Need a @astate.edu email address for your college, department or program? We have several options available with Microsoft 365.
- Microsoft 365 Groups are used for collaboration between users, both inside and outside of A-State.
- Distribution groups are used for sending email notifications to a group of people.
- Shared mailboxes are used when multiple people need access to the same mailbox, such as college or department information email addresses.
Since A-State students do not have Microsoft Exchange licenses, they cannot be added to any of these options.
Microsoft 365 Groups
Microsoft 365 Groups are used for collaboration between users, both inside and outside A-State. With each Microsoft 365 Group, members get a group email and shared workspace for conversations (shared inbox), files, calendar events, and a Planner.
Only group owners can delete messages from the shared inbox associated with the group.
You can add people from outside of A-State to the group and allow external senders to send email to the group email address.
Microsoft 365 Groups can be accessed through the Outlook mobile app (iOS and Android), Outlook for the web, and the Outlook desktop application (Windows or MacOS).
Microsoft 365 Groups are accessible from Outlook apps only.
For more information on Microsoft 365 Groups, please refer to What are Microsoft 365 Groups article.
Distribution groups
Distribution groups are used for sending notifications to a group of people. They can receive external email if requested.
All messages sent to the group address will be forwarded to each member of the group. There is no mailbox associated with the email address and group members do not need to configure anything in their mail clients.
Shared mailboxes
Shared mailboxes are used when multiple people need access to the same mailbox, such as a department information or support email address, reception desk, or other function that might be shared by multiple people.
Shared mailboxes can receive external emails, if requested, and include a calendar that can be used for collaboration.
Each shared mailbox has two security groups associated with it that control the permissions to the mailbox.
- Full Access group - members of this group can open the shared mailbox and act as the owner of that mailbox. After accessing the shared mailbox, a user can create calendar items; read, view, delete, and change email messages; create tasks and calendar contacts. However, a user with Full Access permission can't send email from the shared mailbox unless they are a member of the Send As group.
- Send As group - members of this group can impersonate the shared mailbox when sending mail (send email using the shared mailbox address).
Shared mailboxes can be accessed through the Outlook mobile app (iOS and Android), Outlook for the web, and the Outlook desktop application (Windows or MacOS).
Shared mailboxes are accessible from Outlook apps only.