On June 3, 2021, the Digital Workplace will implement an improvement that modifies the way sent messages are displayed in all University of Toronto (U of T) shared mailboxes in the Outlook desktop application.
By default, Microsoft has configured shared mailboxes in the Outlook desktop application so that email messages sent from shared mailbox accounts can only be viewed in the Sent Items folder of the email sender. This means that when multiple people use a single shared mailbox account to respond to inquiries, messages sent from the shared email address cannot be viewed in one single place: the sent message is distributed to the Sent Items folder of the sender and is not collected centrally in the Sent Items folder of the shared mailbox. This configuration can sometimes confuse individuals who wish to verify whether an email message has already been responded to by a colleague.
The solution the Digital Workplace team will implement on June 3 ensures that all emails sent from a shared mailbox will now appear in the Sent Items folder of the shared mailbox account. Additionally, emails sent from shared mailbox accounts will continue to appear in the Sent Items folder of the primary sender.
Note: this change only impacts shared mailboxes on the desktop version of Outlook.
For most shared mailbox users, this update to the shared mailbox Sent Items folder is seamless: you can view all items sent from a shared mailbox account in that account’s Sent Items folder in the Outlook desktop application. Additionally, you will continue to see the emails you send from a shared mailbox email address in your personal Sent Items folder.
However, if you or your local IT department has previously configured your computer with a workaround to the Microsoft configuration, you might see duplicate copies of sent messages in the Sent Items folder of your shared mailbox(es). If you are experiencing this issue, please contact your local IT support desk for assistance. If you are a Digital Workplace client, please submit a ticket via the Enterprise Service Centre.
No, the duplicate emails you see in your Sent Items folder are only copies of the same email. For example, if you send an email to Person A and later see two copies of that email in your Sent Items folder, the email was still only sent to Person A one time.
No. Although you will see an email sent from a shared mailbox in your personal and shared mailbox Sent Items folders, these emails are copies and are not linked. Therefore, if you wish to delete an email sent from a shared mailbox, you will have to delete it from your personal and shared mailbox Sent Items folders separately.
No, this change only impacts the desktop version of the Outlook application. If you use OWA for shared mailboxes, you will continue to see emails sent from that account in its Sent Items folder.