Guide: Setup Groups and Shared mailboxes in Microsoft Office 365

Shared mailboxes make it easy for a group of people or department to monitor communications from a common accounts; it is an excellent way to handle communications meant for the team than an individual (i.e. Customer Support, Intra-team Communication). It allows multiple users to monitor and reply an email sent to a shared mailbox address.

Groups in Microsoft Office 365 allows you to choose set of people who wish to collaborate closely (i.e. Teams, Distribution Groups). It also helps you to manage permissions and resource allocation; group members inherit permissions and privileges of the group automatically.

Group vs. Shared mailbox

Office 365 Groups is a list of users affiliated to a particular purpose, the email can be used as a distribution list, groups can be applied with permissions which members inherit. Step by Step Guide to Create a new Office 365 Group.

Office 365 Shared Mailbox is a mailbox that multiple users can use to send or read e-mail messages. It also provides features such as Common Calendrer, where multiple users can add schedule i.e. Vacations, Work Shifts. Step by Step Guide to Create a new Office 365 Shared Mailbox.

Office 365 groups offers to enable you to,

• Shared Inbox
• Shared Calendar
• Shared OneNote
• SharePoint Online – suites
• Planner
• Integration to Microsoft Team and relevant features

Guide: How to add custom domain to Office 365 and Guide: How to create user and setup an Outlook 365, a Skype Business and an OneDrive for Business account are already covered in Office 365 DIY series. Let us take our journey to Microsoft Office 365 one step further.

Step by Step Guide to create Shared Mailbox in Office 365

Here is the simple step by step guide to create a shared mailbox and then assign members to newly created shared mailbox.

1. Login to your Office 365 admin console, Office 365 Login  . You must use global administrator user for this purpose.
2. Go to Shared Mailbox page.
3. Click on Add a mailbox button; a new form would load on the same page. Fill in the name, the e-mail and select a domain for the new Shared Mailbox.
4. On successful Shared Mailbox setup, you would see the following message. See Next Steps section on the same page and click on Add members to this mailbox to allow users to access the newly created Shared Mailbox.
5. Add the members to Shared Mailbox and click Save button.
6. On successful user affiliation, you would see the following message.
7. Newly created Shared Mailbox.

Step by Step Guide to create Groups in Office 365

1. Navigate to Groups and click on Add a group button.
   • Group Types
     • Office 365 group type that allows teams to collaborate with group email and a shared workspace.
     • Distribution list type creates an email address that allows you to send an email to all members of the group.
     • Security group type allows you to control access to OneDrive and SharePoint.
   • Enter a group name, email address, description, and select your privacy settings and language.
   • Send copies of group conversations
     • Set to On if you want members to receive messages and calendar items in their inbox.
     • Set to Off otherwise.
   • Select an owner who would be designated to manage the group.
   • Click Add button to create a group.
   
2. Once the Group is created, you would see the following message.
3. Newly created Group.