A team email address is one address that two or three of you can read and answer, like hello@yourfirm.com or office@yourfirm.com. Mail to it reaches everyone who needs it. Replies go out under the firm’s name. You set one up inside the Gmail or Microsoft 365 account you already pay for, usually as a shared mailbox in Microsoft 365 or a Google Group in Google Workspace. Neither one costs a new seat. All of it was checked against Microsoft’s and Google’s own documentation on October 4, 2026.
That’s the short answer to the team mail question. The rest of this page is the longer one: the four shapes a team address can take, how to build each, and where each one starts to strain.
The four kinds of team email address
Every team address is one of four things underneath. They differ in where the mail lands and whose name goes out on the reply.
| Kind | Where the mail lands | Who the reply comes from | Can you see who’s handling it? | Extra cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alias | One person’s own inbox | That person, or the alias if set up to send as it | No, only one person sees it | None |
| Group or distribution list | A copy in every member’s inbox | Each member, from their own address | No | None |
| Shared mailbox | One mailbox everyone opens | The shared address | Only by asking each other | None up to 50 GB on Microsoft 365 |
| Shared inbox tool | One queue inside a separate product | The shared address | Yes, with assignment and status | A seat per person |
An alias is a second address on one person’s mailbox. It suits a role one person covers, like billing@ on the bookkeeper’s account.
A group copies each message to every member. Microsoft describes distribution groups as best for when you “need to broadcast information to a set group of people” (Microsoft Learn, checked October 4, 2026). That’s a fine way to make sure nobody misses a message. It’s also how two people end up answering it.
A shared mailbox is one mailbox with one copy of each message. Everyone sees the same thing, so a reply one of you sends shows up for the other.
A shared inbox tool adds the missing piece, which is a name against each thread. Front and Missive are in this group. Whether a firm your size needs one is its own question, and the honest answer is often no.
Which kind of team mail fits two or three people
For most small firms the choice comes down to this:
- One person really answers the address. Use an alias. It’s free and it’s done in a minute.
- Any of you might answer, and you’re on Microsoft 365. Use a shared mailbox.
- Any of you might answer, and you’re on Google Workspace. Use a Google Group set up as a Collaborative Inbox.
- Someone outside the firm needs in. On Microsoft 365, that rules out a shared mailbox. A Microsoft 365 group can take guests if your admin turns that on.
- You want a name on every thread and a record of response times. That’s when a shared inbox tool earns its seat price.
If the trouble is mail landing at each person’s own address and slipping between you, a team address won’t reach it. When an email falls through the cracks between you is the closer diagnosis.
How to set up a team email address on Microsoft 365
A shared mailbox takes about ten minutes. You’ll need someone with the Exchange admin role.
- In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Teams & Groups, then Shared mailboxes.
- Select Add a shared mailbox and give it a name. The name sets the address, which you can edit.
- Save, wait a few minutes, then choose Add members to this mailbox.
- Add the two or three people who’ll work it.
Those steps are Microsoft’s, from its create a shared mailbox page (checked October 4, 2026).
Then decide how replies should look. Microsoft offers three permissions:
| Permission | What it lets a member do | What the client sees |
|---|---|---|
| Full Access | Open the mailbox, read, file and delete | Nothing on its own, since Full Access can’t send |
| Send As | Send as the shared address | The shared address only |
| Send on Behalf | Send for the shared address | “John on behalf of Reception Building 32”, in Microsoft’s example |
Microsoft is direct about the first one:
However, a user with Full Access permission can’t send email from the shared mailbox unless they also have Send As or Send on Behalf permission.
So give each member Full Access plus one sending permission. Send As keeps the firm’s voice. Send on Behalf tells the client who wrote it. Both are reasonable. Pick one and use it for everyone.
Three small things save a confused afternoon:
- It shows up on its own. With automapping on, which is the default, the mailbox appears in each member’s Outlook after they restart it. Grant access to people by name. Microsoft notes that automapping doesn’t work when access comes through a security group.
- The first send may fail. A permissions error right after setup is replication catching up. Microsoft says it “goes away in about an hour”.
- Leave sign-in blocked. Every new shared mailbox starts with sign-in blocked. Nobody logs in as
office@. Each person reaches it from their own account.
The mailbox also comes with a calendar. Microsoft’s example is three people who do customer visits all logging them in one place.
Shared mailbox or regular mailbox
A shared mailbox and a person’s mailbox look alike in Outlook. They’re billed and secured differently.
| Shared mailbox | Regular user mailbox | |
|---|---|---|
| License | None up to 50 GB | One per person |
| Sign-in | Blocked, reached through members’ own accounts | Its own sign-in |
| Who can use it | Up to 25 people inside your organization | The owner, plus delegates |
| Storage | 50 GB, or 100 GB with an Exchange Online Plan 2 license | Set by the person’s plan |
| Archive and litigation hold | Needs Plan 2, or Plan 1 with the Archiving add-on | Set by the person’s plan |
| Encrypted sending | Not possible | Available |
Every row comes from Microsoft’s about shared mailboxes page, checked October 4, 2026. Each person who opens the shared mailbox still needs a licensed mailbox of their own.
The storage line is the one to watch. Microsoft explains what happens at the limit:
When a shared mailbox reaches the mailbox storage limit, you can receive email for some time, but you can’t send new email. After some time, the shared mailbox stops receiving email and senders to the mailbox receive a non-delivery receipt.
A general address that’s been collecting attachments for years is the one to check. Microsoft’s own limits change, so look at the page again before you plan around them.
Microsoft 365 group or shared mailbox
Microsoft offers a second shared address, the Microsoft 365 group. Choose carefully, because Microsoft says “It’s not possible to migrate a shared mailbox to a Microsoft 365 group.”
| Shared mailbox | Microsoft 365 group | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | One address several people answer | A small team working together |
| One shared copy | A group inbox, which members can also get in their own inbox | |
| Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Files, Planner, Teams | No | Yes, and it can be connected to a team in Teams |
| People outside the firm | No | Yes, if your admin enables guests |
| Stopping deletions | Not possible | Possible |
| Replying as the address | Send As or Send on Behalf | Send As or Send on Behalf, if your admin enables it |
| License | None up to 50 GB | None for the group itself |
The source is Microsoft’s compare groups page, checked October 4, 2026.
For office@ at a three-person firm, the shared mailbox is the simpler fit. Pick the group when you want files and a calendar to travel with the address, or when an outside bookkeeper needs to be in it.
Using the shared mailbox on iPhone and Android
The Outlook app handles it. In Microsoft’s Add a shared mailbox to Outlook mobile steps:
- Sign in to your own account in Outlook for iOS or Android.
- Tap Add Account in the left pane, then Add a Shared Mailbox.
- If you have several accounts in the app, pick the one with access.
Two limits catch people. It works only when both your mailbox and the shared one are in Exchange Online. And Microsoft says the shared mailbox “can only be added to Outlook for iOS app or the Outlook for Android mobile app”. The iPhone’s built-in Mail app isn’t on that list. On any other phone, open Outlook on the web in the browser instead.
How to set up a team email address on Google Workspace
Google gives you three ways, and they suit different jobs.
An alias, for one person’s role. An admin opens Directory, then Users, picks the person, and adds an alternate email. Google allows “up to 30 email aliases for each user at no extra cost” (Google, checked October 4, 2026). Changes can take up to 24 hours.
A Collaborative Inbox, for an address any of you might answer. This is Google’s closest match to a shared mailbox, and it goes a step further. It’s a Google Group with extra features turned on. A group owner or manager creates it, or turns the features on for an existing group, then sets member permissions. Members can then do this, per Google’s guide (checked October 4, 2026):
- assign a conversation to themselves or someone else
- mark a conversation complete
- mark one as needing no action, or as a duplicate
- search by who it’s assigned to
Assignment needs the “Who can moderate metadata” permission, so check it’s on for everyone. To reply as the group rather than yourself, each person adds the group address under Send mail as in Gmail. Google sends a confirmation code to the group, which you may need to let in through the group’s posting settings (Google, checked October 4, 2026).
Delegation, for reaching someone else’s mailbox. A delegate can “read, send, and delete emails in your account for you” (Google, checked October 4, 2026). Work accounts allow up to 1,000 delegates and personal Gmail up to 10. The delegate’s own address appears on what they send. Access “can take up to 24 hours”, so set it up ahead of time. Delegation fits cover for a person. It isn’t a team address, because the address still belongs to one of you.
On plain Gmail, you won’t find a shared mailbox or a Collaborative Inbox. Delegation is the one sharing tool you have.
Where a shared mailbox starts to strain
A shared mailbox does one job well. Everyone sees the same mail at the same address. What it doesn’t do shows up as the work grows.
- No owner. Nothing on a thread says whose it is. Each of you can assume the other has it.
- Two replies. With no sign that someone’s already answering, the client can get two answers, and they may not match.
- A thin record. With Send As, the client sees only the firm. Working out which of you said what means asking.
- No status. Open, waiting and done all look the same in a folder. Google’s Collaborative Inbox adds a status. Microsoft’s shared mailbox doesn’t.
- No response times. Nothing measures how long anything waited.
- Deletes are open to all. Microsoft says plainly, “You can’t prevent users from deleting messages in a shared mailbox.”
- No encryption on what it sends. Microsoft says mail from a shared mailbox “can’t be encrypted”.
- The storage cliff. Past 50 GB without a license, sending stops first and receiving later.
Two or three people can cover most of that with a few habits. Agree who answers which kinds of mail. Move a thread to a folder or label when it’s in hand. Reply all, so the other person sees it went. A shared inbox tool becomes worth its price when those habits stop holding: daily volume a promise is attached to, or a client who needs a response time in writing. Point vs Front and Point vs Missive lay out what those tools add.
A few things that keep team mail tidy
However you build it, the same small choices make it last.
- Name it for the job.
office@,billing@orhello@tells clients what it’s for. Avoid a person’s name on a shared address. - Pick one sending style. Either everyone sends as the firm, or everyone signs their own name. Mixed replies confuse clients.
- Write one signature. Give the shared address its own signature, with the firm’s phone number rather than a personal one.
- Grant access by name. Add people one by one, so you know who’s in.
- Take people off when they leave. Removing access belongs on the same list as closing their own mailbox.
- Use a real domain. A team address on your own domain reads as the firm. A free address reads as a stand-in.
Your own folders, rules and labels inside the shared mailbox are single-user mechanics. The Gmail labels guide and Outlook rules and folders cover those.
Temporary email isn’t a team address
Search for team mail and you’ll meet a lot of temporary email services. They hand out a throwaway address that disappears after a while. That’s useful for a one-off signup. It’s the wrong tool for a firm, because clients write back weeks later and the address is gone, along with everything sent to it. A team address needs to live as long as the firm does, on a domain you own. The shared mailbox or Collaborative Inbox above gives you that, inside the account you already pay for.
What Point adds to a two- or three-person firm
Point connects the Gmail or Microsoft 365 account each of you already has. It isn’t a shared mailbox product, and it doesn’t pool one address into a queue. If one shared address is the whole job, the shared mailbox above is the right answer, and you can stop here.
What Point does is work on each person’s own mail. The thread that needs you today sits at the top of your feed. Every thread carries a short summary, so you know what it’s about before you open it. When a reply is needed, Point drafts it in your voice, and by default the draft waits for you to read it and press send. You can raise that per kind of action when you’re ready. See how it works.
Seats are per person, so a two-person firm has two. Per-seat billing explains how that’s counted. Team inbox software, and what a second seat can see covers what a colleague can see once they’re in. And if what you’re after is the two of you working from one place, one inbox for a two-person company tells that story.
Common questions
What is team mail?
Team mail is email sent to one address that several people share, such as info@ or office@. It can be built as an alias, a group, a shared mailbox or a shared inbox tool. For two or three people on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, a shared mailbox or a Collaborative Inbox group usually does the job at no extra cost.
Does a shared mailbox need a license?
Not under 50 GB on Microsoft 365. Microsoft says “the shared mailbox doesn’t require a separate license”, but each person who opens it needs a licensed mailbox of their own. Going above 50 GB, using a larger archive or placing it on litigation hold needs an Exchange Online license on the shared mailbox.
Can someone outside the firm use our shared mailbox?
Not on Microsoft 365. Microsoft says you can’t give people outside your business, “such as people with a Gmail account”, access to a shared mailbox. A Microsoft 365 group can include guests if your admin enables it, so that’s the route for an outside bookkeeper.
Can we share a free Gmail account as our team email?
You can add up to 10 delegates to a personal Gmail account, and each can read, send and delete. Sharing the password itself is a poor substitute, because nobody can tell who did what and the account is only as safe as the least careful person. For a firm, a Google Workspace group on your own domain is the sturdier choice.
How do I reply as the team address instead of myself?
On Microsoft 365, an admin gives you Send As permission on the shared mailbox, then you choose that address in the From field. On Google Workspace, add the group’s address under Send mail as in Gmail and confirm the code Google sends to the group.
Can I turn a shared mailbox into a Microsoft 365 group later?
No. Microsoft says it isn’t possible to migrate a shared mailbox to a Microsoft 365 group. If you think you’ll want files, Teams or outside guests later, start with the group.
How many people can use one shared mailbox?
Microsoft supports a maximum of 25 users on a shared mailbox. Beyond that, it suggests a Microsoft 365 group. Two or three people sit far below the limit.