[TIP] Add Shared Mailbox to Outlook on Android

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

Create a shared mailbox in the O365 admin control panel, if you don't have it already created. Add the users that need permission. Then go to the Users\Active users and click reset password. Set it to whatever you want. You do not add a license to this account.

It may take awhile for the account to provision. I waited until it popped up in Outlook on my desktop.
Then add an account like normal in Outlook for Android using the newly created password. The calendar doesn't seem to sync, but email works. This is better than having to use the native email app workaround. May work for iOS as well, but I don't have a way to test.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Nine... it is your friend... all other mobile mail clients bow to its prowess.

Also, direct logins to a shared mailbox are not supported, and actively not supposed to work. Your attempt here if functional indicates a huge fault in O365 security. The Azure AD account associated with a shared mailbox is marked as disabled, no authentication at the directory should be possible against a shared mailbox as a result.

The only way to make a shared mailbox work on mobile devices I'm aware of is to make it a full paid mailbox, and share the credentials for it. That's not free, so you get to buy a user because MS for some reason thinks shared mailboxes shouldn't be useful for mobile.

What I do, is use Nine, because it has the ability to sync arbitrary folders, and not just the inbox. I can configure Outlook to deliver a copy of mail destined to the shared mailbox to a specified sub-folder in the user's mailbox that Nine can then sync. It's not perfect because there's no way to send as the shared mailbox, but at least users can receive from them. The annoying part is this basically makes a shared mailbox a distribution list, which defeats the purpose. But mobile workers are mobile.

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

Nine... it is your friend... all other mobile mail clients bow to its prowess.

Also, direct logins to a shared mailbox are not supported, and actively not supposed to work. Your attempt here if functional indicates a huge fault in O365 security. The Azure AD account associated with a shared mailbox is marked as disabled, no authentication at the directory should be possible against a shared mailbox as a result.

The only way to make a shared mailbox work on mobile devices I'm aware of is to make it a full paid mailbox, and share the credentials for it. That's not free, so you get to buy a user because MS for some reason thinks shared mailboxes shouldn't be useful for mobile.

What I do, is use Nine, because it has the ability to sync arbitrary folders, and not just the inbox. I can configure Outlook to deliver a copy of mail destined to the shared mailbox to a specified sub-folder in the user's mailbox that Nine can then sync. It's not perfect because there's no way to send as the shared mailbox, but at least users can receive from them. The annoying part is this basically makes a shared mailbox a distribution list, which defeats the purpose. But mobile workers are mobile.

I agree it shouldn't work and there is no password by default, which is why it doesn't work when trying to add the account like a full mailbox.
But creating a password via the reset password option works and allows you to add the account like any other full mailbox, although without a calendar.

Also, you can add the shared mailbox as an IMAP account by authenticating with a full mailbox user without going through the process of creating a password for the shared mailbox. I've been using this method for years.

Name : whatever you want
E-mail: sharedmailbox@domain.com

IMAP:
Host: outlook.office365.com
Username: your_primary_login@domain.com\sharedmailbox
Password: your pass

SMTP
Host: smtp.office365.com:587
Username: your_primary_login@domain.com
Password: your pass

 

[Sky-Knight]

IMAP doesn't support multifactor, and leaves your clients disastrously exposed. More to the point, once again I point out that the user account is DISABLED in AAD. Which means it doesn't work, and if it does that's a bug, a HUGE ONE, not a feature.

Could you imagine being able to authenticate via a disabled account in an onprem domain? That's what you're reporting here. And again if this works, you need to report it to MS tech support so they can fix it.

 

[fencepost]

Just chiming in to second the recommendation for Nine. I don't remember how long ago I bought it, but it's amazing and I feel like I should buy another copy just because it's so great (and there's no long-term revenue setup in most of these programs). Updated regularly, etc.

I currently have it connecting to two separate Exchange accounts and one "Exchange" (Open-Xchange via Namecheap) and it's rock solid.