# How shared inboxes work

An address the whole team answers from, with the same folders as any other mailbox.

A shared inbox is an address more than one person answers: sales@, service@, accounts@. Every member sees the same mail, and nobody owns it the way an individual mailbox is owned.

**Video: A tour of a shared inbox and the folders inside it** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyAfypatMt4

![TeamEmail with the Shared Inboxes section of the sidebar showing four team mailboxes: Accounts, Sales and Quotes, Service Desk and Workshop. Accounts is expanded and its Inbox is selected, revealing the same five folders as any mailbox: Inbox with 5, Sent Items, Archive with 1, Junk Email and Deleted Items.](https://www.neuracrm.com/help/teamemail/shared-inboxes/inbox-cropped.png)

*Four shared inboxes, one expanded. The folders inside are the same five every mailbox has.*

## What is inside one

Expanding a shared inbox shows five folders. **Inbox**, **Sent Items** and **Junk Email** mirror the Outlook mailbox; **Archive** and **Deleted Items** exist only in TeamEmail and don't change anything in Outlook. Every member is looking at the same contents.

- [Inbox](https://www.neuracrm.com/teamemail/help-docs/shared-inboxes/inbox): Mail as it arrives, sorted into Unassigned, Assigned, Waiting and Resolved.
- [Sent Items](https://www.neuracrm.com/teamemail/help-docs/shared-inboxes/sent-items): Everything sent from the address, whichever member sent it.
- [Archive](https://www.neuracrm.com/teamemail/help-docs/shared-inboxes/archive): Conversations cleared from view, which return to Open when a new message arrives.
- [Junk Email](https://www.neuracrm.com/teamemail/help-docs/shared-inboxes/junk-email): Mail flagged as spam.
- [Deleted Items](https://www.neuracrm.com/teamemail/help-docs/shared-inboxes/deleted-items): Mail a member has deleted, until it's restored or removed for good.

## Who can see and change one

Membership is what grants access: a shared inbox is invisible to anyone who is not a member of it. Only an administrator can create one or change who belongs to it, from **Settings** > **Inboxes**. See [Inboxes](/teamemail/help-docs/settings/inboxes).

> **Note:**
>
> A conversation living in a shared inbox can also appear in a member's own My work, once it is assigned to them or they subscribe to it. The two are different views of the same mail, not copies of it.

## Working in one

- [Answer a customer email from start to finish](https://www.neuracrm.com/teamemail/help-docs/shared-inboxes/answer-a-customer-email): The whole job, from arriving to closed.
- [Assign a conversation](https://www.neuracrm.com/teamemail/help-docs/shared-inboxes/assign-a-conversation): Give it one owner.
- [Add an internal note](https://www.neuracrm.com/teamemail/help-docs/shared-inboxes/add-an-internal-note): Talk to the team without the customer seeing.
- [Change a conversation's status](https://www.neuracrm.com/teamemail/help-docs/shared-inboxes/change-a-conversations-status): Open, Waiting or Done.