Overview of Shared Accounts/Mailboxes in Exchange
A shared account is a mailbox that is not owned by an individual, but is created to be used as a centralized collection point for emails. The e-mail messages are then accessed and managed by a group of authorized users.
Accessing Shared Accounts
Once a shared account is established, Outlook users with full permissions will be able to access the account from within their personal @csulb inbox. The account's inbox and standard folders will be viewable from the left-side navigation pane of the Outlook Client inbox.
Outlook on the web (formerly known as OWA) users will be able to access the shared mailbox by first logging into their personal @csulb email at https://mail.csulb.edu/owa and then opening the shared account mailbox by doing the following:
- Right click on your name in the upper right-hand corner. Click on the option "Open another mailbox" and a small box will appear, where you will be able to enter the complete name of the shared account (example: engr-summercamp@csulb.edu).
- Click "Open" to open the shared account. This gives you full access to the shared account with all accompanied folders and resources, such as Inbox, Sent items, Drafts, Calendar, etc.
How to use the Send-as Feature
Prerequisite: Please note that not all shared account users have the system permissions to use this feature. Special permission must be requested via your department or college technical coordinator and often requires management approval where applicable.
The "send-as" feature is a unique feature for email shared accounts. It allows those with access to an email shared account the ability to send and reply to emails using the service account name as the "From" address. For example, say there is an Exchange email shared account named CSULB-Info@csulb.edu and it is shared among staff members Prospector.Pete@csulb.edu, Prospector.Susy@csulb.edu. When either Pete or Susy want to send an email on behalf of the CSULB-Info@csulb.edu account or reply to a message, they have the option of replying as themselves (which Exchange is defaulted to do), or they can email by showing CSULB-Info@csulb.edu as the "From" address recipients will see. There are two ways to do this—within your Outlook mail client or online via Outlook on the web (formerly known as OWA).
Within the Outlook email client
Note: the following instructions were performed using Outlook 2010, so the process may vary slightly if using a different version of Outlook.
- If you are in your own personal inbox, you can compose a new message and change the "From" address by starting a new email. You may need to turn on the option of displaying the "From" address field. To do so, while composing a new email, click on "Options," and click on the "From" button to turn on the option.
- While composing your new email, you can click on the "From" button to open a drop down list. If you are doing this for the first time, you will select "Other Email Address" and another window will open to type in the name of the shared account you wish to send as. After doing so, you can finish composing your email as any normal email.
- To reply to an existing message while within the inbox of the shared account, all you have to do is reply to the message. Because you are already within the shared account, Exchange will prefill the "From" address field with the shared account name.
Within Outlook on the web (formerly known as OWA) - https://mail.csulb.edu
Outlook on the web (formerly known as OWA) users will be able to access the account by first logging into their personal @csulb email at https://mail.csulb.edu and then opening the shared account mailbox by following the instructions mentioned above. Once within the desired shared account, sending mail as the account, whereby the "from" address is the name of the shared account requires no special changes. Once you're in the desired shared account, all mail that is sent from it from Outlook on the web will display the shared account name as the "From" address.