Outlook/Shared mailbox issue/question.

Question

Hello All,

I have an issue with a user who uses a shared mailbox in outlook. According to the user, previously when using outlook and they were navigating inside the shared mailbox and clicked on new message. The default "From" would be ******@shared.gov and not their individual email, the same as it does when replying to an email in the shared mailbox. It would also default to use the Shared mailbox signature, not the users signature.

I have not been able to re-create this and was wondering if there is a way to make this work without having them use OWA to login to the shared mailbox separately.

Thank you,

-Kevin S

Answer 1

Dear Kevin S,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community.

Based on your description, we have received a number of requests on this, and the team is currently working on a fix. Therefore, I will update this thread as soon as I get any additional information about the query and specific fix timeline.

However, May I please double confirm if you are using classic outlook or the new outlook for windows? if you are using classic Outlook, you may try to re-add your shared mailbox by removing automapping and re-add the shared mailbox as a secondary account in your Outlook. this will allow you to access your shared mailbox as same as your primary mailbox. to do this kindly follow the steps below:

==> Disable auto-mapping and add the shared mailbox for which the user has full access permissions as an additional mailbox. To do this,

• Disable automapping on a primary mailbox using PowerShell, you can refer to Remove automapping for a shared mailbox - Outlook | Microsoft Learn
• After disabling automapping, open your Outlook -->File -->Add account -->Enter your shared mailbox email address as username and use your primary mailbox password to sign in. Then, check if the shared mailbox added as a separate mailbox in the account settings. To check this, Go to File -->Account settings -->Account settings -->Under Email Tab, check if the shared mailbox listed as additional mailbox. You can refer to the screenshot below. Once you have done these steps, Outlook will treat the shared mailbox as a separate mailbox.

But if you are using the new outlook for windows (Preview) version, I understand your query here but in the new outlook composing and replying from the shared mailbox account by default while you are navigating inside the shared mailbox feature is not yet available for shared mailboxes. However, this is a known issue that our product development team actively working on a fix. In the meantime, the feature adding and accessing shared mailbox as a primary account in the new Outlook for Windows is under active development by the team and it will start to roll out to all user in July 2024. Once this feature starts rolling out to all users, the Shared Mailbox will appear at the Account Level in the Folder list, and you can access shared mailbox features as same as your primary mailbox. Therefore, this feature will fix the issue related to Default the "From" address to the shared mailbox email account when you are composing and replying from the shared mailbox folder and other shared mailbox related issues. So that, I suggest keeping an eye on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365 and the Microsoft Outlook blog Things to look forward to in the new Outlook for Windows - Microsoft Community Hub for any updates on this feature. I will also update here once the feature starts roll out on my side. Appreciate your patience and understanding.

I look forward to your update. Please feel free to let me know how it goes or if I got you wrong. If you still have any concerns, please let me know so I can provide more suggestions.

Thank you for your precious time. Have a nice day.

Sincerely,

Libeamlak | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

It is now the 30th of August. How long does it take to roll this out and how will we know?