Adding a shared mailbox in the new Outlook desktop preview

Question

Adding a shared mailbox in the new Outlook desktop preview

IT Tech 151

Previously you could select File > Account Settings to add a shared mailbox to an account. In the new Outlook desktop UI it looks to be achieved by right-clicking the account name and selecting "Add shared folder or mailbox", however after doing so the shared mailbox does not appear in the left pane.

Is there a way to add a shared mailbox in the new Outlook Preview desktop app?

ChristyZhang-MSFT 26,126 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-07-26T01:49:45.3933333+00:00

Hi @IT Tech ,

Just checking in to see if above information was helpful. If it is useful, would you mind marking the helpful post as an answer? Which would benefit others who also has similar issues in forum.
Maciek 90 Reputation points

2023-12-04T13:16:53.59+00:00

Same here - Outlook hangs when trying to add shared mailbox as separate account.
Isaac Gismera 10 Reputation points

2023-12-13T08:27:32.14+00:00

What about notifications?
Candidate 145 Reputation points

2024-01-15T08:12:41.9933333+00:00

How I can move shared mailbox outside my personal e-mail like it was before ? Now is more chaotic :/
Barone, Lisa 190 Reputation points

2024-01-16T22:12:09.1833333+00:00

I would also like to be able to move my shared mailboxes from the 'Shared with me' folder to live under my favorites. I don't think that's possible but if it is, please let me know. If it's not, I'm requesting it desperately!
Angi 30 Reputation points

2024-01-17T11:19:51.5266667+00:00

I would also like to be able to add a shortcut for my shared mailboxes from the 'Shared with me' folder to live under my favorites - if there's a way to make this to happen _ i'm desperate!
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-17T13:31:57.8433333+00:00

No, there is not a way.
Maciek 90 Reputation points

2024-01-17T14:26:37.62+00:00

Are you forced somehow to use "new outlook"? In the classic one all works OK except rules which suggest to set using web outlook as it offers more/different server side actions.
Web outlook allows to open shared mailbox as separate account ("open another mailbox" under user settings).
Barone, Lisa 190 Reputation points

2024-01-17T14:47:39.19+00:00

I am not forced, but encouraged as I'm testing the new Microsoft Copilot for my company which only comes with the new Outlook. But yes I can toggle back to the classic but it's annoying, and inefficient to toggle back and forth throughout the day.
Maciek 90 Reputation points

2024-01-17T15:24:21.9366667+00:00

@Barone, Lisa agree. Why can't MS allow using both Outlooks side by side? I can imagine for different profiles using different version could be handy. Same as to have several independent environments, but that's another topic.
punzel 5 Reputation points

2024-01-25T20:09:02.72+00:00

The latest version of Outlook is being rolled out to replace the existing app. In my field, we use a shared inbox. However, the current web version of Outlook does not support shared inboxes. Can you confirm if the app supports shared inboxes?
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-25T20:11:38.9733333+00:00

Yes - "New Outlook" does support Shared Mailboxes. However, the application does not generate new mail notifications. It also doesn't display an unread message count unless you are clicked within the inbox. Furthermore, the shoved Shared Mailboxes under "Shared with me".
punzel 5 Reputation points

2024-01-25T20:27:28.6966667+00:00

I if flip the switch, how do i go back if i don't like it. Until of course I'm forced to take it.

And currently we don't get notifications in the inbox as it is when a new email comes. so that will be fine.

Thanks for the quick response @xoxidein
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-25T20:31:54.4666667+00:00

The flip really just downloads the "New Outlook" and changes it to your default. The original Outlook application is still on your computer.

Opening the original Outlook will take a little bit to "catch up" up on everything that's happened since you last used it. For me I get dozens of calendar event reminders for every meeting I've had since I last used it. Silly, but you can then continue to use it as normal. It won't feel as streamlined as the "New Outlook", but at least it'll be more functional.
Hernan 35 Reputation points

2024-02-13T17:41:12.31+00:00

It's not possible to remove a Shared Mailbox in the new Outlook app for Windows.
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-02-13T18:02:50.49+00:00

Much like you're not able to remove yourself form a Distribution List in the New Outlook app.
Hernan 35 Reputation points

2024-02-13T18:07:12.5866667+00:00

Yep. I had to remove myself as a member of the Shared Mailbox from the M365 admin panel, close and reopen Outlook, and the Shared Mailbox is gone. Not a thing a regular user without admin access can do....
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-02-13T18:18:45.65+00:00

That's my point. You see it automatically because you are a member. I don't know that users can/should have the ability to remove themselves from a Shared Mailbox that had to be created by an Admin in the first place, just like a Distribution List.
Lauren Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2024-04-15T14:22:22.6833333+00:00

I can view the shared inbox and respond from it but I cant modify calendar events or create them in the new outlook from shared inbox where as I could in old outlook
Jayne Cartwright 0 Reputation points

2024-04-26T13:09:39.16+00:00

I was able to add the shared mail box but as its not an office 365 mailbox, it says there are no permissions, is there a way to change permissions for an On prem mailbox ( had no permission issues in old Outlook)
Richard Bradley 5 Reputation points

2024-08-28T14:40:42.14+00:00

I normally manage shared mailboxes via the web app. I find it simpler to have a separate tab or window for each mailbox. When I compose a new email the From: address defaults to the primary email identity of the shared mailbox (if I have send-on-behalf of, or send-as permission), and the signature defaults to the one set up for the shared mailbox.

Now the the new version of Outlook does not require signatures to be set up independently of the 365 cloud environment, I was hopeful that the desktop version of Outlook may be worth exploring. However, so far I have been unable to work out how to get the shared mailbox signature or the primary email identity of the shared mail box to be the default when I compose a new message from within the inbox of the shared mailbox. If I reply to a message in the shared mailbox, at least it defaults to using the email identity of the shared mailbox - but it still picks my personal signature rather than the one for the shared mailbox.

Is this a bug / feature not yet implemented, or am I missing something obvious?
Heather Curtis 0 Reputation points

2025-03-12T16:50:04.77+00:00

@Richard Bradley - I am having the same trouble. I work three different emails throughout the day and not having the automatic defaults per mailbox is very time demanding to switch not to mention confusing. Does this only occur when you use the "Shared with Me" avenue or would it work if I just add a different account? Plus if I used add different email account does that mean I have to sign in each time for each email account because I have 2MFA. My other two emails (other than personal) do not have their own sign on - it's piggy backed to my personal one.

1 answer

Your answer

ChristyZhang-MSFT 26,126 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-07-26T01:49:45.3933333+00:00

Hi @IT Tech ,

Just checking in to see if above information was helpful. If it is useful, would you mind marking the helpful post as an answer? Which would benefit others who also has similar issues in forum.
Maciek 90 Reputation points

2023-12-04T13:16:53.59+00:00

Same here - Outlook hangs when trying to add shared mailbox as separate account.
Isaac Gismera 10 Reputation points

2023-12-13T08:27:32.14+00:00

What about notifications?
Candidate 145 Reputation points

2024-01-15T08:12:41.9933333+00:00

How I can move shared mailbox outside my personal e-mail like it was before ? Now is more chaotic :/
Barone, Lisa 190 Reputation points

2024-01-16T22:12:09.1833333+00:00

I would also like to be able to move my shared mailboxes from the 'Shared with me' folder to live under my favorites. I don't think that's possible but if it is, please let me know. If it's not, I'm requesting it desperately!
Angi 30 Reputation points

2024-01-17T11:19:51.5266667+00:00

I would also like to be able to add a shortcut for my shared mailboxes from the 'Shared with me' folder to live under my favorites - if there's a way to make this to happen _ i'm desperate!
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-17T13:31:57.8433333+00:00

No, there is not a way.
Maciek 90 Reputation points

2024-01-17T14:26:37.62+00:00

Are you forced somehow to use "new outlook"? In the classic one all works OK except rules which suggest to set using web outlook as it offers more/different server side actions.
Web outlook allows to open shared mailbox as separate account ("open another mailbox" under user settings).
Barone, Lisa 190 Reputation points

2024-01-17T14:47:39.19+00:00

I am not forced, but encouraged as I'm testing the new Microsoft Copilot for my company which only comes with the new Outlook. But yes I can toggle back to the classic but it's annoying, and inefficient to toggle back and forth throughout the day.
Maciek 90 Reputation points

2024-01-17T15:24:21.9366667+00:00

@Barone, Lisa agree. Why can't MS allow using both Outlooks side by side? I can imagine for different profiles using different version could be handy. Same as to have several independent environments, but that's another topic.
punzel 5 Reputation points

2024-01-25T20:09:02.72+00:00

The latest version of Outlook is being rolled out to replace the existing app. In my field, we use a shared inbox. However, the current web version of Outlook does not support shared inboxes. Can you confirm if the app supports shared inboxes?
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-25T20:11:38.9733333+00:00

Yes - "New Outlook" does support Shared Mailboxes. However, the application does not generate new mail notifications. It also doesn't display an unread message count unless you are clicked within the inbox. Furthermore, the shoved Shared Mailboxes under "Shared with me".
punzel 5 Reputation points

2024-01-25T20:27:28.6966667+00:00

I if flip the switch, how do i go back if i don't like it. Until of course I'm forced to take it.

And currently we don't get notifications in the inbox as it is when a new email comes. so that will be fine.

Thanks for the quick response @xoxidein
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-25T20:31:54.4666667+00:00

The flip really just downloads the "New Outlook" and changes it to your default. The original Outlook application is still on your computer.

Opening the original Outlook will take a little bit to "catch up" up on everything that's happened since you last used it. For me I get dozens of calendar event reminders for every meeting I've had since I last used it. Silly, but you can then continue to use it as normal. It won't feel as streamlined as the "New Outlook", but at least it'll be more functional.
Hernan 35 Reputation points

2024-02-13T17:41:12.31+00:00

It's not possible to remove a Shared Mailbox in the new Outlook app for Windows.
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-02-13T18:02:50.49+00:00

Much like you're not able to remove yourself form a Distribution List in the New Outlook app.
Hernan 35 Reputation points

2024-02-13T18:07:12.5866667+00:00

Yep. I had to remove myself as a member of the Shared Mailbox from the M365 admin panel, close and reopen Outlook, and the Shared Mailbox is gone. Not a thing a regular user without admin access can do....
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-02-13T18:18:45.65+00:00

That's my point. You see it automatically because you are a member. I don't know that users can/should have the ability to remove themselves from a Shared Mailbox that had to be created by an Admin in the first place, just like a Distribution List.
Lauren Baenziger 0 Reputation points

2024-04-15T14:22:22.6833333+00:00

I can view the shared inbox and respond from it but I cant modify calendar events or create them in the new outlook from shared inbox where as I could in old outlook
Jayne Cartwright 0 Reputation points

2024-04-26T13:09:39.16+00:00

I was able to add the shared mail box but as its not an office 365 mailbox, it says there are no permissions, is there a way to change permissions for an On prem mailbox ( had no permission issues in old Outlook)
Richard Bradley 5 Reputation points

2024-08-28T14:40:42.14+00:00

I normally manage shared mailboxes via the web app. I find it simpler to have a separate tab or window for each mailbox. When I compose a new email the From: address defaults to the primary email identity of the shared mailbox (if I have send-on-behalf of, or send-as permission), and the signature defaults to the one set up for the shared mailbox.

Now the the new version of Outlook does not require signatures to be set up independently of the 365 cloud environment, I was hopeful that the desktop version of Outlook may be worth exploring. However, so far I have been unable to work out how to get the shared mailbox signature or the primary email identity of the shared mail box to be the default when I compose a new message from within the inbox of the shared mailbox. If I reply to a message in the shared mailbox, at least it defaults to using the email identity of the shared mailbox - but it still picks my personal signature rather than the one for the shared mailbox.

Is this a bug / feature not yet implemented, or am I missing something obvious?
Heather Curtis 0 Reputation points

2025-03-12T16:50:04.77+00:00

@Richard Bradley - I am having the same trouble. I work three different emails throughout the day and not having the automatic defaults per mailbox is very time demanding to switch not to mention confusing. Does this only occur when you use the "Shared with Me" avenue or would it work if I just add a different account? Plus if I used add different email account does that mean I have to sign in each time for each email account because I have 2MFA. My other two emails (other than personal) do not have their own sign on - it's piggy backed to my personal one.

Answer 1

ChristyZhang-MSFT 26,126 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @IT Tech ,

Welcome to our forum!

Based on my test in New Outlook, i found that after we add shared mailbox, the shared mailbox is collapsed in Shared with me folder. Please expand it and check if the shared mailbox is there.

Hope to help you!

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

CTO Admin 0 Reputation points

2023-09-21T15:19:01.2633333+00:00

Thanks. It works!
Leandro Zamudio León 150 Reputation points

2023-10-06T13:40:43.2933333+00:00

As a feedback, I personally dislike the way Outlook put Shared Mailboxes in new Outlook, my customers found it confusing, they can't do almost anything inside. If, at least, i can put the Shared Mailbox inbox folder in Favorites it could save some time but it's too hidden for the user
Vedovi, Fabio (VisMederi Holding srl) 20 Reputation points

2023-10-16T08:23:41.1533333+00:00

Hi,

thank you, unfortunately is not still possible to see calendars from the shared account.
jPad 6 Reputation points

2023-11-15T19:47:13.3766667+00:00

@ChristyZhang-MSFT I do not have a Shared with me folder. Do you know how I get it? Do I need to speak with my administrator?
Maciek 90 Reputation points

2023-12-04T13:15:04.32+00:00
Adding shared mailbox that way versus as separate account has many disadvantages:

no "search folders"

no customized signature for that account automatically

when replying to message "from" filed don't automatically switch to shared mailbox account

draft message goes to your mailbox drafts folder (or Inbox, as we use in settings) - you don't see if someone else is replying to the message already

if you hit "Reply to all" your shared mailbox email is included in addressee without need.

All above is working perfectly fine when you add shared account as separate account.

Strongly suggest to add these functionalities, since "search" box is working far better when account is added as shared on the other hand.
Beat Amrein 10 Reputation points

2023-12-05T18:34:49.5733333+00:00

Looks pretty much as an old "webmail" or outlook online. I am not sure if this is a progress...
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-02T21:20:23.6166667+00:00

Sure, feels like Microsoft is trying to kill Shared Mailboxes by making them a pain to use and shoving them into a "Shared with me" section. It must be a result of the limited functionality that the New Outlook has compared to the feature rich (by comparison) Outlook 2016.
Alex G 10 Reputation points

2024-01-05T16:48:13.4366667+00:00

This shows up for us in the New Outlook, HOWEVER, the calendar that is a part of that shared mailbox does not. We use the Shared Mailbox as out inter-office calendar and rely on it to see when people are out on PTO, when someone is using the company cars, etc.

Any way to get the Shared Mailbox Calendar to show back up in the new outlook? Seems to just have disappeared on us when using the New Outlook.
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-15T13:49:14.83+00:00

For this exact reason, we are converting all of shared mailboxes to standard user accounts. Having to pay for an additional license for a user account is better than the headache caused by this nonsensical change to the user experience.
Sarah 20 Reputation points

2024-01-16T09:11:21.78+00:00

My work requires that my position use the "shared mailbox" feature. The consumer friendliness of the shared mailbox is non-existent, it's utterly cumbersome to use. I don't think any of the UI programmers have to actually use the feature themselves.
Maciek 90 Reputation points

2024-01-16T11:21:57.77+00:00

@xoxidein but you can "reset password" for the shared mailbox and use as regular mailbox by adding as separate account. To prevent overlapping, it's good to turn off automapping feature first.
In "new outlook" however it is not possible to add such an account.
By the way - is there anything positive for "new outlook" vs the classic one? We use a lot of VBA macros to automate tasks which are not existing and are not planned to be implemented in "new outlook" as far as I understand. I hope there will be still a choice which Outlook type to use, otherwise I would need to stop updates. Bravo Microsoft.
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-16T13:05:07.49+00:00

In "new outlook" however it is not possible to add such an account.

@Maciek That's the exact problem and the point of this thread. The "New" Outlook has huge oversights that continue to be unaddressed and ignored by Microsoft.
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Lee-Llacer, Carl 0 Reputation points

2024-01-18T02:31:12.6166667+00:00

Is it possible to add on prem shared mailbox if my mailbox is in EXO?
Tobias Metz 30 Reputation points

2024-01-23T08:06:38.6533333+00:00

Hi ChristyZhang, my question would be, how to add the inbox folder into the favorites? This option is not available, and it is very helpful to see how many mails are inside the inboxes of the shared mailbox accounts. Is there an option to do this?
Léa-T. Giroux 20 Reputation points

2024-01-23T17:46:50.9566667+00:00

Is there any ways we can view it in a more classic way ? I see that the option to 'Add to Favourite' is not an option with only the "Shared with me folder".... how are we supposed to manage incoming mail to these box if they are hidden away?
xoxidein 31 Reputation points

2024-01-23T17:48:32.5133333+00:00

The only way to do so would be to NOT use the "New" Outlook.
Filipe Almeida 5 Reputation points

2024-02-23T14:20:42.9666667+00:00

It is possible to add Favourites manually. Right click on Favourites, search for the shared inbox you want and add it. That's how i did it for both of mine.

PS - Just noticed it only added the Sent Items from that account not the Inbox for the shared email...
Barone, Lisa 190 Reputation points

2024-02-23T14:56:21.5966667+00:00

Thanks! Yea it looks like it's just dumping all the emails sent in there. I noticed there is a filter on the right that you can set to 'unread' so it only shows the unread emails but it doesn't seem to work. I sent a test send to the mailbox and I can see it in the old Outlook but can't see it in the new Outlook, even with that new favorite filtered to 'Unread'. Also, it looks like that filter clears each time I exit and come back into that favorite. So not helpful unfortunately.
Nathan Tyler 0 Reputation points

2024-02-28T10:33:04.0766667+00:00

The implementation here is such that I'm just not going to use it. Not being able to add those other inboxes to favorites is a pain. As much as I hate old Outlook and it hangs so much, this is not really better. :-(
Alessandro Landi 0 Reputation points

2024-03-04T17:03:08.8666667+00:00

yep, I see it under "Shared with me", but I cannot mark "inbox" of shared mailbox as "Favorites" as in my old beloved Outlook
Alexis AUBRY 15 Reputation points

2024-05-04T09:08:28.2966667+00:00

This is a VERY BAD design. More and more pro users use a shared mailbox as their main mailbox because it's the one they use to fulfil their missions in the company. When they are leaving, another person doing the same job receives the mailbox, and so on and so on. The individual mailbox is only for HR stuff.

It's obvious we all need a new Outlook, more modern, but this is really not going into the right direction.

A new Outlook should be about better performance, adding good stuff coming from the web app, but not this kind of radical "we know better than you what you need and want" approach.
Gary Judycki (OneLab) 0 Reputation points

2025-05-05T13:14:39.7466667+00:00

if you do not see the shared mailbox you can add it there also.

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Adding a shared mailbox in the new Outlook desktop preview

1 answer

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