A Microsoft 365 shared mailbox connects to Sektra when a person with access to it signs in with Microsoft and enters the shared address. The mailbox stays in Microsoft 365; Sektra adds ownership, notes, assignment, the memory layer and the assistant on top, and keeps categories, flags and read state in step.
What a shared mailbox is
A shared mailbox is a Microsoft 365 mailbox with its own address, such as support@yourcompany.com, that several people open from their own accounts. It has no password of its own. An admin creates it and grants people access, and each person sees it in Outlook next to their personal mailbox. The mailbox does not need a license of its own; the people who use it do.
Before you start
- One person who will do the connecting needs access to the shared mailbox, granted by the Microsoft 365 admin under Teams and groups, then Shared mailboxes. Full access lets Sektra read and organize it; send permission lets the team reply from Sektra as the shared address.
- If your tenant restricts third-party apps, the admin has to approve Sektra once. Sektra shows the exact message when this is needed: Your Microsoft 365 admin has to approve Sektra before you can connect.
- Start the connection
Go to Settings, then Inboxes, and choose Connect an inbox. Pick Microsoft 365.
- Choose Shared
A shared mailbox is worked by the team, so pick Shared as the inbox type. Then choose the read state: Shared (read by one teammate is read for all, and in Outlook) or Separate (each teammate has their own). This choice is permanent for the inbox.
- Enter the shared mailbox address
Type the shared mailbox's own address, not your personal one. The dialog says it plainly: Shared mailbox? Enter its address and sign in with an account that has access to it.
- Set import and sync
Import earlier emails brings in the mailbox's history. The sync toggles decide whether archive, trash, and everything else (flags, categories and read state) move from Sektra back to Outlook.
- Sign in with Microsoft
Sign in with your own Microsoft 365 account, the one that has access to the shared mailbox. If Microsoft asks for admin approval, forward the request to your admin and try again once it is granted.
- Give teammates access
Open the new inbox under Settings, Inboxes, and use Manage access to pick who can read and reply from it. Everyone keeps their own Sektra login.
What stays in sync
Outlook categories become Sektra tags, flags become stars, and read state moves both ways. Microsoft's Focused and Other split is one input to Sektra's own priority scoring, so promotional mail stays out of the way. Archive and trash follow their toggles.