A shared mailbox in Microsoft 365 lets multiple people send and receive email from the same address — common for info@, support@, or sales@ addresses that a team monitors together. Once your IT admin has set up the shared mailbox in Microsoft 365, adding it to your Outlook is straightforward. Here is how.
Adding a Shared Mailbox in Outlook Desktop (Automatic)
If your Microsoft 365 admin has given you access to a shared mailbox, Outlook often adds it automatically within a few hours. It will appear as a separate mailbox below your primary account in the left sidebar. If it doesn’t appear after a few hours, add it manually.
Adding a Shared Mailbox Manually in Outlook Desktop
- Open Outlook and click File → Account Settings → Account Settings
- Select your email account and click Change
- Click More Settings
- Go to the Advanced tab
- Under Open these additional mailboxes, click Add
- Type the shared mailbox email address and click OK
- Click OK, then Next, then Finish
- Restart Outlook — the shared mailbox will appear in the left sidebar
Adding a Shared Mailbox in Outlook on the Web
- Go to outlook.office.com and sign in with your own account
- Right-click on your account name in the left sidebar
- Click Add shared folder or mailbox
- Type the shared mailbox address and click Add
The shared mailbox will appear in the left sidebar below your primary folders.
Sending Email from a Shared Mailbox
Once added, you can send emails that appear to come from the shared mailbox address rather than your personal address.
In a new email, click From (if it’s not visible, go to Options → Show Fields → From). Click the From address and select the shared mailbox from the dropdown.
If you reply to an email that was sent to the shared mailbox, Outlook should automatically set the From address to the shared mailbox — double-check this before sending.
Setting Up a Shared Mailbox in Microsoft 365 Admin (IT Admin)
If you’re the person responsible for setting up the shared mailbox rather than just accessing it:
- Go to admin.microsoft.com and sign in
- Go to Teams & groups → Shared mailboxes
- Click Add a shared mailbox
- Set the name and email address
- After creating it, click Add members and add the users who need access
Users with access can add the mailbox to their Outlook using the steps above.
Shared Mailbox vs Distribution List — What’s the Difference?
A shared mailbox stores emails and lets multiple people read, reply to, and manage messages — you can see who has replied and the full conversation history is shared. A distribution list just forwards incoming emails to a list of people — each person gets their own copy in their individual inbox with no shared view. For a team that needs to manage a support or sales inbox together, a shared mailbox is almost always the right choice.
