I recently was asked how to connect a shared mailbox via IMAP to an Outlook client now this isn’t standard behavior or common practice as only a licensed user should access a mailbox. Now I know there are many resources online and suggestions out there but I am aiming to clear this one up using an Outlook 2016 client which does work with Office 365!

First of all create a shared mailbox, in this instance we are using shared@adam-hand.com. Then give full permissions as you normally would for a licensed account in this instance adam@adam-hand.com.

1. Open up the profile manager on Outlook
2. Add a new profile, and give it a name
3. Select “connect to a different account” in the bottom right hand corner
4. Select “Manual setup or additional server types
5. Select POP or IMAP
6. Fill out the following information
   • Your Name – What ever you want
   • Email address – shared@adam-hand.com
   • Account Type – IMAP
   • Incoming mail server – outlook.office365.com
   • Outgoing mail server – smtp.office365.com
   • User name – adam@adam-hand.com\shared@adam-hand.com
   • Password – The password for adam@adam-hand.com
   • Tick the box for remember password
   • Select the more settings button
   • Under the Outgoing Server tab select “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” and “Use same settings as my incoming mail server”
   • Select the Advanced tab
   • Under incoming server IMAP enter – 993 and SSL/TLS
   • Under Outgoing server (SMTP) enter – 587 and STARTTLS
   • Select Ok
7. Then Next and the test should pass successfully and you are good to go.