Starting late 2023, Microsoft has disabled the installation & usage of Add-ins with shared mailboxes. As a result, users of not just the 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”.
Context
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.
Solutions
There are two solutions that can enable the use of TourConnect's Add-in while allowing teams to collaborate on emails with Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook 365:
Convert the shared mailbox to a “regular mailbox”
Create public mailbox folders and route all booking to this mailbox
Detailed steps for each solution is provided below:
Option 1
The first option would be to convert your shared mailbox to a “regular mailbox.” The downside may be that each user may have to login to a different mailbox. In the event that this option does not work, please proceed with Option 2 listed below.
Option 2
1. Setup
Create public mailbox folders and route all bookings to this mailbox. The public folder should be accessible by all users and thus they can process the emails within.
The setup and configuration 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/#/. After logging in, the UI will appear similar to:
Step 2: Go to “Public Folders” in the left hand menu
Step 3: 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”.
Once successful, the public folder mailbox should get created and you should see a success message
Step 4: 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
Step 5 : 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
2. Test the Public folder
Step 1
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”
Step 2: 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
3. Enable send on behalf of the public folder mailbox
Step 1: 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”
Step 2: 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”
Step 2: Permanently enable the option to show “From”
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.