Before you start: check your permission
Every method below needs Full Access to the shared mailbox. If you can send from the shared address but cannot see its inbox, you probably have Send As permission only. Ask whoever manages your email to grant Full Access — on MyExchangeServer, your administrator can do it in the SolidCP control panel.
It also helps to know where your mailboxes live. If you sign in to Outlook on the web at outlook.office.com or outlook.office365.com, you are on Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online). If your organisation gave you its own webmail address, you are on Exchange Server — either your own or a hosted Exchange service.
Outlook for Mac
Outlook for Mac comes in two versions: the new Outlook, which is now the default, and legacy Outlook. You can switch between them from the Outlook menu in the menu bar.
New Outlook for Mac
- Choose Tools → Accounts.
- Click the + button to add an account.
- Enter the shared mailbox’s email address, but sign in with your own username and password.
- The shared mailbox appears in the folder list alongside your own.
This is Microsoft’s method for Microsoft 365. Support for Exchange Server accounts has been rolling out to the new Mac Outlook in stages, so if it fails on an Exchange Server or hosted Exchange account, use legacy Outlook below.
Legacy Outlook for Mac
- Choose Tools → Accounts and select your own Exchange account.
- Click Advanced, then the Delegates tab.
- Under Open these additional mailboxes, click + and choose the shared mailbox.
This works with both Microsoft 365 and Exchange Server.
Apple Mail on a Mac
Apple Mail has no option to open a shared or delegated Exchange mailbox alongside your own. Use Outlook for Mac, or Outlook on the web in Safari, for the shared mailbox.
iPhone and Android with Microsoft 365
If both your mailbox and the shared mailbox are in Microsoft 365, the Outlook app for iPhone and Android can show the shared mailbox as an extra account:
- In the Outlook app, open the menu and tap Add Account (or go to Settings → Mail Accounts → Add Mail Account).
- Tap Add a Shared Mailbox.
- Enter the shared mailbox’s email address.
The built-in Mail app on iPhone and the mail apps on Android sync only your own mailbox, so use the Outlook app for shared mailboxes.
iPhone and Android with Exchange Server or hosted Exchange
Here phones are more limited. The Outlook app’s Add a Shared Mailbox option requires Exchange Online, so it is not available for mailboxes on Exchange Server — whether your own server or a hosted Exchange service like ours. The built-in Mail apps sync only your own mailbox.
What does work:
-
Outlook on the web in the phone’s browser. Exchange lets you open another mailbox you have access to
by adding its address to the end of your webmail address, for example
https://your-webmail-address/owa/sales@yourcompany.co.uk. Sign in with your own details. Save it as a home-screen bookmark and it behaves much like an app. - A desktop for the heavy lifting. Classic Outlook for Windows and Outlook for Mac show the shared mailbox in full, including its calendar.
Some people get round the limit by giving the shared mailbox its own password and adding it to the phone as a normal account. We advise against it: everyone ends up sharing one password, and you lose the record of who did what.
Still not showing?
If a shared mailbox will not appear or will not update in Outlook on a PC, our guide to a shared mailbox not showing in Outlook works through the usual causes. And if you are deciding whether a shared mailbox is the right tool at all, see shared mailboxes vs distribution lists.