How to Set Up a Shared Mailbox in Microsoft 365
- Sam Williams
- Mar 29
- 2 min read
Need a mailbox like info@, support@, or accounts@ that multiple people can access? That's a shared mailbox. It doesn't need its own licence, multiple people can read and reply from it, and it keeps everything in one place.
Here's how to set one up in about 2 minutes.
Creating the shared mailbox
Go to admin.microsoft.com → Teams & groups → Shared mailboxes → Add a shared mailbox.
Give it a name (like 'Support') and an email address (support@yourcompany.com).
Click Create.
Then add the members — these are the people who can see and respond to emails in this mailbox. Click on the mailbox you just created, then Members → Edit → Add members.
How people access it
In Outlook desktop, the shared mailbox usually appears automatically in the left sidebar within an hour of being added as a member.
In Outlook on the web, click your profile icon → Open another mailbox → type the shared mailbox address.
On mobile, you can add it as a separate account in the Outlook app.
When replying, team members can choose to send from the shared mailbox address or their own. Most teams send from the shared address so the customer sees a consistent sender.
Shared mailbox vs distribution group
A distribution group sends a copy of every email to each member's personal inbox. Good for announcements, bad for collaboration — nobody knows who replied and things get missed.
A shared mailbox keeps all emails in one place. Everyone sees the same inbox. When someone replies, everyone can see it was handled. Much better for team email workflows.
Use a distribution group for one-way broadcasts. Use a shared mailbox for anything that needs replies and tracking.
Tips
Set up a sent items policy so that replies from the shared mailbox appear in the shared mailbox's Sent folder, not just the individual's. Go to Exchange admin center → the mailbox → Mailbox delegation → check 'Automatically send replies using the shared mailbox sent folder'.
Shared mailboxes are free up to 50GB. If you need more, you'll need to assign a licence.
You can also create rules and auto-replies on shared mailboxes, just like personal ones.
If you need help setting up shared mailboxes, distribution groups, or email workflows, we can sort it out as part of your M365 managed service.
