Forum Discussion
Unable to delete emails
On web Outlook, everything in the primary email account behaves as expected. However, emails in a shared mailbox cannot be deleted, even though everything else in the shared mailbox works fine (i.e., I can read and send emails from it).
Interestingly, if I open a new browser window exclusively for this shared mailbox, the deletion works fine.
This is reproducible on both Chrome and Edge. I have restarted both browsers to no avail.
Could anyone offer a tip on how to remedy this issue?
I do not want to keep a new window for this shared mailbox. I prefer to manage it in the same window as the primary mailbox.
5 Replies
Since deleting works when the shared mailbox is opened in its own window, it sounds less like a permission issue and more like a problem with Outlook on the web handling the shared mailbox in the combined view. You could also ask your Microsoft 365 admin to check for any mailbox policies, retention settings, or recent Exchange Online changes affecting shared mailboxes. It would be interesting to know if other users with access to the same shared mailbox are seeing the same behavior, as that could help determine whether it's mailbox-specific or account-specific.
Besides having Full Access to the mailbox, check whether also folder-level permissions have been set. These can conflict with the Full Access permissions when you open the mailbox as a secondary mailbox. When opening the mailbox in a separate window, the Full Access permissions are used and the folder-level permissions are ignored.
Of particular interest are the permissions on the root folder, the folder that you are deleting from and the Deleted Items folder.
The deletion started to work magically two days ago. I did not do anything because I gave up. I have no idea what happened to remedy this.
Hi, since only the shared mailbox is affected, this sounds like either mailbox permissions or a folder-level issue. I’d confirm you have Full Access to the shared mailbox, then try deleting from Outlook on the web in an InPrivate window. If it still fails, check whether Deleted Items for that shared mailbox is full, hidden, or affected by retention policy.
Yes, I have full access. As stated in my question, everything works if I open a window(i.e., Profile > Open another mailbox > select the shared mailbox) for this shared mailbox, everything works.
I have just tried a new incognito window to no avail.
The Deleted Items folder for this shared mailbox has only one item, which was from the successful deletion when I opened a window for this shared mailbox only.
