This question is from a user with a shared mailbox in his profile:
When I send new messages from the shared mailbox, the default address is my own address, not the shared mailbox address and I need to select the shared mailbox as From address. Other accounts default to using their own address. How can I set the shared mailbox account as default 'From address'?
Outlook will use the address assigned to the currently selected mailbox or data file as the default address if it is configured as an account in File, Account Settings. Because a shared account is a secondary account in your profile, Outlook won’t use that address by default when viewing the mailbox.
The only way to get around this is to add the shared mailbox to your profile as a mailbox. There can be issues if you have delegate permissions on the shared mailbox or it’s automapped (eg, is added to your profile automatically), so you or your admin will need remove delegate permissions or disable automapping before you add it to your profile. To avoid these problems, create a new profile for the shared mailbox instead.
If the mailbox is added using the Open Additional mailbox command in Account Settings, remove the mailbox from your profile in File, Account Settings, More Settings, Advanced.
- Close Outlook and open Control panel then search for Mail.
- Select your Profile and click Properties to open your profile
- Click Email Accounts
- Click New to add a new account to your profile.
- Type in the email address of the shared mailbox and anything for the password.
- After autodiscover finds the account, the password dialog will come up. Enter your own email address and password this time.
- After the wizard finishes, reopen Outlook.
Outlook will now treat it like any other folder. When you send new mail while viewing the folder, Outlook will send it from the account.
Create a Profile for a Shared Mail Video Tutorial
This video shows how to create a new profile for a shared mailbox. With the exception of creating a new profile, the steps are the same to add the account to an existing profile.
You must have FullAccess permissions on the account for this to work.
If you are unable to use a new profile, one of the following tools can be used to set the correct reply address automatically.
Tools
Office 365 mailbox may have multiple SMTP addresses and receive mail sent to any of the secondary addresses but Exchange Online always uses the primary SMTP address for sending messages. ChooseFrom 365 application allows Office 365 users to send a message with any of their own SMTP addresses as the From address. The application is a cloud service. | |
Exchange transport event sink that allows Exchange users to specify any From address, including the secondary addresses on their mailbox. For Exchange 2007; Exchange 2000/2003 version also available. | |
Exchange server mailboxes can have multiple SMTP addresses and receive mail sent to any of these addresses but Exchange will always use the primary SMTP address for sending messages. ChooseFrom allows users to send a message with any of their SMTP addresses as the From address. | |
ChooseFromOWA for Microsoft Exchange 2007/2010 application allows users to send a message with any of their own SMTP addresses as the From address. | |
Exclaimer Email Alias Manager for Exchange is the simple and robust way to send from multiple email addresses and a single Exchange mailbox. Use the Outlook Add In to select your sending address when composing and for phone or OWA, add a simple tag to the message subject to choose which address to use. Alias Manager is licensed per active user. Site licenses are available and the 30 day free trial lets you test the product for all users. | |
Lucatec Mask Add-in for Outlook is used with Exchange server accounts, allowing replies from a shared mailbox or public folder, automatically entering the folder or mailbox's email address in the From field. Lucatec Mask will automatically determine the correct sender address to use based on the mailbox or public folder the user is currently using in Outlook. It also offers the option to move or copy the sent message to the relevant account's Sent Items folder (or Public Folder). It supports shared Exchange Server accounts and Public Folders with email addresses. Works with Outlook 2000-2010. Version 3 | |
Proxy Manager lets you send emails using any proxy SMTP address from your Exchange account. There are no server components, everything is done on the client side - just install Proxy Manager, and you are ready to go! Select the address to send from and click the Send button. For Outlook 2010 and up. | |
COM add-in for Outlook 2003/2007 that automatically fills in the correct From address when the user is responding to a message in another user's Exchange mailbox. (Use it with the UniSent add-in from the same site. UniSent keeps the outgoing messages in the Sent Items folder of the other users mailbox.) Version 1.7.0.4 | |
Outlook COM add-in that lets you automatically insert in the "From:" or "Have replies sent to:" field any address/alias that you need for each outgoing message. If you're mainly concerned with getting From right when replying to mail from another user's Exchange mailbox, RightFrom, from the same author, would be more appropriate. | |
This utility allows an Outlook user the ability to easily select the From address of the new, replied or forwarded message. The message can be replied with the same From address as original message has been sent to. You can also set a different signature for each e-mail address. | |
SmartReply 2010 is a utility for Exchange Server users who need to send email using different addresses. This utility provides an Outlook user with the ability to easily select the From address of the new, replied or forwarded message. The message can be replied with the same From address as original message has been sent to. Also you can set a different signature for each e-mail address. Supports Office 365 Exchange Online. |
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40 Comments on "Shared Mailboxes and the Default 'Send From' Account"
Hello Diane,
Is-it possible to script the adding of shared mailbox as a mailbox? the purpose is to deploye this option for a large of users. Thanks a lot for your help and I wish you a very new year 2017.
If the shared mailbox is enabled for automapping, it will be added to the users profile automatically. If you need it added as a separate profile, you might be able to using the office customization tool.
We have disabled the automapping and create a shared mailbox for each our 1200 users. The purpose is to add every shared mailbox created as an additional mailbox in the same profile of user. How we can do that automatically for 1200 users and avoid to passing on each workstation? your help will be appreciate
AFAIK, you can't, especially with Outlook 2016. Outlook 2013 still uses PRF files to automate profile configuration. Otherwise you are limited to whatever is supported in the OCT, and i believe it's pretty much nothing (it's been a while since i used it.)
Hello Diane,
Adding the shared mailbox to the profile as a mailbox is a good solution but is there a way to do that by script or any automatically way as I must do that for over 1500 users :( .
Thank's Diane for your help. It's much appreciate.
The only way would be if the OCT supports adding additional accounts, or if you use an older version that supports a PRF... but unless each user opens the same mailbox, this will require creating a custom prf for each user (they are editabled in notepad... but not supported in 2016)
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179097.aspx has information about the tool.
Hi I've done this same thing we are on office 365 and I've set up a shared mailbox that way, it works fine when its done but then after a few restarts of the computer and outlook its falling over and messages you send stay in outbox and says outlook data file cannot be accessed.
Did it where you add an additional account on to an existing one as the other way is not really a good option for us.
Hi,
Thanks for the valuable writeup. For our small-business office setup, as part of office365 mail setup (Small Business Premium), we were badly looking for a solution and came across this page that met our requirements and solved one of our major setup issues. (May be solution is existing in Microsoft pages that we could not find out).
Many Thanks.
Is there any way to set the default Reply To email programmatically? I have an application where I send Word docs using the Envelope object, which has only a small set of properties, not including SentOnBehalfOf. These documents need a different Reply To email. If I could programmatically change the default Reply To email, send the document, then set it back to the usual value, that would work.
To set the reply to, use this in the code:
Item.ReplyRecipients.Add "alias@example.com"
Item.ReplyRecipients.ResolveAll
If you wanted to use an itemsend macro, you'd use this - but it would apply to all mail unless you added an if statement to filter it.
Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
Item.ReplyRecipients.Add "alias@example.com"
Item.ReplyRecipients.ResolveAll
End Sub
Hi all!
I have Exchange 2016 standard and clients with Outlook 2010 - 2013
Have the same problem. Need to insert programmatically "travma1@domain.com" into field "Reply-to".
But i so far away from "coding".
Which code and where i have to insert to permanently send emails from PC with mailbox "user1@domain.com" which is a member of shared mailbox "travma1@domain.com".
you use the ReplyRecipients field in add recipients code.
item.ReplyRecipients.Add "alias@domain.com"
i don't have a database set up or the full code, so i can't test it fully (plus i'm on vacation :)), but this code works in word & sets the reply to address- it *should* work from Access too as long as the other fields work. Are you getting the reply to from a field? I wonder if it's not resolving?
Sub TestMacro()
ActiveWindow.EnvelopeVisible = True
ActiveDocument.MailEnvelope.Introduction = "Customer Project Reminder"
Set Itm = ActiveDocument.MailEnvelope.Item
Itm.To = "alias@domain.om"
Itm.Subject = "Test"
Itm.ReplyRecipients.Add "alias@example.com"
Itm.ReplyRecipients.ResolveAll
End Sub
So you wanted the sender address changed, not the reply to address? Sorry for misunderstanding.
SendonBehalfof is reliable, although it can depend on the account type - if using exchange, you need the correct permission on the address. if you display the address, do so after you set the From address.
Actually, I was just trying anything that would get the recipient's replies to go to a certain address. I think the original problem was that I used SentOnBehalfOf (no errors, but it didn't work). Then I looked it up in the Object Browser (should have done that first) and changed it to SentOnBehalfOfName, and that did work! Thanks for your help.
The Microsoft documentation on the EnvelopeItem (such as it is) is skimpy and inaccurate. It is a good thing we have Slipstick to turn to for sound advice.
Are the mailboxes still being automapped? Outlook is buggy if you add an automapped mailbox as an account too. If automapping was set to false, then they won't show up in outlook unless you add the account as an account or as a secondary account in account settings > more settings. Oh, are any of the shared mailboxes shared with other shared mailboxes?
No data file means the account is in outlook as a shared mailbox, not as an account.
When adding the accounts, add one at a time, restart outlook and use it for a bit to confirm it is working correctly before adding the next account.
Hi I followed the above procedure. But when checking name I received an error message "The name cannot be resolved"
Is the shared account hidden from the GAL? It needs to be visible. Another cause would be general network connectivity issues.
is it possible to configure shared mailbox as secondary if the user has got just editor access to the mailbox and its folders ?
Yes, they can add it to their account in File, Account Settings, double click their account, More Settings > Open additional mailboxes. They'll need View folder permission on the root of the mailbox to access the folders they have permission to.