We don’t usually think too much about the concept of email and how it operates. As long as we have an address to put on our business cards and can send and receive messages without issue, our email is functioning as it should. Email is a commodity that has become an ordinary part of our lives. But like many other areas of technology, things that seem simple on the surface can actually be quite complex on the administrative side. Email is no exception. And if you are one of the over 120 million people using Office 365 for your business, your options for having a working email address can come in many different forms. When choosing an Office 365 email address type, there are many factors to consider.
Office 365, which is Microsoft’s extensive suite of services for communication and collaboration, is arguably most known for its hosted email service which is powered by Microsoft Exchange. When creating a new email address within Office 365, there are different types that can be setup. Each type of email address has its own purpose due to functionality varying between the different types. How the correct type of email address is chosen is dependent on a variety of factors such as who should be the recipient of the mail, whether maintaining the email in dedicated storage is important, and monetary budgets.
Office 365 can include a mix of email account types so each address can be setup to match its unique needs. So what type of Office 365 email address is the right choice for your needs? Below we’ll detail the most common types of setups for Office 365 email addresses.
User Mailbox
The most traditional method of adding an email address to Office 365 is through the use of a user mailbox. Each user mailbox in Office 365 is designed to be used by a single entity and provides the highest level of functionality. All of the features advertised within your Office 365 subscription are available to user mailboxes.
In general, it is recommended that each employee within an organization is provided their own user mailbox. A user mailbox provides dedicated storage for that user’s email contents and is the core to integration with other services. If needed, access to a user mailbox can also be delegated to others who may need to access the user’s email account.
Office 365 user mailboxes are available with multiple types of licenses depending on what other features you would like available for the user. Our team here at Diligex can help choose the pricing plan that is best for your organization.
Benefits
- Dedicated storage for the account’s email contents.
- Direct integration with the multitude of Office 365 services available.
- Widest feature set.
Drawbacks
- Monthly recurring cost per user mailbox (varies by license type).
Shared Mailbox
A shared mailbox is similar to a user mailbox in the sense that it includes dedicated storage for its email contents. Unlike a user mailbox though, a shared mailbox is designed to be used for mailbox purposes only (email and calendar) and does not provide access to Office 365’s ancillary services such as Teams, OneDrive, etc.
Shared mailboxes are their own entities that user mailboxes are provided access to through delegation and can be used for collaborative access. For example, a company may want a shared mailbox with the email address compliance@companyname.com that is shared among members of their compliance team. The shared mailbox setup provides each delegated user with full access to the mailbox’s contents. Inbound emails could also optionally be forwarded to the delegated members’ user mailbox.
Benefits
- Dedicated storage for the account’s email contents.
- Easy collaboration among colleagues.
- Employees added in the future have access to all past and present mailbox content.
- No additional cost.
Drawbacks
- Cannot be used as a user’s primary mailbox.
- Does not provide access to other Office 365 services.
Email Alias
An alias is the least feature-rich option when creating a new email address in Office 365. It is added to an existing mailbox type (such as a user mailbox or shared mailbox) in order to provide that mailbox with additional email addresses that can be used for sending mail to it. For example, if your company has a shared mailbox called sales@companyname.com and you also wanted it to accept emails for the address info@companyname.com, the latter would be added as an email alias.
When using an email alias, its only purpose is for the receipt of email in the manner described above. An alias cannot be used as the address shown on emails sent out from the mailbox. Using our example from above, if an email is received that was sent to info@companyname.com and you reply to it, your reply would be sent using the email address sales@companyname.com.
Benefits
- Multiple aliases can be added per mailbox to accommodate various needs such as different naming formats for employees.
- No change to the end user’s experience. They’ll simply receive mail sent to the alias in the same location as their primary email address.
- No additional cost.
Drawbacks
- Cannot be used as a “send from” email address.
- Does not provide access to other Office 365 services.
Distribution Group
A distribution group is similar to a shared mailbox in the sense that email sent to the address is intended to be accessed by multiple employees. In the case of a distribution group though, there is no dedicated storage for the inbound email. Instead, the mail sent to the email address is distributed directly to those who are listed as members of the distribution group.
When users receive email sent to a distribution group, each recipient can take action on their copy of the message without impacting the copy found in their colleagues’ mailboxes. With the exception of what is listed in the email’s To: field, the message will be delivered to the end users in the same way they receive emails sent to their user mailbox. Users will need to be cognizant as to the target address of the email that they received.
Benefits
- Provides similar functionality to a shared mailbox but without the need to monitor a second mailbox.
- Recipients can take action on the incoming mail without affecting the copy stored in other recipient mailboxes.
- No additional cost
Drawbacks
- Less organized due to mail being mixed with contents sent to the user mailbox.
- No shared functionality for other mailbox features such as calendars.
- Employees added in the future do not have access to past content.
At Diligex, we specialize in the deployment and configuration of Microsoft Office 365 accounts and can help your business choose the setup that is best for your needs. If you’re currently a Diligex Managed IT subscriber looking to enhance your utilization of Office 365, let us know and we’ll be happy to discuss your options with you. If you’re not a Diligex Managed IT subscriber yet, feel free to contact us at https://diligex.com/contact and a member of our team will be in touch!
With a variety of email address types at your disposal, Office 365 can provide your business with the tools needed for master-level communications. And with Diligex as your trusted I.T. adviser, there is no limit to how far your company’s technology can take you.