Google for Business email : Shared inbox

[Raz316]

We are considering moving our email over to google apps for business.

Can anyone with first hand experience tell me if the following is possible? This is currently what happens using our smartermail hosted email.

Currently
External emails (so emails NOT from *@domain) but to user.a@domain, user.b@domain, user.c@domain all get copied to the group.1@domain inbox.

user.a, user.b and user.c all have access to the group.1 inbox via an imap folder "Inbox on group.1"

This system allows users a,b and c to access emails sent in to any user and deal with them if necessary.

With Google...
Forwarding
I know I can create a filter on the user accounts to forward said emails to the group.1 address.

Accessing shared inbox
Lots of help I've read online mentions email delegation which isn't suitable because it just gives them access to the delegated account, I would prefer that the shared inbox appears as another folder in their account.

So, is it possible?

Ta

[Splash]

Just setup a test in my GoogleApps domain, looks like it takes 30 mins or so to complete this kind of setup but I'll confirm what the deal is when I get it done.

[Smudger]

In short, yes you can. It would only appear as another folder if you were using something like Outlook to sync the e-mails though. If you're using the web app to view e-mails, I think it opens it as another page.

[spoon_]

I believe switching identities aka email delegation is the only way to get this done.

[Splash]

Yep, Delegated seems to be the way, though you can setup shared mailboxes through Groups I'm unsure it'll do exactly what you need.

[Raz316]

Yep, Delegated seems to be the way, though you can setup shared mailboxes through Groups I'm unsure it'll do exactly what you need.

Thanks Splash, I hope you didn't spend too much time trying it! I'm running a google apps for business trial of my own and the best I could find was the delegation which spoon and smudger have confirmed will just open up another wind

In short, yes you can. It would only appear as another folder if you were using something like Outlook to sync the e-mails though

When you say using outlook to sync the emails, do you mean accessing it via imap, or something more than that? I'll give it a play today

Thanks everyone

[Raz316]

Just to update: I've tried connecting to my google apps account via IMAP and I'm not currently seeing the delegated inbox / account at all.

[Smudger]

When you say using outlook to sync the emails, do you mean accessing it via imap, or something more than that? I'll give it a play today

Thanks everyone

No, you can download Google Apps Sync for Outlook, just run it and it'll set up all the acounts you've got access to for you. It's quite a handy app...

https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gappssync

[spoon_]

3rd party contractor we had in for preparation to move to Google Apps said its generally not a good idea to access Google Apps using Outlook and the plugin you have linked to. Using web interface and a supported web browser i.e. Chrome was the recommended way. No sure how much if this is actually true as how much is just Google filled BS.

IE + Chome Frame is also supported so if you're not rolling out Chrome (which I wouldn't as must of them apps we use don't work..) then that's your best bet.

[Smudger]

3rd party contractor we had in for preparation to move to Google Apps said its generally not a good idea to access Google Apps using Outlook and the plugin you have linked to. Using web interface and a supported web browser i.e. Chrome was the recommended way. No sure how much if this is actually true as how much is just Google filled BS.

IE + Chome Frame is also supported so if you're not rolling out Chrome (which I wouldn't as must of them apps we use don't work..) then that's your best bet.

Sounds a bit strange, why would Google provide it, then tell people not to use it? One of my clients uses it, and apart from the using cached mode without asking you, it seems to work OK. I guess if it's still at trial stage, the OP can give it a go, see how he likes it, then decide...

[scaryjim]

Sounds to me like like 3rd Party Contractor doesn't like supporting it, tbh. Having been a 3rd Party Contractor, if I could tell someone something that would make my life easier, I generally would - unless it would make my client's life unreasonably difficult. Telling someone to use webmail instead of outlook isn't really that much of an imposition.

Of course, sometimes you tell them things like "don't buy a colour laser printer", they ignore you, then complain when it doesn't do what you told them it wouldn't do. Difficult balance, being a contractor

[Raz316]

Thanks all; Just given Google Apps Sync a go with outlook and I am pretty confident it will do the trick

Regarding my forwarding requirements, currently I think I will have to do this by logging in to each user and setting a filter and I can't seem to find a more administrative / global solution. Does anyone know of such a thing?

To reiterate what I need. I want all incoming external emails to users user.a@, user.b@ and user.c@ to have a copy forwarded to group.1@

Thanks again