Office 365 Shared Mailbox Not Showing in Outlook? 5 Easy Fixes

Is your Microsoft Office 365 Shared Mailbox not showing in Outlook? If yes, then go through this guide and learn 5 different walkarounds to fix this issue. Without any further ado, let’s get started with an overview of shared mailboxes in Office 365.

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. 

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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.