Unpredictable behavior of "Reply All" in a shared mailbox in Outlook for Windows

Question

Unpredictable behavior of "Reply All" in a shared mailbox in Outlook for Windows

ThomasW 65

When using "Reply All" in a shared mailbox in Outlook for Windows, sometimes the address of the shared mailbox is added again to the "To" field and sometimes it's added to the "cc" field. What is the reason for this behavior?

Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,356 Reputation points Moderator

2023-12-27T01:46:18.87+00:00

Hi @ThomasW ,

Just checking in to see if the answer helped. If this answers your query, please don’t forget to click "Accept Answer" which might be beneficial to other community members reading this thread. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
RACHMI ANINDYA DEWI 0 Reputation points

2025-02-26T09:26:26.3633333+00:00

One of my user is also experiencing this issue. I have tried removing them from the shared mailbox membership and re-adding them, but with no luck. The shared mailbox address keeps added to the "To" field. What's weird is it happens only to one of the shared mailbox member, while other members using "Reply all" function just fine.

I found a similar issue report here but the solution to remove the address manually from recipient list is frustrating the user, especially since they use this shared mailbox in high frequency. I hope Microsoft can address this issue immediately or provide a workaround which not frustrate the users.

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Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,356 Reputation points Moderator

2023-12-27T01:46:18.87+00:00

Hi @ThomasW ,

Just checking in to see if the answer helped. If this answers your query, please don’t forget to click "Accept Answer" which might be beneficial to other community members reading this thread. And, if you have any further query do let us know.
RACHMI ANINDYA DEWI 0 Reputation points

2025-02-26T09:26:26.3633333+00:00

One of my user is also experiencing this issue. I have tried removing them from the shared mailbox membership and re-adding them, but with no luck. The shared mailbox address keeps added to the "To" field. What's weird is it happens only to one of the shared mailbox member, while other members using "Reply all" function just fine.

I found a similar issue report here but the solution to remove the address manually from recipient list is frustrating the user, especially since they use this shared mailbox in high frequency. I hope Microsoft can address this issue immediately or provide a workaround which not frustrate the users.

Answer 1

Hi @ThomasW ,

This appears to be a common behavior when the shared mailbox is added automatically with your primary mailbox via automapping or via File > Account Settings > More Settings > Advanced > Open these additional mailbox > Add. According to my research, it occurs because in these scenarios, Outlook sometimes might get confused when recognizing who "you", so it just includes all email addresses in a Reply to All.

A workaround aside from always remembering to remove the shared mailbox from the recipients' field is to contact your Exchange administrator and have them removing the automapping from the shared mailbox, then you can manually add the shared mailbox as an additional account via File > Account Settings. For more detailed instructions, you can refer to How to add a shared mailbox as additional account in Outlook.
(Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.)

In addition, noted that similar feedback has already been submitted to the official feedback portal. I've voted it up and I'll leave the link below in case you or other community users would like to add votes or comments there as well. Hope this behavior can be improved soon.

Reply all from shared mailbox adds the shared mailbox in To

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Oliver Caldwell 0 Reputation points

2024-02-14T00:32:45.4333333+00:00

Hi Yuki, Unfortunately, the workaround is not valid as that requires the mailbox to be a user mailbox and not a shared maibox - it's just adding a second account to your outlook profile. A shared mailbox does not have a user account you can logon to. Like it or not, the expected behavior when doing "Reply All" in a shared mailbox is to add the shared mailbox email address in the "To" field. It's how it works as of the current version when writing this reply: Microsoft® Outlook® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2401 Build 16.0.17231.20194) 64-bit. I wish they would change this behaviour - it's a common complaint from customers working with shared mailboxes. Kind regards, Oliver

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Unpredictable behavior of "Reply All" in a shared mailbox in Outlook for Windows

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