A shared inbox that keeps teams and emails in sync

A shared inbox is a centralized inbox that is typically used when multiple users need to access and work on the same set of emails. For example, teams like customer support, or account management would use a shared inbox as people outside the company typically reach out to them with questions. Shared inboxes usually have a generic email address - such as info@, support@, help@, accounts@, or careers@.

A shared inbox in Gmail is a common email ID such as info@ or support@ that all your team members can access to handle emails in a collaborative way. This is especially useful in customer-facing departments such as support and sales.

A shared inbox keeps team emails organized, visible, and actionable. Instead of forwarding or CC’ing emails, teams can collaborate in one place, assign conversations, and track progress—making sure nothing slips through the cracks.

It’s especially useful for support, sales, and finance teams, where multiple people need access to the same emails. With a shared mailbox in Outlook or a shared inbox in Gmail, teams can ensure faster responses, improve accountability, and reduce clutter in personal inboxes. Solutions like Hiver take it a step further by adding automation, assignment tracking, and team-wide collaboration tools.

Different teams can set up shared inboxes to manage email communication efficiently. For example, a support team can use a support@ mailbox, while the finance team can manage invoices through an invoices@ mailbox.

Shared inboxes can be created using Google Groups, Google Collaborative Inbox, or a solution like Hiver, which makes managing emails easier and more collaborative. A shared inbox helps teams streamline responses—for instance, all customer support emails sent to support@ can be viewed in one place, assigned to specific agents, and tracked with statuses like open, pending, or closed.

For Outlook users, a shared mailbox in Outlook allows multiple team members to access and respond to emails from a common inbox. It can be set up by an admin through Microsoft 365, and once added, it appears alongside personal inboxes, ensuring smooth team collaboration.

The best way to organize your email is by using labels and folders. This ensures that incoming messages are bucketed based on subject, sender, or priority. Gmail and Outlook lets you do this quite effectively. If you're managing a shared inbox and want to route emails to specific folders, then check out Hiver. It offers automations and tags that let you organize incoming emails based on specific criteria.

Typically, the head of the department adds all team members to the shared inbox. This makes it easy for anyone across the team to pick up incoming emails and respond in a timely manner. And sometimes, temporary access is given to employees from other departments - in scenarios where there's a need to collaborate outside the team.

Here are the complete steps:
- Ask your admin for access.
- Open Outlook and go to File > Account Settings.
- Select your email account and click Change.
- Click More Settings > Advanced > Add.
- Enter the shared inbox email ID and click OK.
- Click Next > Finish, then restart Outlook.

There are several effective shared inbox tools like Hiver, Front, HelpScout and Freshdesk. Hiver, in particular, is known for its ease of setup as it works on top of your inbox.