IT ISSUE · IDENTITY AND ACCESS
Shared mailbox access missing
Access is usually inherited from a group somebody joined years ago, not granted to a person.Shared mailbox access is rarely granted to a person. It is usually inherited from a group somebody joined on their first day, which means the list of who can read the accounts inbox reflects a hiring decision from several years ago rather than a decision about the inbox.
What you may notice
- The mailbox has disappeared from Outlook.
- A new starter can't see what the rest of the team can.
- Someone can read the mail but can't send as the address.
- Access works on the web but not in the desktop app.
- The mailbox appears, then vanishes after a restart.
Check the permission, then check the list
We check the mailbox permissions, the group behind them, the licence state and how the account is connected in Outlook, which is usually enough to restore access quickly.
We'll also ask who should be on that list, because adding one more person to a group nobody has reviewed is the fastest way to make the problem bigger. That question takes a few minutes now and saves an awkward conversation later about who has been reading which inbox.