How to Access Shared Mailboxes

Read emails from shared mailboxes your account has been granted access to, such as team inboxes or service accounts.

Read emails from shared mailboxes like team inboxes, support queues, or service accounts that your Microsoft 365 account has access to.

Read from a Shared Mailbox

“Check the support inbox for new emails”

tool: access-shared-mailbox
params:
  sharedMailbox: "support@company.com"

This returns the 25 most recent emails from the shared mailbox’s inbox.

Browse a Specific Folder

tool: access-shared-mailbox
params:
  sharedMailbox: "support@company.com"
  folder: "Escalated"

tool: access-shared-mailbox
params:
  sharedMailbox: "team@company.com"
  count: 10
  outputVerbosity: "minimal"

Shared mailbox email list with mailbox name in header

Your Azure app registration needs the Mail.Read.Shared permission:

Go to Azure Portal → App registrations → your Outlook Assistant app
Under API permissions, add Microsoft Graph delegated permission: Mail.Read.Shared
Grant admin consent if required by your organisation

Your Microsoft account must also have been granted access to the shared mailbox by your Exchange administrator.

Parameter	What it does	Default
`sharedMailbox`	Email address of the shared mailbox (required)	—
`folder`	Folder to read from	`inbox`
`count`	Number of emails to return (max 50)	25
`outputVerbosity`	`minimal`, `standard`, or `full`	`standard`

Problem	Cause	Fix
”Access denied” or 403 error	Missing `Mail.Read.Shared` permission	Add the permission in Azure Portal
”Mailbox not found”	Incorrect email address or no access granted	Verify the address and check with your Exchange admin
Empty results	Mailbox is empty or folder doesn’t exist	Try `folder: "inbox"` to confirm access

This tool is read-only — you can’t send from a shared mailbox through Outlook Assistant
Use outputVerbosity: "minimal" for quick checks on high-volume shared inboxes
Auto-approved by MCP clients that support annotations (read-only tool)

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