Sending Email from a Shared Mailbox

📌 Purpose

• Explain how to access and send email from a shared mailbox.
• Establish consistent communication, branding, and accountability standards when using shared mailboxes.

👥 Audience

• Faculty, staff, and student employees who send email on behalf of a department or office

🖥️ Applies To

• Microsoft Outlook on the Web (OWA)
• Shared Mailboxes

🛠️ Instructions

🔹 Accessing a Shared Mailbox in Outlook on the Web (OWA)

1. Go to outlook.office.com and sign in with your Salve account.
2. Select your profile icon in the top-right corner of the browser window.
3. Select Open another mailbox.
4. Enter the name or email address of the shared mailbox (for example, tsc@salve.edu).
5. Select Open. The shared mailbox will open in a new browser tab.

🔹 Sending Email from the Shared Mailbox

1. Select New mail.
2. The preferred setup is for the email signature to be pre-filled using a department-approved template. 
3. Before sending, ensure the From address is set to the shared mailbox.

🔹 When to Use a Shared Mailbox

Use a shared mailbox when the message represents a department, office, or service, rather than an individual. Shared mailboxes help ensure continuity when multiple team members may need to view or follow up.

When in doubt, ask: Does this message represent the department/service, and would it be helpful for the team to see and reference later? If yes, the shared mailbox is appropriate.

🔹 Branding & Signatures

• Shared mailboxes should use the department-approved email signature, including:
  • Department name
  • Official department logo (if applicable)
  • General contact information
• For accountability, the individual sending the message should add their name and title to the signature
• This allows recipients to know who to follow up with while maintaining a consistent departmental voice.

🔹 Communication Best Practices

• Always double-check the From field before sending.
• When emailing a large group, use BCC to prevent unnecessary reply-all responses.
• Use a professional, neutral tone and avoid overly personal language.

💡 Tips & Common Issues

• If you cannot see or send from a shared mailbox, you may not have the correct permissions.
• If the shared mailbox signature does not appear automatically, it may need to be added manually in Outlook on the Web.
• Newly granted shared mailbox access may take some time to fully propagate.