How to add a shared mailbox in Outlook

Created by Antonio Contreras, Modified on Wed, 19 Mar at 12:16 PM by Antonio Contreras

Classic desktop app

Before using a shared mailbox in Outlook, your Microsoft 365 admin must create it and add you as a member. Once this is done, restart Outlook, and the shared mailbox should automatically appear in the Folder pane.

If the shared mailbox does not appear in your Outlook automatically, you can manually add it by following these steps:

Open Outlook. Launch the classic Outlook application.
Access account settings. Click on the File tab at the top left corner of the ribbon. Under the Info tab, select Account Settings, and then click Account Settings from the dropdown.
Select target account. In the Account Settings window, on the Email tab, select your email account to which a shared mailbox is connected and click Change.
Access more settings. In the Change Account window, click More Settings.
Advanced tab. In the dialog window that opens, go to the Advanced tab and click Add.
Add the shared mailbox. Type in the email address of the shared mailbox you want to add (e.g. support@my-company.com) and click OK
Confirm mailbox addition. The shared mailbox will now appear under Open these additional mailboxes in the Advanced tab. Click OK to close the dialog.
Complete the process. Click Next, then Finish, and finally Close to save your changes.

The shared mailbox should now appear in your Outlook Folder pane, ready for use. The shared mailbox is added to Outlook 365.

New Outlook
After your organization admin has added you as a member, close and restart the new Outlook. The shared mailbox should automatically appear in your folder pane on the left. In the new Outlook, shared mailboxes are added as subfolders under Shared with me within an account to which a certain mailbox is linked.

If the shared mailbox does not show up automatically in the new Outlook app, follow these steps to add it manually:

From the navigation pane, select Mail.
In the folder pane, right-click your account name or click three-dots next to it, and then select Add shared folder or mailbox from the context menu.
Search for the mailbox. Type the name or email address of the mailbox you are a member of. As you type, Outlook will display a list of matches. Select the desired mailbox from the list.
Once the shared mailbox is selected, click the Add button to complete the process.

The shared mailbox should now appear in your folder pane under Shared with me, letting you access its contents and manage emails. Click on the mailbox name to expand or collapse it, just like you do with your primary mailbox. The shared mailbox appears in the new Outlook.

Ready!