Preface
Starting late 2023 Microsoft has disabled installation & usage of Add-in with shared mailboxes. As a result users of not just TourConnect Add-in but users of Add-ins by all companies have stopped working.
This document describes how to use the TourConnect Add-in (here is a link to install) in setups where Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook 365 is configured to use “Shared Mailboxes”
Solution
There could be two solutions with using shared mailboxes. Detailed steps for each are provided below
Scenario:
Let us first understand the scenario.
There are individual users with regular mailboxes, i.e. each having their own email and password and they ALL use a shared mailbox to process the bookings/itineraries.
To understand lets us consider a simple scenario with two individual users (say jennifer.watson@bookings-ai.com and judi.anderson@bookings-ai.com) and both using a shared mailbox reservations@bookings-ai.com
In this case the users can use the TourConnect Add-in using their personal email accounts. However they may face an issue when they try to install the Add-in in the shared mailbox reservations@bookings-ai.com. If that happens, they can convert the shared mailbox (reservations@bookings-ai.com) to a regular mailbox by following the steps below. And then each one of them can access the converted mailbox with its corresponding credentials.
Option1
Convert the shared mailbox to a “regular mailbox”
The downside may be that they each may have to login to a different mailbox.
If this does not work you can go with Option 2 listed below.
Option2
Setup
Create public mailbox folders and route all booking to this mailbox. The public folder is accessible by all users and thus they can process the emails within.
The step below needs to be performed by someone having “admin” access. For instance, an IT admin.
Step 1: Login to Exchange admin
Login to the exchange admin center, for e.g. https://admin.exchange.microsoft.com/#/. Post login the UI will be something line below:
Step2: Go to “Public Folders” by clicking “Public Folders” in the left menu
Step3: Create a Public folder mailbox
Click on “Public folder mailboxes” in the right pane
Click on “Add a public folder mailbox”
Enter a name for the public folder mailbox (e.g. Reservations) and click “Save”.
The public folder mailbox should get created and you should see a success message
It will also appear in the public folder mailbox list
Step4: Create a mail enabled public folder
Click on “Public folder”
Click on “Add a public folder”
In the add public folder popup:
Enter a name for the public folder (e.g. ReservationsEurope)
Then click on “Mail-enabled”
Then click on “Allow external users to email this public folder”
And finally click “Save”.
The public folder should get created and you should see a success message
It will also appear in the public folder list
Step5 : Configure email for the public folder mailbox
Click on the public folder created
In the popup window click on “Other”
Under “Email Address” heading, click on “Manage email address types”
Click on the check box for the only entry you will see
Then click on Edit
In the drop down after @ select your domain
Click Save
The new email should get created and saved with a success message
Now Test the Public folder
Step1
Login to Outlook with the user account that wants to process email in the public folder. For .e.g judi.anderson@bookings-ai.com)
After successfully login, hover over the folders to see 3 dots like this
Click on 3 dots to get a drop down menu, in the drop down click on “Add public folder to Favorites”
In the “Add Public Folder” popup, expand “All Public Folders” and click on the Public folder you created, e.g. ReservationsEurope
Select the mailbox and click “Add Public Folder”
Step2
Test the newly created email by sending an email to it.
Send an email to the share folder mailbox. E.g. ReservationsEurope@bookings-ai.com
The email should appear under the shared folder in the user’s login
Click on the email in the public folder and launch the TouchConnect Add-in to extract the itinerary
Enable send on behalf of the public folder mailbox
Exchange Admin Configuration - Enable delegate access
Click on the public folder (ReservationsEurope) to load the configurations
Click on "Delegation" tab
Add the sender(s) to both “Send as” and “Send on behalf”
Click Edit under “Send as”
Click on “Add member”
Select the email address you want to give permissions
Click save
Repeat the step for “Send on behalf”
Outlook Configuration
Open Outlook and login with user credentials, e.g. judi.anderson@bookings-ai.com
Open a new email or click reply/reply all
Select the Options tab
Select From in the Show Fields group
Select the public shared email from the “From Dropdown”
Permanently enable the option to show “From”
Go to account settings->mail-> compose and reply->Always show from
Click Save
Notes
Public folder mailboxes are of 2 types, primary hierarchy mailbox and secondary hierarchy mailbox. The primary hierarchy mailbox is the writable copy of the public folder hierarchy. Whereas the secondary hierarchy mailbox contains public folder contents, and the read only copy of the public folder hierarchy.
References
Starting late 2023 Microsoft has disabled installation & usage of Add-in with shared mailboxes. As a result users of not just TourConnect Add-in but users of Add-ins by all companies have stopped working.