Create a shared mailbox in Microsoft 365 (sales@, info@)

Updated 27 September 2026For Microsoft 365

Create a shared mailbox in Microsoft 365 (sales@, info@) (0:22)

A shared mailbox gives a team one address, such as sales@ or info@, that several staff can read and reply from. It needs no licence of its own up to 50 GB. You create it in the Microsoft 365 admin centre under Teams & groups → Shared mailboxes.

Create the shared mailbox

You need an admin role that can manage Exchange, such as Exchange Administrator or Global Administrator.

Sign in to admin.microsoft.com.
Go to Teams & groups → Shared mailboxes. If you cannot see Teams & groups, select Show all first.
Select Add a shared mailbox.
Type a Name, such as Sales. The Email box fills in from the name; change it if you want a different address, such as sales.
Select Save changes.

It can take a few minutes before you can add members.

Add the staff who use it

Everyone you add gets Full Access: they can open the mailbox, read, reply, move and delete messages.

Under Next steps, select Add members to your shared mailbox. (Later, open the shared mailbox from the list to get back here.)
Select Add members, tick the people, then select Add.
Close the panel.

Members see the mailbox in classic Outlook for Windows after they close and reopen Outlook. In new Outlook, the web and on phones they add it themselves. See open a shared mailbox.

Let staff send as the shared address

Full Access is for reading and replying. To send new emails from sales@, a member needs Send as, so their emails show the shared address, or Send on behalf, so they show “Aina on behalf of Sales”. In our tests, adding a member in the admin centre also gave them Send as, but check it as below.

Open the Exchange admin centre and go to Recipients → Mailboxes.
Select the shared mailbox, then the Delegation tab.
Next to Send as (or Read and manage (Full Access)), select Edit. Members who already have it are listed.
To add someone, select Add members, tick them and select Save.

For Send on behalf, use the Send on behalf button at the top of the same panel.

If sending fails with a permission message straight after you set this up, wait about an hour and try again.

Good to know

These points come up often with small teams:

Keep sign-in blocked. Microsoft blocks sign-in to a new shared mailbox by default. Staff open it through their own account, so there is no separate password to share.
25 people at most. Microsoft suggests no more than 25 members, or Outlook can struggle.
Only staff can be members. People outside the company, such as a personal Gmail, cannot be added.
Members can delete any message. There is no way to stop one member deleting what another needs.

When someone leaves, you can also turn their mailbox into a shared mailbox so the team keeps their emails. See when a staff member leaves.

Still stuck

WhatsApp our support team at +60 16-916 3324.

Common issues

Does a shared mailbox need its own licence?

No, not up to 50 GB. Each member needs their own licensed mailbox, but the shared mailbox itself is free. It needs a licence only for more space or archiving.

I added a member but the shared mailbox does not show in their Outlook.

Ask them to close Outlook completely and open it again. Changes can take up to an hour to reach Outlook. If you gave access through a security group rather than to each person, Outlook does not add it automatically.

Can a staff member send from the shared address?

Yes, with Send As permission, which lets their emails show the shared address as the sender. In our tests the admin centre gave Send As together with Full Access when we added a member; check it on the shared mailbox's Delegation tab in the Exchange admin centre.

Shared mailbox panel on the Delegation tab with Send as and its Edit link highlighted

See it in the steps

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