Forum Discussion
Tips/resources on managing Shared Mailboxes in New Outlook?
Hello
In the New Outlook Shared categories are no longer available on a Shared mailbox. At each and every client I have they rely quite heavily on shared mailboxes for client interactions.
Shared categories are used to distribute work in the team and reach consensus on who follows up. This is no longer working in the New Outlook. This makes centralized external communications via Outlook impossible. For small organisations, other software used by corporates is often seen as overkill. Teams is not an option given the fact that there are known external users and unkown users that you want to enable to reach the organisation in a simple and friendly way (Forms are not seen as customer friendly, nor Chatbots)
What solutions would you suggest?
Hi SaraBo
This is a significant challenge for organizations relying on shared mailboxes and categories for team collaboration. Here are some potential solutions and workarounds:
Immediate Mitigation Strategies:
Revert to Classic Outlook temporarily
Use PowerShell to maintain category functionality
Implement alternative tracking methodsCollaborative Tracking Alternatives:
SharePoint Lists
Create a shared tracking list
Integrate with Power Automate for workflow
Provides robust tracking and assignment capabilitiesPlanner or To-Do
Create shared task boards
Assign and track email-related tasks
Provides visibility across team membersCustom Development Approach:
Power Apps + Power Automate
Build a custom email tracking solution
Create workflows for email assignment
Integrate with existing Microsoft 365 infrastructureThx for your input Khaled, however for the cases I am facing this will not be enough. What we need is a more customercentric alternative for chatbots/automations in very small organisations I guess.
