Nova Connect a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox
Connect a shared mailbox such as support@ or info@ through the sign-in of someone who is a member of it. The mailbox needs no password or licence of its own.
In the sidebar, open Settings, then choose Email Accounts under Communications. The page address is /settings/communications/email-accounts. New mailboxes are added on the Connect tab.
A Microsoft 365 shared mailbox (often support@, info@ or service@) has no password and needs no licence. Nova connects it through someone who is a member of it: that person signs in once, and Nova then reads and sends mail for the shared address. Nobody needs the mailbox's own password.
Before you start
- The person who signs in has to be a member of the shared mailbox. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, open Teams & groups, then Shared mailboxes, choose the mailbox and add them under Members. Microsoft can take up to an hour to give a new member access.
- Members added that way can also send as the mailbox. If a message from it fails to send with a note about Send As, ask your Microsoft administrator to give that person the Send As permission on the mailbox.
- Personal Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live addresses have no shared mailboxes. This works for work addresses on Microsoft 365.
- Nova asks Microsoft for two extra permissions for shared mailboxes. A company that approved Nova before may be asked to approve once more; see Get administrator approval for a Microsoft inbox.
Steps
- On the Connect tab, select the Microsoft card.
- Type the shared mailbox's address in Mailbox to connect.
- Under Who signs in?, choose It's a shared mailbox — someone with access signs in.
- Type the member's own work address in Sign in as. It has to be a person's address, not the shared mailbox itself.
- If Nova asks about your administrator, answer the question the same way as for any Microsoft mailbox.
- Select the button that reads Go to Microsoft and sign in as followed by the member's address, and sign in at Microsoft as that person. If Microsoft shows the permissions Nova needs, choose Accept.
What you see
Microsoft brings you back to Nova and the mailbox shows as connected. On the Inboxes tab its card reads Shared mailbox, followed by the member it is connected through.
Microsoft does not send live updates for a shared mailbox, so Nova checks it for new mail every 2 minutes. The card shows New mail with Checked every 2 minutes instead of the live-update details other mailboxes have.
Change who it is connected through
If the person it is connected through leaves, or stops being a member, open the mailbox's card, open the menu and choose Change who it's connected through. Type another member's address in Sign in as and sign in as them. Nova keeps the mailbox's mail and settings.
If something looks different
- Not done yet: wrong account, with an offer to connect the address as a shared mailbox: you signed in as yourself while connecting the shared address as a regular mailbox. Choose the offer to connect it through your sign-in.
- Nova says the person cannot open the mailbox: add them as a member in the Microsoft 365 admin center, wait up to an hour, then try again.
- Nova says there is no mailbox with that address: check the spelling. The address has to be the shared mailbox's own address in your company's Microsoft 365, not an alias.
- Later, the card says the member can no longer open this shared mailbox: they were removed from its members, or their sign-in stopped working. Use Change who it's connected through and sign in as anyone who is still a member.