Shared email address but wanting individual managment of inbox, folders, etc in outlook

Robyn McLeod 1

My husband and I have a business email address we share.
Now that we are on Microsoft 365, whenever he or I delete or move an email, it deletes it from the other persons inbox. How can we set our inboxes up in Outlook so we can manage our own inbox, folders etc individually?

1 answer

ChristyZhang-MSFT 20,931 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-09-08T03:07:57.317+00:00

Hi @Robyn McLeod ,

Welcome to our forum!

If you are using shared mailbox or you and your husband both are using an email mailbox, if one of you makes a change to the mailbox, the other is bound to see the change in the mailbox.

If you and your husband want to manage their respective mailboxes separately, we recommend that you both use two separate mailboxes. Then you could create a group and add your mailboxes into the group. In this way, email sent to the group will be displayed in the respective Inbox of both of you. For more information about creating a group, please refer to: Create distribution groups - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn.

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Robyn McLeod 1 Reputation point

2022-09-08T03:35:29.533+00:00

Hi Christy,
Thank you for your reply.
Oh ok, I wondered if that was the case. Previously my husband was using Outlook 2010 and only used his downloaded version on his PC which didn't synch to my Outlook365 which was ideal. I'm assuming this is not the case now as we are both now on outlook365?
We have Microsoft 365 Family so I'm unsure if the link you gave me will work as we don't have a MS365 admin? Is this correct?

ChristyZhang-MSFT 20,931 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-09-08T06:44:27.093+00:00

Hi @Robyn McLeod ,

Thanks for your reply!

Oh ok, I wondered if that was the case. Previously my husband was using Outlook 2010 and only used his downloaded version on his PC which didn't synch to my Outlook365 which was ideal. I'm assuming this is not the case now as we are both now on outlook365?

The issue is not related to what Outlook desktop client you use but related the shared mailbox. Maybe I misunderstood what you mentioned about "Shared email address", how did you share your email address with your husband? Like using shared mailbox? Or do you just have the same account configured on different computers?
If it's the latter, what's the type of your account?(Exchange/POP/IMAP)

Robyn McLeod 1 Reputation point

2022-09-08T07:48:56.893+00:00

We have the same email account configured on different computers. Our email account type is IMAP.

ChristyZhang-MSFT 20,931 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-09-14T06:00:32.257+00:00

Hi @Robyn McLeod ,

As i know, the changes of emails for IMAP accounts will be synced in different devices. But with the exception of mail messages, such as Calendar items/Tasks/Contacts, their changes are not synchronized. This is how IMAP works. So what changes have the two of you made?

ChristyZhang-MSFT 20,931 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-09-16T06:59:17.517+00:00

Hi @Robyn McLeod ,

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going on with this issue. Have you had a chance to check the replies provided? Any update would be appreciated.

Robyn McLeod 1 Reputation point

2022-09-19T21:37:19.043+00:00

Hi Christy,
Sorry for the late response, I've been away.
The only changes we have made is that my husband now uses the MS365 outlook app, whereas before he was using Outlook 2010 app. I have been using the MS365 app for a couple of years.

ChristyZhang-MSFT 20,931 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-09-26T07:19:31.703+00:00

Hi @Robyn McLeod ,

Thanks for your reply!

Actually, the changes i mean is what you do in Outlook client on your both side, such as moving email in Inbox folder, deleting meetings in Calendar, etc.

Robyn McLeod 1 Reputation point

2022-09-28T21:09:38.627+00:00

Oh I see. When we move an email to a folder, create folders, delete emails, delete and create calendars etc it synch's across both of our devices. We can drag folders up to favourites without it affecting each others.

ChristyZhang-MSFT 20,931 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-09-30T08:19:41.417+00:00

Hi @Robyn McLeod ,

Thanks for your reply!

This is the expect behavior in Outlook. So, if you and your husband want to keep each other from interruption, it is recommended that you each use your own account instead of sharing one.
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