There may be circumstances in which you may want to move the inbox that you have set up as personal to a shared inbox. Perhaps you are going on vacation or taking a leave for an extended period of time and you’d like to make your personal work inbox accessible to your team. Shared inboxes in Aptly make it easy for teams to manage messages together, whether it's maintenance requests, leasing inquiries, or general help desk support. By connecting your personal inbox to a shared inbox, your whole team can access and respond to conversations in one place, keeping everything organized and efficient.
What You’ll Learn
- What a shared inbox is
- How to convert a personal inbox to a shared inbox
What is a Shared Inbox?
A Shared Inbox lets multiple team members manage emails from a single inbox. For example:
- A Maintenance inbox might handle work orders and repair requests.
- A Leasing inbox might manage applications, tours, and approvals.
- A Help Desk inbox could respond to resident questions or issues.
Everyone with access can read and reply to messages, so nothing falls through the cracks. You can also automate the process by setting up Email Parsers and Inbox Rules to turn emails into tasks or cards.
How to Convert a Personal Inbox to a Shared Inbox
- Click your profile avatar (bottom left) and go to Settings.
- Under My Settings, click Personal Inbox.
- Choose your email name to open up the inbox settings, click Convert To Shared Inbox, then Click Proceed.
- Your personal inbox is now part of the shared inboxes.
Shared Inbox Access and Assignment Settings
Here are the options you can customize when adding your personal inbox to your shared inbox:
Inbox Name | You can change the name of your newly shared inbox. You may choose to keep your personal name title to differentiate it if you plan to switch it back to a personal inbox. |
Inbox Color | Choose a color to make the inbox easy to spot in Aptly. |
Auto Categorization | Automatically tag incoming emails with topics based on keywords. Great for organizing high-volume inboxes. |
Exclude from Auto Sharing
| Selecting this option will exclude any emails in this inbox from being automatically shared with your team based on inbox sharing rules set on user roles. |
Inbox Signature | Set a shared email signature for all replies sent from this inbox. |
Access | Choose who can use this inbox. Once added, users will see it under My Inboxes. |
Auto Assignment Rules
| Decide how new messages are assigned:
- Manual: You assign messages yourself
- Round Robin: Evenly split messages across team members
- Specific User or Team: Route all messages to a set person or team
💡 For advanced routing (e.g., by contact type or property), use Inbox Rules. |
Easily Convert Back to a Personal Inbox
- Toggle off and remove any team members but yourself from having ACCESS to your shared inbox.
- Click Make Inbox Private.
- Select yourself as the INBOX OWNER.
- Click Proceed.
Now you have removed your personal inbox from sharing with your team and it’s location has moved back under My Settings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does everyone in the company have access to the Shared Inboxes?
No, only users who have been granted access can view a Shared Inbox. Access is managed by selecting specific users in the Shared Inbox settings. Even administrators must explicitly add themselves to the inbox to gain access.
If I open a message in a Shared Inbox, will it show as read for my teammates?
No, opening a message yourself won’t mark it as read for your teammates. Everyone sees their own read/unread status.
However, if you take an action on the message (like archive or delete it), that action will apply to everyone. For example, if you archive the conversation, it will disappear from the inbox view for all team members.
Can I use a Google Group or email distribution list as the email address for a Shared Inbox?
No, at this time only direct email addresses can be used as the email address for a Shared Inbox. Email addresses are only accepted from Gmail and Microsoft. We cannot sync inboxes from other hosted sites.
What happens if inbox access is disabled for my team?
If inbox access is disabled, users can still send and receive messages through specific process boards (like Screening). However, they won’t be able to view or manage conversations directly from the inbox view in Aptly.