How to Create Shared Business Email (info@, sales@) Without Sharing Passwords

Sharing email passwords is the most common email mistake in Vietnamese businesses. Here's the right way.

"Everyone just uses the info@ password." It's probably the most common IT setup we encounter at small businesses across Vietnam. One shared email address, one shared password, the whole team logs in whenever they need to. Quick to set up. Zero oversight. One disaster waiting to happen.

When that person leaves — or when that password gets typed into the wrong login page — the consequences are immediate and messy. Here's how to do this properly.

Why Sharing an Email Password Is a Serious Problem

1. No Accountability

When five people share one email login, you have no audit trail. Who replied to that client? Who deleted that contract email? Who promised that discount? Nobody knows, because the logs just show "[email protected] logged in."

This becomes a real liability when a client dispute, a missed deadline, or a fraud investigation requires you to reconstruct what happened.

2. Offboarding Becomes a Security Incident

When an employee leaves and they knew the shared password, you need to:

• Change the password
• Notify every other user
• Hope they all update their saved passwords
• Do this again next time someone leaves

In practice, many businesses don't do this promptly — leaving former employees with ongoing access.

3. Password Security Degrades Fast

A shared password gets written on sticky notes. It gets typed into personal devices. It gets reused. The more people who know a password, the worse its security becomes. One person's bad habits affect everyone.

4. No Access Control

You can't say "this person can read emails but not send them" or "this person handles support emails but not sales." Everyone gets full access to everything. You can't implement any separation of duties.

The Right Solution: Microsoft 365 Shared Mailboxes

Microsoft 365 has a feature called Shared Mailboxes, and it's exactly what shared email addresses should use. Here's how it works:

• You create a mailbox with an address like [email protected]
• This mailbox has no password of its own
• You grant specific user accounts permission to access it
• Each person logs in with their own credentials and sees the shared inbox as an additional folder

The result: no shared password. Full audit trail. Granular permission control. Automatic revocation when someone leaves.

What You Can Do With Shared Mailboxes

• Send as the shared address (emails appear to come from [email protected])
• Send on behalf of the shared address (emails show "from info@ on behalf of yourname@")
• Full access (read, move, delete, manage folders)
• Read-only access (view emails without sending or modifying)

Shared Mailbox vs. Distribution Group

These are often confused:

Feature	Shared Mailbox	Distribution Group
Team sees one inbox	Yes	No — each member gets their own copy
Reply from the shared address	Yes	Requires extra configuration
Audit trail	Yes	No
Storage limit	50GB (upgradeable)	No storage
Best for	Customer service, team inbox	Announcements, newsletters

For a genuine shared team inbox, use Shared Mailboxes.

How to Set Up a Shared Mailbox in Microsoft 365

This takes about 5 minutes if you have admin access:

1. Log in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center at admin.microsoft.com
2. Navigate to Teams & Groups → Shared mailboxes
3. Click + Add a shared mailbox
4. Enter a display name (e.g., "Sales Team") and an email address (e.g., [email protected])
5. Click Save changes
6. Once created, click the mailbox → under Members, click Edit
7. Add the users who need access and click Save

Users will typically see the shared mailbox appear in Outlook automatically within 24 hours. They can also add it manually: File → Account Settings → Add Account and entering the shared email address.

Accessing the Shared Mailbox in Outlook

In Outlook on the web (OWA), the shared mailbox appears in the left sidebar under the user's own folders. In Outlook desktop, it appears as a separate account in the folder pane.

Mobile Access

Users can access shared mailboxes through the Outlook mobile app by adding the shared address as an additional account. It's slightly less seamless than desktop, but fully functional.

Setting Up Permissions Properly

For most teams, the default "Full Access + Send As" is appropriate. But you can be more granular:

• Full Access only — good for monitoring or oversight roles; they can read but replies come from their own address
• Send As — emails appear to come from [email protected] with no indication of who sent them
• Send on Behalf — emails show "from info@ on behalf of [name]@yourcompany.com"

To configure permissions: Admin Center → Shared mailboxes → Select mailbox → Mailbox permissions.

What Happens When Someone Leaves?

This is where Shared Mailboxes shine. When an employee is offboarded:

1. Disable or delete their user account in Microsoft 365
2. Their access to all shared mailboxes is automatically revoked
3. The shared email address continues working for everyone else
4. No password change. No disruption to the team.

Compare this to the shared-password approach, where you have to coordinate a password change across the whole team every time someone leaves.

Google Workspace Alternative

If you use Google Workspace instead of Microsoft 365, you can achieve similar results with:

• Collaborative Inbox — a Google Group configured for team email management, with assignment and status tracking
• Delegated access — one user delegates their inbox to others, who can read and respond on their behalf

Google's approach is slightly less polished than Microsoft's Shared Mailboxes for business use, but it works. The setup is in Google Admin Console → Groups → Create Group.

When You Need More: Helpdesk Software

If your business receives a high volume of customer emails and needs ticket assignment, SLA tracking, or reporting on response times, a Shared Mailbox alone won't be enough. Consider dedicated helpdesk software such as:

• Freshdesk — popular globally, has a free tier
• Zoho Desk — good value, integrates with Zoho CRM
• Help Scout — clean interface, email-first design

These add a layer of structure on top of email — tracking which conversations are open, who's handling them, and how quickly they're resolved.

How Many Shared Mailboxes Can You Have?

In Microsoft 365, you can create up to 1,000 shared mailboxes per organisation. They don't require a separate license as long as the mailbox is under 50GB and accessed only via licensed users' accounts.

Common Shared Addresses to Set Up

Consider creating shared mailboxes for:

• [email protected] — general inquiries
• [email protected] — sales team
• [email protected] — technical support
• [email protected] — accounting (common in Vietnamese businesses)
• [email protected] — human resources, for job applications

Does Your Business Have This Set Up Correctly?

Many businesses in Da Nang and Vietnam are still operating with shared email passwords — simply because no one ever showed them a better way. If you're on Microsoft 365, you already have Shared Mailboxes available as part of your subscription.

Vietify can audit your current email setup, migrate existing shared inboxes to Shared Mailboxes, and configure proper permissions for your team.

Contact us → or get a free IT assessment to review how your business handles shared email.

Vietify IT Services — Microsoft 365 setup and IT management for businesses in Vietnam.