Explore shared mailboxes
Shared mailboxes are special types of mailboxes that multiple users can access to read and respond to messages. For example, an organization may provide an email address such as info@contoso.com on a public web site. The organization may want to have several users monitor the mailbox associated with this email address to ensure prompt replies to potential customers. Shared mailboxes can be used, for an example, for dedicated departments such as services, marketing, or logistics.
Shared mailboxes provide:
- A generic email address, such as marketing@contoso.com or sales@contoso.com to field customer inquiries.
- A way for teams or departments that provide centralized services, such as helpdesks or support, to respond to requests from employees or customers.
- Support for multiple users to monitor and reply to external or internal email addresses.
A shared mailbox doesn't have its own username and password like a User mailbox does. You can't use Outlook, Outlook Web App, Exchange ActiveSync, Exchange Web Services (EWS), or any other Exchange protocol to sign into a shared mailbox. Instead, you must be granted permission to the shared mailbox, at which point you can access it by using Outlook, Outlook Web App, or Outlook Mobile.
Shared mailboxes are a good solution for groups of people that need to share a common email identity and set of messages, including a mailbox folder structure they can work in. When a user replies to a message sent to a shared mailbox, the reply appears to come from the shared mailbox address. Also, all users who have access to that shared mailbox can see the messages that have been sent to that account.
Shared mailboxes don't require a Microsoft 365 license. As such, you can consider shared mailboxes to be free mailboxes in your Microsoft 365 tenant. However, if you want to use some advanced Exchange Online functionality such as in-place archive or in-place hold, you need an Exchange Online Plan license.
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