Shared team inboxes

A shared mailbox is one address, like support@ or sales@, that a team reads and answers together. Everyone on the mailbox sees the same messages and replies from the shared address, so a customer who writes to support@ gets an answer from support@ no matter who typed it. A mail administrator creates the mailbox, unless the workspace lets everyone with a mailbox do it; its owner or an administrator manages who is on it. You move between your personal mailbox and any shared one from the sidebar.

Open a shared inbox

When you belong to one or more shared mailboxes, an account switcher appears at the top of the Mail sidebar.

1. Click the account switcher.
2. Pick the shared mailbox. A Shared inbox chip shows while you are in it.
3. Read and reply as you would with your own mail. Replies go out from the shared address.

Members of a shared mailbox all get a real-time notification when new mail arrives, so nothing sits unseen. A member who chose Nothing under Tell me about in their settings gets no pop up or desktop notification, though the unread count still updates.

Create a shared inbox

By default, creating one is a mail-administrator task. A mail administrator can open it to everyone with a mailbox under Settings → Mail → Policy, with Who may create a shared mailbox. Either way it needs a verified sending domain.

1. In the Mail sidebar, click New shared mailbox.
2. Enter a display name and the address (the part before the @), then pick a verified sending domain.
3. Click Create. You become the mailbox's manager.

When the workspace has opened creation to everyone, a person who is not a mail administrator has some limits. The server enforces them, not only the screen.

• They become the owner of what they create, and cannot name someone else.
• They cannot use an address kept for administrators, such as admin, postmaster, abuse, security or noreply, or an address that already receives mail somewhere else.
• They can own at most 10 shared mailboxes, and an archived one still counts.

If you do not see New shared mailbox, the workspace has not opened creation to you, or shared mailboxes are switched off. Ask a mail administrator. See Mail administration & deliverability.

Manage who is on the mailbox

The owner (the manager) or a mail administrator sets membership.

1. Open the shared mailbox from the account switcher.
2. Click Manage members on the shared-inbox badge.
3. Add or remove people from the list of internal users, then save.

Members can read and reply. Only the owner or an administrator changes the membership.

Send from the shared address

When you have more than one mailbox, the composer shows a From selector. Pick the shared address to answer as the team rather than as yourself. See Compose & send.

What the team shares, and what stays yours

Read, star, and trash state belong to the whole team. When one person reads or stars a message, it shows read or starred for everyone. That is what lets the team see at a glance which messages have been handled and which are still waiting.

Labels, blocked senders, rules and the auto reply, and the signature belong to the mailbox, not to a person. Everyone on a shared inbox works from the same set, and any member can change it. Settings that belong to you, such as undo send, the notification sound and when your signature is added, stay your own and follow you into every mailbox.

Your drafts are the exception. A draft you write in a shared mailbox is yours alone, so no one else sees a half-finished reply. Drafts and their limits are covered in Compose & send.

Related

• Mail overview
• Read, search & organize
• Compose & send
• Mail administration & deliverability
• For one-to-many sending to a list, use Email Marketing.