Can iPhones with ActiveSync use Exchange shared mailboxes?

Question

I have a team that all have privileges configured in Exchange to give them read/write access to the Inbox, and send-as privileges, for a shared mailbox. This works great on Outlook, where they can log in with their credentials and just pick "Open these additional mailboxes" in Outlook's account settings.

There doesn't seem to be anything precisely parallel to this in the iPhone, and the Googling I've done suggests that the easy way won't work on the iPhone.

But where things get really odd is that I don't seem to be able to add another Exchange mailbox on the iPhone with the shared mailbox's username and password. Every time I try to authenticate, I get a password error, despite validating the server settings and the password repeatedly.

How can I get this team the ability to receive, move/delete, and respond to emails for this shared Exchange account from their iPhones?

Answer 1

As of August 2013, Exchange ActiveSync doesn't support shared Exchange accounts. This isn't an iPhone issue, but rather with the ActiveSync protocol.

One option would be to use Outlook Web Access to access the shared Exchange account. This would allow the team to do everything that you've outlined here.

Another option would be to set the individual Exchange accounts for the team to automatically copy mails from the shared account into a folder on the individual's Exchange account. However, I don't think that this will meet your needs, especially moving/deleting and responding to mails from the shared account. I mention it for the sake of completeness.

Answer 2

to access the Shared Mail Box on iPhone go to settings accounts Then Other enter the email address then in User Name field enter youremailhere/yoursharedemailhere use the / to identify the shared email enter your email password for main mailbox

Answer 3

Alternatively, going against recommended security practices, ensure the organizational mailbox account is enabled, then allow the login credentials to be shared and connect to it as if it were a normal user's email account. Of course, for accountability and non-repudiation, this is not a viable option in the corporate or government offices. Consequently, I just say Microsoft get with the program and enable support for organizational accounts with ActivSync so customers can have a true enterprise level solution. Other options such as using OWA are beyond rational thinking; perhaps Microsoft has never tried accessing an OWA account from smart phone to see how unrealistic it is. And thoughts of using mail forwarding options only increases administrative burdens to unreasonable levels as well.