Teams wanting to swiftly and effectively streamline communications can benefit from group emails and shared mailboxes.
This comparison examines the primary distinctions between a group email and a shared mailbox to help you choose which email solution will work for your team. Even if it’s challenging to decide which option best meets your team’s needs.
What Is a Group Email?
Group emails are emails sent to a group instead of one person. Group emails can also reach out to new customers and get them to sign up for your email list or receive regular updates from you.
Some email marketing software even allows you to design group emails in minutes to make the process easy and streamlined.
Group emailing is more effective when done in groups. As an illustration, if three new hires at the company require standard training materials, their manager can create a “new-hire” group and invite all new hires to it. When all recipients receive the same email message, choosing the “new-hire” group will save time over registering several email accounts.
What Is a Shared Mailbox?
A shared mailbox is a great way to stay in touch with your audience and promote your content. It’s a great way to build relationships with your audience and promote content while getting more engagement and increasing your reach on social media platforms.
Not everyone has the time or resources to manage their email marketing strategy. This is where email automation tools come in handy. They can help you send newsletters, share content, and even schedule emails for future delivery.
When managers grant access, specific members can send, receive, and control emails from a single email account. Teams can collaborate using shared mailboxes to streamline communication and speed up response times. When several team members need to use the same email account, such as orders@ or support@,
Group Email vs Shared Mailbox
Group email vs shared mailbox is a subject that has been discussed endlessly.
In the past, email was limited to sending and receiving messages between a single sender and receiver. However, the introduction of group email and shared mailboxes changed this. The primary difference is that group email allows multiple people to send emails simultaneously. In contrast, a shared mailbox only allows one person to send emails.
A group email is typically set up for a specific purpose, such as marketing or collaboration. A shared mailbox can be used for personal correspondence or work-related communication.
A shared inbox is a superior option for improving teamwork and assigning and delegating emails for obvious accountability. However, a group email would be more appropriate if all team members must be contacted concurrently.
Even though they are frequently free or inexpensive, group emails may lack capabilities that many teams consider crucial. Even though a shared mailbox may cost extra, your team will probably value its advantages.
What are the features of Shared Mailbox?
The email appears to have come from the shared mailbox rather than from the individual user when someone in the group replies to a message sent to the shared mailbox.
Below are some features of a shared mailbox:
Create a shared mailbox and add members
A shared mailbox is a resource that is accessible by all members of the team. It can be used for collaboration, sharing documents, or quick discussions. After being added to the shared mailbox, you can use the following permissions:
- Send As
- Send on Behalf
- Full Access
Use the EAC to edit shared mailbox delegation
The Exchange Admin Center (EAC) is a web-based tool that allows administrators to manage their Exchange servers easily. The EAC is a great place to find information about your Exchange organisation, including mailboxes and public folders.
The EAC has many valuable features when managing your organisation’s mailboxes and public folders. One of these features is the ability to change settings for shared mailbox delegation, allowing you to delegate access permissions on an individual basis.
Block sign-in for the shared mailbox account
There is an associated user account for each shared mailbox. Have you ever noticed that when you created the shared mailbox, you weren’t prompted for a password? The account has a password, but it was generated automatically (unknown). The account is not intended to be used to access the shared mailbox.
But what if an administrator just changes the shared mailbox user account’s password? What if someone manages to get hold of the shared mailbox account credentials? The user account could then log in to the shared mailbox and send emails. You must prohibit sign-in for the account connected to the shared mailbox if you want to avoid this.
Add the shared mailbox to Outlook.
The shared mailbox will automatically appear in your users’ Outlook apps once they close and restart Outlook if automapping is enabled in your company (which, by default, most people have set). The user’s mailbox, not the shared mailbox, is where automapping is set. If you try to utilise a security group to control access to the shared mailbox, you must provide rights. By default, automapping is enabled.
Use a shared mailbox on a mobile device (phone or tablet)
A shared mailbox is a mailbox that has been shared with other users of a device. This allows the user to access their mail from anywhere easily. The shared mailbox can be accessed through the web and mobile devices like phones and tablets. However, a shared mailbox can only be added to Outlook for iOS app or the Outlook for Android mobile app.
Use the shared calendar.
You automatically generated a shared calendar when you created the shared mailbox. Instead of using a SharePoint calendar to keep track of appointments and where individuals are, we prefer the shared mailbox calendar. Compared to a SharePoint calendar, a shared calendar is more uncomplicated and straightforward, providing a simple checklist of tasks that multiple people can complete simultaneously.
Conclusion
While group email is typically used in corporal teams or workspaces, the shared mailbox can be used for personal correspondence to work-related projects. Another distinction between group email and the shared mailbox is its cost; although group email is free, it lacks crucial capabilities that teams need to work productively. A shared mailbox may cost extra, but your teams would have advantages because of its features that are listed below:
- A shared mailbox allows block sign-ins which improves the security of the account.
- You can also add the shared mailbox to Outlook and access it on mobile devices such as phones and tablets.
- A shared calendar that is easier to use than SharePoint can be accessed.
FAQ
How many members can a shared mailbox have?
A shared mailbox is owned by multiple users and can be accessed by all users. Shared mailboxes are available in Exchange Online, Office 365 and Google Mail. The maximum number of members allowed to share a shared mailbox is 100.
How do I grant access to my shared mailbox?
To grant access to your shared mailbox, follow these steps:
- Log in with your email address and password.
- Click on the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page
- Select “Shared Mailboxes” from the drop-down menu
- Click on “Add Shared Mailbox”
- Enter a name for the shared mailbox and click “Create.”
- Add recipients by clicking “Add Recipient” in the top-right corner of that window.
How do I manage shared mailbox permissions?
To manage shared mailbox permissions, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the Mailbox Policies tab in the Exchange Admin Center.
- Select the Mailbox Policy you want to edit from the list of policies in the left-hand pane and select Edit from the Actions menu at the top of the screen. This will open a screen where you can make changes, such as changing permissions or removing a user from an organisation’s distribution list or blocking them altogether.
