailbox is a special type of mailbox that can be used by a group of users for monitoring and sending email from a common email address like SpartyInfo@msu.edu. When a person in the group replies to a message sent to the shared mailbox, the email appears to be from the shared mailbox, not from the individual user.

Shared mailboxes include a shared calendar. Department offices can use the shared calendar as a common place to share appointments or event information.

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Why use a shared mailbox, and not a standard one, for group sharing?

A shared mailbox does not require a user to logon into it. In fact, the user account for the mailbox is disabled. This is advantageous for several reasons. It eliminates the need for the group of users using the mailbox to have to remember a common password, making the method of sharing both easier and more secure. When someone leaves the university or the unit, their access can easily be removed from the shared mailbox. Additionally, shared mailboxes also cost less than standard mailboxes because they do not require a license.

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What will a shared mailbox look like in my Outlook Client?

A shared mailbox will show up as an additional mailbox. It generally appears after your primary mailbox, the one that you log into. You’ll see standard folders, like “Archive”, “Deleted Items”, “Drafts”, “Inbox”, “Junk Email”, “Outbox”, and “Sent Items”, for storing messages. The shared calendar will appear in your list of “My Calendars.”

Managing Shared Mailbox Emails

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How do I manage email for my shared mailbox?

After a shared mailbox has been created for your use, you can manage the mail in Outlook or Outlook Web Access (OWA). Look for the shared the mailbox in your Outlook. If there, it will appear after your primary email account. If you do not see it, you can add it to your Outlook using the instructions listed in the next section or use OWA to open the mailbox.

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How do I open/link to a shared mailbox in Outlook or from the Web (OWA)

See KB 868 (link) for instructions. KB 936 (link) details how to do so while on a mobile device (phone, etc).

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Why don’t I see the shared mailbox in the web client of Spartan Mail (OWA)?

The shared mailbox does not show up automatically when logged into OWA or Spartan Mail. However, it is possible for a member to access the shared mailbox by adding it as a “shared folder” to the left navigation page.

Right click on the name of your primary mailbox and select “Add shared folder.” Alternatively, open the shared mailbox in a separate browser window from the one that displays your primary email. Just click on your name/photo (upper righthand corner) of the web interface, then select the option “Open another mailbox…” and enter the email address of the “shared mailbox.”

After opening the “shared mailbox”, the member can perform the same types of tasks that he/she has permission to perform using the Outlook Client.

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How do I “send” mail from the shared mailbox?

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Choose New Email.
  3. Add the “From” field if not showing at the top of the message. Do this by clicking on Options and choosing From.
  4. Click the “From” button at the top of the message. Select the shared email address. If you don’t see your shared email address, click on “Other Email Addresses…’ and type it in or find it.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Finish typing your message and then choose Send.

Whenever you send a message from your shared mailbox, recipients of the message will see the email address of the shared mailbox as the sender of the message.

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How do I “reply to” a message sent to the shared mailbox?

There’s a trick to “replying-to” an email. You need to remember to add the From field to the message screen.

In the Outlook client, you add the From field by right clicking on the message, select “reply”, then clicking the “Options” tab and highlighting From in the “Show Fields” section of the tab bar.

Spartan Mail Users, accessing their mailbox from the web, click on the “More actions” arrow, select “Show From”, and ensure that FROM is showing the email address of the “shared mailbox.” The picture below shows a representation of what you see at the bottom of the reply message screen in the Office 365 web client.

Show From adds the From field to the message window:

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How do I add a shared mailbox to my mobile device (phone or tablet)?

The Outlook App that is available for IOS (Apple) or Android allows you to add a shared mailbox.

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Creating and Maintaining Shared Mailboxes

How do I request a new shared mailbox for my office?

You can use the Request a Shared Mailbox button on the right side of this article to submit your request.

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How do I have an employee's access to a shared mailbox added or removed?

To add a new authorized user, submit a Default Form from the Access Management Service Offering (link). Make sure to list the full email address of the mailbox and include the full names and NetIDs of the individuals needing permission changes.

NOTE: Shared Calendar access changes have the same requirement; a Default Form from the Access Management Service Offering (link) must be submitted to add or remove user access to a shared calendar.

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What can prevent a shared mailbox from being created as requested?

The primary reason that shared mailboxes cannot be created as requested is because the requester has asked for a mailbox name that is already in use by someone else in the system. This most frequently happens when someone requests a shared mailbox or alias with a name of 8 characters or less.

Tips for choosing a mailbox (Display Name and ID) or alias names:

  1. The name must be unique to the mail system. Good practice is to consult the MSU ID Office about whether a name is available for use.
  2. Precede ID names of 8 characters or less with a departmental prefix, e.g. ITServices.IDoffice.
  3. Mailbox names are alphanumeric, but can include some special characters, like a period, usually used as a separator.
  4. Special characters that are NOT allowed include “ / \ { } : | = , + * ? < >
  5. Mailbox names can be up to 104 characters in length; however, best practice dictates keeping names shorter than 65 characters. Display names can be no longer than 64 characters.

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Can I convert a standard mailbox to a shared mailbox?

Yes, it is possible to convert a standard mailbox to a shared mailbox. To do so for an MSU Spartan mailbox, please submit a request to the IT Service Desk. Before doing so, ensure that you understand the ramifications of doing the conversion.

Some considerations:

  1. A shared mailbox is one that can be used as a shared resource by a group of people.
  2. All department owned NetIDs should be converted to shared mailboxes.
  3. An Individual’s primary email account will not be converted to a shared mailbox.
  4. Converting a standard mailbox to a shared mailbox will impact how the mailbox is accessed and used.
    1. You cannot log into it anymore.
    2. People who are mailbox members can open the shared mailbox.
    3. Local IT Staff will need to reconfigure users ‘Outlook clients to match the use of the shared mailbox.

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How do I request conversion of a standard mailbox to a shared mailbox?

Make a request to the IT Service Desk, who will route the handling of the request to the proper IT department. In the request, please provide the following information:

  1. Type of shared mailbox request - CONVERSION
    1. Indicate that the request is for converting a standard mailbox to shared mailbox
  2. Name of the standard mailbox wish to convert.
  3. Shared Mailbox members
    1. Please provide a list of individuals, including name and MSU NetID, that will share the mailbox.
    2. Please provide a list of CampusAD Security groups that will have access to the shared mailbox.
  4. Which members, if any, will have “send permissions” for the shared mailbox?
    1. Note: shared mailboxes are often set up so that none of the members have “send permissions.” Example: an office uses the shared mailbox (spartyinfo@msu.edu) on a website to allow visitors to request information about program offerings. The office staff with access to the shared mailbox (spartyinfo@msu.edu) can “reply to” these requests without having explicit “send” permissions.
    2. If an office needs to set up somebody with “send permissions”, please request it at the time the mailbox is set up. Requesting “send permissions” for a member would be appropriate if the office wishes to send out “unsolicited” email correspondence to a group of people and have the email correspondence appear as though it came from the “shared mailbox” and not the person sending the email.
    3. The Messaging team will set up the shared mailbox so that SENT mails go into both the SENT folder of the shared mailbox and the SENT folder of the person sending the email.
  5. Expected Calendar permissions
    1. The default permissions for the calendar created with the shared mailbox is “free/busy time” for all users of the calendar.
    2. If you would like people to have different permissions, please provide the type of access required as follows:
      1. Reviewer permissions: list of individuals, including name and MSU NetID, who be able to view “full details” but not be able to create or edit items.
      2. Editor permissions: List of individuals, including name and MSU NetID, who will be able to view “full details” and be able to create and edit all items.
      3. Custom: Type of access required (different from Reviewer or Editor) & list of individuals, including name and MSU NetID, who will require custom access.
  6. Special Request Items
    1. No auto-linking.
    2. Email alias for the shared mailbox.

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Troubleshooting Shared Mailbox Issues

Our department is having problems with sending from a shared mailbox. What are some troubleshooting steps?

  1. See troubleshooting steps in KB 867 (link).
  2. Ensure that the sender has “SEND AS” permissions for the shared mailbox. Verify the sender’s “SEND AS” permissions through your department’s OU Administrator or by contacting the MSU IT Service Desk at 517-432-6200.
  3. If the sender has “SEND AS” permissions, check for cross-platform situations. Sometimes the location of the “shared mailbox” is on a different email platform than the sender. Microsoft requires that the sender send from the same email platform as the shared mailbox.
    • For illustrative purposes, suppose that in each scenario presented below that the shared mailbox is called spartyinfo@msu.edu and the sender is sparty@msu.edu.
      • Workaround Solution: Do not use Microsoft Outlook. Instead use Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA).
        • Scenario 1: spartyinfo@msu.edu is located on MSU’s on-premise Exchange service, but sender sparty@msu.edu is located on MSU’s on-line Exchange service (Office 365): Sender, sparty@msu.edu, logs into https://mail.campusad.msu.edu/owa/spartyinfo@msu.edu with Sparty’s MSU netid username and password. Note: May have to enter the username as campusad\sparty.
        • Scenario 2: spartyinfo@Msu.edu is located on MSU’s on-line Exchange service (Office 365), but the sender, sparty@msu.edu, is on MSU’s on-premise Exchange service Sender, sparty@msu.edu, logs into https://outlook.office365.com/owa/spartyinfo@msu.edu with Sparty’s username and password. Note: May have to enter the username as sparty@msu.edu.
      • Permanent Solution: Migrate all users and shared mailboxes to the same email platform.  Departmental OU Administrators can schedule departmental migrations with the MSU messaging team by contacting the MSU IT Service Desk at 517-432-6200.
      • Alternate Solution: Migrate the shared mailbox to the email platform where most of the departmental users reside.

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Request a Shared Mailbox or Calendar Print Article

Related Services / Offerings (2)

Request a Shared Mailbox or Calendar
Use this form to request a new shared mailbox for MSU faculty or staff.
Spartan 365
Spartan Mail and related Spartan 365 software, including applications located at https://spartan365.msu.edu and downloaded Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook), are provided to students while they attend the university and to faculty and staff members while they are employed by the university.