Common Problems and Solutions for Sharing E-mails

Last updated: June 25, 2024
These instructions are only intended for MWS Customers. Non-MWS Users should visit https://itconnect.uw.edu/tools-services-support/software-computers/productivity-platforms/microsoft-productivity-platform/ for more information.

Many departments have a need for a shared e-mail address. There are several solutions for this kind of shared access, dependent on the particular use case that  needed by a department or division. We’ve identified some of the most common cases here. If you don’t see your use case reflected here or if you’re unsure which solution would work best for you, you can contact us by sending an e-mail to help@uw.edu.

Regardless of the use case, it’s important to note that the University of Washington prohibits sharing your personal netid password with anyone.

Use Cases

 Solution: For these kind of one-way communications, a mailing list is often the best solution. The University offers a mailman service. More information can be found here: Mailman

Solution: You can make your assistant a delegate on your Exchange account. As the person granting permission, you determine the level of access that the delegate has to your e-mail folders. You can grant a delegate permission to read items in your folders or to read, create, change, and delete items. By default the delegate has full access to your Calendar. Please note that users receiving delegated Calendar invites must join this UW Group: u_msca_enable_uw-forwarding-bypass or the forwarded invites will be incorrectly routed and will not arrive as intended. More information about delegates can be found here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/calendar-delegation-in-outlook-on-the-web-532e6410-ee80-42b5-9b1b-a09345ccef1b

Solution: The best solution is to create a Shared UW NetID Exchange mailbox.  Shared UW NetID Exchange mailboxes allow multiple users to share the same e-mail address.

Shared UW NetIDs are not automatically eligible for an Exchange mailbox. Any UW employee can provision a Shared UW NetID to make them eligible for an Exchange mailbox. You’ll then need to setup the permissions for people to access the mailbox. The rest of this page takes you through all those steps.

Prerequisite: Getting a Shared UW NetID

Any employee can request a Shared UW NetID. Having a Shared UW NetID is a pre-requisite for getting a Shared UW NetID Exchange mailbox.

Provision your Shared UW NetID for Exchange

Follow the instructions on this page to provision your share UW NetID for Exchange: Provision your Shared UW NetID for Exchange

Enable Access to the Shared Mailbox

  1. Create or identify a UW group which is setup to be Exchange-enabled.  Both the group-name and group-ID should be identical.
  2. Submit a request to help@uw.edu identifying that you’d like Managed Workstation to submit a request to grant access to the group from #1 “Full Access” and “Send As” permissions to the shared NetID Exchange mailbox (be sure to tell us the name of the Shared UW NetID).
    1. By default, mail sent from the Shared Exchange mailbox will be saved in the individual user’s Sent folder–if you’d like it to be saved in the Shared Exchange mailbox’s Sent folder, please let us know.
  3. After access has been granted, the group membership can be controlled by the group administrator or member manager, to reflect the UW NetIDs of those people who need access to the shared Exchange mailbox.
  4. Each user can add the shared Exchange mailbox in Outlook via the ‘Open Additional Mailboxes’ option under Advanced Mailbox settings. Managed Workstation would be happy to assist users with this step, if needed.

Solution: The best solution is to create a Shared UW NetID Exchange mailbox.  Shared UW NetID Exchange mailboxes allow multiple users to share the same e-mail address.

Shared UW NetIDs are not automatically eligible for an Exchange mailbox. Any UW employee can provision a Shared UW NetID to make them eligible for an Exchange mailbox. You’ll then need to setup the permissions for people to access the mailbox. The rest of this page takes you through all those steps.

Prerequisite: Getting a Shared UW NetID

Any employee can request a Shared UW NetID. Having a Shared UW NetID is a pre-requisite for getting a Shared UW NetID Exchange mailbox.

Provision your Shared UW NetID for Exchange

Follow the instructions on this page to provision your share UW NetID for Exchange: Provision your Shared UW NetID for Exchange

Enable Access to the Shared Mailbox

  1. Create or identify a UW group which is setup to be Exchange-enabled.  Both the group-name and group-ID should be identical.
  2. Submit a request to help@uw.edu identifying that you’d like Managed Workstation to submit a request to grant access to the group from #1 “Full Access” and “Send As” permissions to the shared NetID Exchange mailbox (be sure to tell us the name of the Shared UW NetID).
    1. By default, mail sent from the Shared Exchange mailbox will be saved in the individual user’s Sent folder–if you’d like it to be saved in the Shared Exchange mailbox’s Sent folder, please let us know.
  3. After access has been granted, the group membership can be controlled by the group administrator or member manager, to reflect the UW NetIDs of those people who need access to the shared Exchange mailbox.
  4. Each user can add the shared Exchange mailbox in Outlook via the ‘Open Additional Mailboxes’ option under Advanced Mailbox settings. Managed Workstation would be happy to assist users with this step, if needed.

Solution: The best solution is to create a Shared UW NetID Exchange mailbox.  Shared UW NetID Exchange mailboxes allow multiple users to share the same e-mail address.

Shared UW NetIDs are not automatically eligible for an Exchange mailbox. Any UW employee can provision a Shared UW NetID to make them eligible for an Exchange mailbox. You’ll then need to setup the permissions for people to access the mailbox. The rest of this page takes you through all those steps.

Prerequisite: Getting a Shared UW NetID

Any employee can request a Shared UW NetID. Having a Shared UW NetID is a pre-requisite for getting a Shared UW NetID Exchange mailbox.

Provision your Shared UW NetID for Exchange

Follow the instructions on this page to provision your share UW NetID for Exchange: Provision your Shared UW NetID for Exchange

Enable Access to the Shared Mailbox

  1. Create or identify a UW group which is setup to be Exchange-enabled.  Both the group-name and group-ID should be identical.
  2. Submit a request to help@uw.edu identifying that you’d like Managed Workstation to submit a request to grant access to the group from #1 “Full Access” and “Send As” permissions to the shared NetID Exchange mailbox (be sure to tell us the name of the Shared UW NetID).
    1. By default, mail sent from the Shared Exchange mailbox will be saved in the individual user’s Sent folder–if you’d like it to be saved in the Shared Exchange mailbox’s Sent folder, please let us know.
  3. After access has been granted, the group membership can be controlled by the group administrator or member manager, to reflect the UW NetIDs of those people who need access to the shared Exchange mailbox.
  4. Each user can add the shared Exchange mailbox in Outlook via the ‘Open Additional Mailboxes’ option under Advanced Mailbox settings. Managed Workstation would be happy to assist users with this step, if needed.

Solution: Microsoft no longer supports adding multiple accounts to Outlook, using different credentials for each account. Instead, you’ll need to be granted “Full Access” and “Send As” permissions to the account and then add it to your machine as an additional mailbox.

These instructions assume that you already have an Exchange-enabled Shared Netid.

Enable Access to the Shared Mailbox

  1. Create or identify a UW group which is setup to be Exchange-enabled.  Both the group-name and group-ID should be identical.
  2. Submit a request to help@uw.edu identifying that you’d like Managed Workstation to submit a request to grant access to the group from #1 “Full Access” and “Send As” permissions to the shared NetID Exchange mailbox (be sure to tell us the name of the Shared UW NetID).
    1. By default, mail sent from the Shared Exchange mailbox will be saved in the individual user’s Sent folder–if you’d like it to be saved in the Shared Exchange mailbox’s Sent folder, please let us know.
  3. After access has been granted, the group membership can be controlled by the group administrator or member manager, to reflect the UW NetIDs of those people who need access to the shared Exchange mailbox.
  4. Each user can add the shared Exchange mailbox in Outlook via the ‘Open Additional Mailboxes’ option under Advanced Mailbox settings. Managed Workstation would be happy to assist users with this step, if needed.