A sales or accounts address should keep working when a colleague is on leave. It should also let your team see what has already been answered. A Microsoft 365 shared mailbox can support that arrangement, provided access, sending permissions and day-to-day ownership are configured deliberately.
For a UAE business choosing how to manage enquiries or supplier correspondence, the first question is whether a shared inbox is enough. It is useful for a small team handling one address. If you need automatic assignment, response targets, collision warnings or detailed case reporting, assess a helpdesk or CRM workflow as well. These are operational requirements, not features to assume every mailbox provides.
Start with the business workflow
Write down the address, its purpose, the staff who need access, and the person responsible for reviewing membership. Keep sales enquiries separate from sensitive payroll correspondence. Decide who covers absences and who checks messages that remain unanswered at the end of the working day.
For example, a three-person sales team could nominate one person to review new enquiries each morning and assign responsibility in an agreed shared system. Marking a message as read is not evidence that a quote has been sent. If the team cannot reliably tell who owns a request, improve the workflow before adding more people to the inbox.
Use individual access and separate the permissions
Microsoft says delegates need their own licensed Exchange Online mailbox. A shared mailbox is not intended for direct sign-in: keep its associated account blocked. The mailbox can hold up to 50 GB without its own licence; larger storage, archiving, holds and advanced features need a separate licensing check. See Microsoft's shared mailbox requirements.
Do not circulate a common password. Each colleague should use their own account and the organisation's authentication controls. This also makes membership changes easier when someone moves departments.
- Full Access: lets a delegate open and manage the mailbox, but does not itself grant permission to send from it.
- Send As: presents the shared address as the sender.
- Send on Behalf: identifies the delegate as sending on behalf of the shared address.
Choose the sending behaviour that matches the role, then verify it with the intended Outlook clients. Microsoft's creation and delegation guidance explains the permissions. Do not treat receiving a message successfully as proof that sending permissions work.
If several addresses and staff roles need reorganising, ITZ's Microsoft 365 setup and migration service can help scope the mailbox structure and handover. Discuss your team inbox requirements with the addresses, user count and current difficulties.
Make replies visible to colleagues
By default, replies sent from a shared mailbox are saved in the sender's Sent Items rather than the shared mailbox's Sent Items. Configure the required sent-message copying options, then test both the sending mode and client your team will use. Microsoft's shared mailbox settings guide covers these options.
Agree a simple filing convention. Keep the number of folders manageable and document what “awaiting customer”, “in progress” and “completed” mean. A folder name is only useful if everyone follows the same rule. Where financial approvals are involved, record approval in the approved finance process; mailbox access alone should not authorise a payment.
Run a short acceptance check
- Confirm each authorised person can open the mailbox using their own identity.
- Send an authorised internal test message, reply in the chosen sending mode, and inspect the displayed sender.
- Ask another delegate to locate the reply in shared Sent Items.
- Check access on the desktop, browser and mobile clients actually used by the team.
- Remove a test delegate and confirm access is removed after the change takes effect.
- Record the mailbox owner, review date, storage check and absence-cover process.
Know when to change the approach
A shared mailbox does not by itself provide a complete case-management process. If two staff keep replying to the same enquiry or messages disappear into private folders, a CRM workflow assessment may be more useful than another mailbox rule. For departing staff, follow a separate Microsoft 365 offboarding checklist rather than assuming mailbox membership is the only access to remove.
Plan your shared mailbox setup
Tell ITZ which team addresses you use, how many people handle them and where replies or ownership become unclear. Request a scope covering permissions, shared Sent Items, supported clients and staff handover.
