In this tutorial, I discuss the common troubleshooting tactics you can use to fix the issue yourself.

What is the Outbox? Where Shared Mailbox Messages Get Stuck?

Outbox is a temporary folder hidden from view. When you are sending a message, the Office 365 email puts the message there. If all the criteria and permissions match your digital mail carrier, take the message to the destination.

However, the message gets stuck in your own personal Outbox. It never leaves your application because the server stops it.

Why Are My Office 365 Shared Mailbox Emails Stuck in the Outbox?

The message you are sending is larger than the maximum permissible size. By default, the message size constraint for a Shared mailbox is:

• 35840 KB for Sent messages.
• 36864 KB for Received messages.

Although administrators can edit these, they can only choose a value that lies between 0 and 153600 KB  ~ 150 MB.

If your message exceeds the value the admin has set, then Office 365 Shared Mailbox emails are stuck in the Outbox.

Office 365 Shared Mailbox emails are also found to be stuck in the Outbox when the local OST file gets damaged or corrupted. Outlook fails to process the outgoing mail.

Another common scenario is that there are too many people trying to access/use the shared mailbox simultaneously. When more than 25 people attempt to send emails from the same shared mailbox address. It puts some of the messages in the Outbox queue to be sent when there is less strain on the mailbox.

During the Shared mailbox assignment, the administrator deliberately gave you just the “Read and manage” permissions. In other words, you lack the “Full access” permission required to send messages from any shared mailbox.

To add the correct Permissions, we have 3 methods; use the one that you are most comfortable with.

Method 1: Using the Microsoft 365 Admin Center

On the main Microsoft 365 Admin Center page, the steps are as follows:

• Step 1. Log in to the admin center, expand the Teams & groups tab from the left-hand pane, and select Shared mailboxes.
• Step 2. Search for and select the particular mailbox for which you are assigning permissions.
• Step 3. In the pane that appears, you will see categories for mailbox permissions. Add the user’s email address to the required categories:
  • Read and manage permissions
  • Send as permissions
  • Send on behalf of permissions (Optional but recommended)
• Step 4. Click on the permission type you wish to grant, then click + Add permissions.
• Step 5. Select the user’s name and click Add.

The fixes to Office 365 Shared Mailbox emails are stuck in the Outbox, won’t be immediate, wait for a while, and also ask the user to log in again/refresh their browser/or close and reopen the Outlook client.

Method 2: Using the Exchange Admin Center (EAC)

Here is what your admin needs to do if they choose the EAC route:

• Step 1. Log in to the Exchange Admin Center, expand Recipients, and select Mailboxes.
• Step 2. Use the filter to display only Shared Mailboxes.
• Step 3. Select the shared mailbox you want to manage.
• Step 4. Switch to the Delegation tab and click Edit under Read and manage (Full Access).
• Step 5. Click + Add members.
• Step 6. Search or scroll for the user account(s), mark the checkbox next to their name, and click Save.
• Step 7. Wait for a few minutes for the role assignment to finish. Then, ask the user to sign out and sign back in before sending an email again

Method 3: PowerShell to Fix Office 365 Shared Mailbox Emails are stuck in the Outbox

I have seen some users complain that reassigning permissions using the admin center doesn’t make any difference. So we suggest a more powerful way to make the permission reassignment. These are PowerShell commands.

Step 1. Connect a local PowerShell instance with the Exchange Online environment.

Step 2. Then, remove any existing permissions (we do this as they are not working for some reason):

Remove-MailboxPermission -Identity “YourSharedMailbox@comanydomain.com” -User “User1@companydomain.com” -AccessRights FullAccess

Use this command in particular to give the permissions that can release Office 365 Shared Mailbox emails stuck in the Outbox:

Add-MailboxPermission -Identity “YourSharedMailbox@comanydomain.com” -User “User1@companydomain.com” -AccessRights FullAccess -AutoMapping:$false

Make sure you replace the placeholder variables with your own credentials.

We keep the “-AutoMapping” flag off to prevent Outlook from starting its own request, as this is a major source of the issue.

Instead, what we do is add the same Shared Mailbox to users’ classic client manually:

File > Account Settings > Change > More Settings > Advanced > Open these additional mailboxes.

Try and send an email as a test. Make sure you pull the “From address” from the Online Global Address List to prevent any cache issues. Moreover, it is possible that your Office 365 Shared Mailbox emails are stuck in the Outbox, not because you lack the permissions, but because there is something else that isn’t working. Most of the time, it is the local client.

Method 4: Fix Local Profile Corruption in O365 Clients.

Both new and classic editions of the Office 365 desktop email client use local profiles to manage your email on your device.

If any external factors, like a faulty add-on or a virus/malware attack on your device, can damage it, try these steps to remove a stuck email from the Outbox of Outlook

Best Practices When Office 365 Shared Mailbox Emails Are Stuck in the Outbox

Admins should limit the shared mailbox access to 2-5 members, not more.

Users should be aware of the per-email size limits and draft their emails accordingly. Plus, they should pause all mail activity on that particular shared mailbox.

Also, Shared Mailboxes have a non-expanding 50 GB cap. When this maximum capacity is reached, it becomes impossible to send new emails. You have to delete some old conversations to make space for new ones.

Instead of deleting, you can use the SysTools Office 365 Backup and Restore Utility. This tool allows you to save a copy of all your official conversations that took place over the Office 365 shared mailbox. Download and use the tool.

Sometimes, if the issues fail to be fixed even after multiple attempts, admins may have to take a call to delete and create a new Shared Mailbox in Office 365 again.

Conclusion

Here we saw what to do if you see Office 365 Shared Mailbox emails are stuck in the Outbox. Just fix the exact issue that is causing the problem: Get the Full access + send on behalf permissions. Keep message size manageable, communicate with other users so that shared mailbox access does not clash, and of course, keep your OST file healthy. Once you carry out these tasks, emails should not get stuck.

The post Fix “Office 365 Shared Mailbox Emails Are Stuck in Outbox” Problem appeared first on SysTools Tech Blog.

A Shared Mailbox is a mailbox that can be accessed by all the users who have been granted permission to access it. Every user can read and send emails depending on the permission provided by the admin. We can also say that a shared mailbox is a centralized service that allows multiple users to work in a synchronized manner.

Assigned users can access these shared mailboxes in their Outlook application. However, some users face issues while accessing a shared mailbox in the MS Outlook application. Therefore, in this blog, we will be presenting the solutions for the common issue faced by many users, that is, “Office 365 Shared Mailbox not showing in Outlook application (desktop)”.

Like Leeman Tanacio, multiple other Office 365 users face difficulty as their Office 365 shared mailbox is also not visible in their desktop Outlook, whereas it’s visible in the Outlook web app.

First of all, let us figure out the causes behind this issue.

Why isn’t My Shared Mailbox Showing up in Outlook?

Automapping Failure: Outlook has an innate ability to reflect all server-side/admin-made changes directly into the user-facing client. However, your Outlook’s automapping feature may be malfunctioning.

Missing Adequate Permissions: When admins create a new shared mailbox in Office 365, they may not assign you the Full Access permission. Instead, you got the read-only permission.

Exchange Cache Mode Issues: Outlook is programmed to save a copy of your mailbox image in its local repository to maintain access in case of network issues. Sometimes this Exchange server copy gets corrupted or fails to update to reflect the latest changes.

Old Outlook Client: The classic Outlook client’s end-of-life date has already been announced. Moreover, in many new computers, the older Outlook editions have hidden, unpatched bugs that prevent the shared mailbox from appearing.

Outlook Profile Corruption: The Outlook client maintains a local profile of the account you have set up. Malicious attacks, internal hardware issues, or user negligence can negatively affect the Outlook profile, which can cascade into issues like invisible shared mailboxes. 

Checking the Wrong Place: This is a problem in the desktop Outlook client, where users have added more than one account. They may be looking for the shared mailbox at a place where it is never supposed to appear! 

Hidden Manually: Outlook has many folder management options, one of which is to hide certain folders from appearing on the Folder list pane. It is possible you hid it before and forgot about it.

Shared Mailbox Deleted: Admins may have deleted the Shared Mailbox.

These are just some of the issues. It is possible that you face an entirely novel issue that is stopping you from viewing the shared mailboxes. So to resolve it, you must follow the different workarounds I have compiled in the same order they appear.

What to Do When a Shared Mailbox Is Not Visible in the New Outlook?

Start by verifying that you are looking in the correct account’s Shared with me section. Switch if necessary. 

If you still don’t see the shared mailbox in any of your accounts, contact the admin. Only they can tell you for sure if you have been given access to a shared mailbox or not. If the admin’s response is positive that yes you are a member of the shared mailbox, wait for a while. 

Close and reopen >> Sign out and log back in to the new Outlook client. Then, try manually adding the missing shared mailbox.

Step 1. Hover over your account and tap on the 3 horizontal dots or right-click.

Step 2. In the fly-out menu, click Add shared folder or mailbox.

Step 3. Type in the shared mailbox name or select it from the list > Then press Continue.

Step 4. Outlook will perform a permission check; if it passes, the mailbox gets added; if it fails, contact the admin. Failure to add usually means you are not part of the shared mailbox.

Unhide Shared Mailboxes In the New Outlook Client

Like we told you in the reasons, there is a strong chance that you still have access to the shared mailbox; it’s just that it’s hidden from view. To undo it, follow these steps.

• Step 1. Open the new Outlook client.
• Step 2. Click on Settings cog
• Step 3. In the Settings window, open Accounts, then Shared with me.
• Step 4. Select the account from the dropdown.
• Step 5. Expand the hidden Shared Mailbox and click on Show in folder list.

Close Settings and check the folder pane; you should see the previously invisible Shared with me folder.

Adding a Shared Mailbox in Classic Outlook

Generally, the shared mailbox should automatically come up when a user configures their account in Outlook. If it’s coming in an Online web App but not visible in the Outlook desktop App, then this would probably be due to server-level problems. Otherwise, Outlook will give you an error message ‘The folder you selected is not available. So, to solve such issues, users can manually add a mailbox to their account. Follow the procedure below:

Step 1. Open the Desktop Outlook Application, and go to File tab >> Account Settings >> Account Settings…

Step 2. Now, select your Office 365 account profile and then click on the Change button.

Step 3. From the Change Account window, click on the “More Settings” button

Step 4. Now, go to the “Advanced” tab and click on the Add button.

Step 5. Enter the name or address of the shared mailbox and click OK.

After configuration, a shared mailbox will automatically be visible in the left pane of Outlook. (If you have full rights to this shared mailbox)

Troubleshooting Shared Mailbox Synchronization in Desktop Outlook

There is a wide range of technical issues that a shared mailbox might suffer from. If there is a problem with synchronization of the shared mailbox, then try to disconnect and reconnect the Shared Mailbox in desktop Outlook. The following are the quick steps to disconnect and then reconnect the shared mailbox to your Outlook profile:

Step 1. First, completely close the MS Outlook application.

Step 2. Then, go to Start >> Control Panel >> Click on the Mail option.

Step 3. From the mail setup pop-up window, click on Email accounts.

Step 4. Now, choose your Office 365 account and then click on the Change button.

Step 5. Next, click on “More Settings”.

Step 6. Go to the Advanced tab and then click on the Remove button.

Close and reopen Outlook again and reconnect the shared mailbox by following the procedure in previous workaround.

Step 1. Go to File tab >> Options>> Advanced tab.

Step 2. From the advanced tab, check the “Enable troubleshooting logging” and click on the OK button.

Step 3. Restart Outlook and go to the temporary folder option. View the recent log file for the possible error causing such a problem. You can further investigate other problems that might be causing the Office 365 shared mailbox not showing in Outlook issue. Or, see Workaround 3 for fixing this problem completely.

Exporting a Shared Mailbox from Office 365

The above two workarounds should be able to solve your problem. If you are still facing this issue – Office 365 shared mailbox not visible in Outlook, then it’s a possibility that the shared mailbox access failed due to some unknown error. In this case, you can take the help of a professional tool to fix this issue. 

With the help of the SysTools Office 365 to Office 365 Migration Tool, you can easily migrate a shared mailbox to a user mailbox or another shared mailbox. In this way, you regain access to data. Moreover, the software allows you to migrate an Office 365 mailbox to another user account. 

Download Now Purchase Now

Here are the steps to fix the Office 365 shared mailbox not showing in Outlook:

• Step 1. Download, install, & Launch the Software. 
• Step 2. Choose Office 365 as the Source & Destination.
• Step 3. Set Required Mailbox Workload  & Apply Date Filter.
• Step 4. Log in with Credentials & Validate Permissions. 
• Step 5. Add Shared Mailboxes & Click on the Start Button.

Conclusion

This blog carries the solution to the query “Office 365 shared mailbox not showing in Outlook”. We have covered three workarounds as a solution to the query. The first 2 workarounds are the most general reasons and will probably solve the issue. If the problem is not resolved, then there are chances of unknown errors in a shared mailbox. In that case, you can simply migrate the shared mailbox data using the above-mentioned tool or contact the System Administrator for the reconfiguration of the shared mailbox.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Can I repair the Outlook app to make the shared mailboxes visible again?

Yes, this is a viable tactic if you believe there are some problems with your Outlook app. 

Windows Settings > Apps > Outlook > Advanced options > Repair.

Q. Does the Outlook client have a limit on how many Shared folders it can show?

No, but practically the more folders you have, the more resources Outlook needs to keep everything functional. So even if a Shared folder exists and you have all the necessary permissions. The sheer volume of data prevents everything from loading.

The post Office 365 Shared Mailbox Not Showing in Outlook? 5 Easy Fixes appeared first on SysTools Tech Blog.

In the previous update, users had to contact Microsoft whenever the 100 GB storage quota was exceeded to get more storage space. With the new update, Microsoft has eliminated this feature, and a new auto-expanding archiving feature has been introduced.

Let’s learn about this feature in detail to understand what changes have been made.

Changes Made with In-Place Archive Office 365 Storage

The biggest change with the new update is that when a user connects with Microsoft to get additional storage, they can get up to 1.5 TB of storage space.

Whenever the quota in the Archive mailbox is exceeded, the size of the mailbox is automatically increased until it reaches the limit of 1.5 TB.

Point to Note: Shared mailboxes are also supported by the auto-expanding archiving feature. You should have an Exchange Online Plan 2 or 1 license along with an Exchange Online Archiving license.

Take a look at how the auto-expanding in-place archive Office 365 storage feature works.

Auto-Expanding Feature and Its Working

When the auto-expanding feature is enabled to get additional storage after the mailbox space is exceeded, storage space is automatically inserted in the mailbox.

This feature periodically goes through the size of the archive mailbox, and when the archive gets close to its storage limit, it will create additional space for new emails.

Also Read: See Why Google Vault Export is Stuck at 95 % and How to Fix it

The same process stays on the loop until the limit of 1.5 TB of storage space is reached, and the admin doesn’t have to request the storage space.

What Does In-Place Archive Office 365 Storage Include & How to Enable it?

The auto-expanding archiving feature can be used efficiently by Microsoft 365 by deciding which folders are to be moved to the archive mailbox.

At times when you move a folder, this facility creates one or more subfolders inside the main folder, which are later listed when the archive portion is viewed.

In these subfolders are the items of the original folders distributed during the moving process. The naming pattern of these subfolders is <folder name> _yyyy (created on mmm dd, yyy h_mm).

Here in the in-place archive Office 365 storage, yyy is the year the messages were received, mmm dd, yyy, h_m is the date and time of the creation of the subfolder in UTC format. The format looks something like this:

With the help of this in-place archive Office 365 storage feature, the content can be distributed to an auxiliary archive. But the items moved to the subfolders might not always be the case. There are times when an entire folder is moved to the auxiliary archive.

This folder, stored in the auxiliary in-place archive Office 365 storage, retains its original name and is not apparent in the Outlook folder list.

Step 1. Open PowerShell and install the ExchangeOnlineManagement module if needed:

Install-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement

Step 2. Then, Connect to Exchange Online:

Import-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement
Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName <your admin UPN>
Enter your admin credentials when prompted.

Step 3. To, Enable Auto-Expanding Archiving you have two options:

3.1 For Entire Organization:

Set-OrganizationConfig -AutoExpandingArchive

3.2 Or, For Specific User:

Enable-Mailbox -Identity <user> -AutoExpandingArchive
Replace <user> with the user's email address or UPN.

Note: For hybrid with on-premises primary and cloud archive, use the organization command. For all cloud mailboxes, use the user-specific command.

Step 4. Finally, Verify the Setting:

4.1 Organization:

Get-OrganizationConfig | Format-List AutoExpandingArchiveEnabled
Confirm AutoExpandingArchiveEnabled : True.

4.2 Specific User:

Get-Mailbox -Identity <user> | Format-List AutoExpandingArchiveEnabled
Confirm AutoExpandingArchiveEnabled : True.

4.3 Inactive Mailboxes:

Get-Mailbox -InactiveMailboxOnly | Format-List UserPrincipalName,AutoExpandingArchiveEnabled

Requirements for Outlook to Access Items in the Auto-Expanding Feature

The data that is stored in the auto-expanded archive mailbox, Outlook users should have one of the following clients:

• Outlook 2019 or 2016 versions for Windows or Mac
• Outlook on the web

Important Point: If you have mailboxes used for an individual user (or shared mailboxes), only then you can use the auto-expanding archiving feature. Also, the mailbox should have a growth rate below 1 GB per day and the in-place archive Office 365 storage will only be intended for just one user. Users are not permitted to copy emails to the archive mailbox by using journaling, transport rules, or auto-forwarding rules. Moreover, Microsoft has all the rights to deny any additional archiving requests to store other user’s data in your archive mailbox or in cases of inappropriate use.

More Important Points of the Auto-Expand Archiving

• The archiving feature enables a user or shared mailbox to create 100 GB of space, and the warning quota is set to 90 GB.
• The in-place archive Office 365 storage auto-expanding feature allows archiving the mailbox along with the Recoverable Items folder. When this archiving mailbox reaches 90 GB, the auto-expanding archive is activated and adds 100 GB of storage space. It takes up to 30 days to provision the additional storage.
• If the mailbox is put on hold or a retention policy is assigned, the storage limit is exceeded by 110 GB.

Note: If you want to export data from the archive mailbox, you can go for the Office 365 Export Tool. It will help you to download the data from your archive mailbox to the desired location.

Wrapping Up

The in-place archive Office 365 storage feature can be used to move the data from the mailbox to the in-place archive mailbox. The updated feature of the archive mailbox automatically adds storage in the archive mailbox when the limit is reached.

Also Read: Steps to  Migrate Emails from Sapo Mail to Gmail

With the auto-expanding archiving feature, the quota limit is set to 90 GB activates the archive feature whenever this limit is close to adding space without having to contact Microsoft.

The post In-place Archive Office 365 Storage – What Are the Updates? appeared first on SysTools Tech Blog.