Shared mailboxes

Shared mailboxes can be used either by a group of people – such as an HR team answering the same email enquiries – or by an individual with a specific named role – such as bursar@st.botolphs.cam.ac.uk.

If you are looking for emails to be sent to a group of personal mailboxes then a mail distribution group would be more suitable. Local IT staff have access to create these via the BLUE Toolkit – contact your local IT support if you need either a new shared mailbox or distribution group to be set up. If you don't have an IT support team at your institution, please contact the UIS service desk.

Connecting to a shared mailbox

Microsoft instructions for adding a shared mailbox in Outlook on the web

Microsoft instructions for adding a shared mailbox in Outlook Mobile

If using Outlook for the PC follow the same instructions as for adding a personal account, but enter the shared mailbox address for the email address and enter your own CRSid@cam.ac.uk credentials when prompted to sign-in.

Microsoft instructions for adding a shared mailbox in Outlook for Mac

For other desktop mail apps that support modern authentication, use the following settings to connect to a shared mailbox that you have authority to access. In this example, your username is your individual mailbox in the format [CRSid]@cam.ac.uk and the shared mailbox is in the format [mailbox]@[domain].cam.ac.uk.

IMAP

• IMAP server: outlook.office365.com
• IMAP port: 993
• IMAP connection security: SSL/TLS
• IMAP username: [mailbox]@[domain].cam.ac.uk
• IMAP authentication method: OAuth2

SMTP

• SMTP server: smtp.office365.com
• SMTP port: 587
• SMTP connection security: STARTTLS
• SMTP username: [CRSid]@cam.ac.uk
• SMTP authentication method: OAuth2

When authenticating, you'll see the usual Cambridge University screen for your username, password and then multi-factor authentication (MFA). You must ensure that your username on that screen is [CRSid]@cam.ac.uk, not [mailbox]@[domain].cam.ac.uk.

How to set up your Exchange Online mailbox with an @cam subdomain email address – such as @botolphs.cam.ac.uk – using the Outlook Windows desktop client.

In most cases, following the standard Microsoft instructions will work, but for older versions of Outlook or devices on a managed network you may see an error that an encrypted connection cannot be made:

encryptedconnection.png

In this case follow these instructions to fix the AutoDiscover issue:

1. If you haven't already done so, download and run this configuration script:

   ExchangeOnline.msi

2. With Outlook closed, open regedit and  browse to:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0(or 15.0 for 2013 etc)\Outlook\AutoDiscover

3. Copy the cam.ac.uk registry string’s value data
    
4. Create a new string value (right click > new > string value) and name it the domain you want e.g. botolphs.cam.ac.uk
    
5. Right click on the created string and choose Modify
    
6. Paste the value data into the value data field
    
7. This should now work and follow your roaming profile around.

Registry key needed for each domain

You'll need a key for each domain. For example if I had an @lib.cam.ac.uk shared mailbox but my main mailbox was @cam.ac.uk, I'd need two registry keys.

DO NOT delete your @cam registry key.