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Microsoft 365 - Automapping

IMPORTANT: Some of the information contained in this document may cause a major change in behavior/process. Please make sure to discuss the change with your local IT support staff or the DoIT Help Desk.

What is Automapping

Automapping is a feature in Outlook for Windows clients that automatically loads/subscribes to any account that the configured account within the Outlook profile has full-mailbox permissions to.

Important:

  • If you have full mailbox permissions to a Service Account and cannot interact with the account using Outlook for Windows (via automapping) or have opened the service account mailbox via Outlook for the Mac, please make sure the service account is visible in the GAL.
  • Automapping is not available in Outlook for the Mac. To access another account to which you have 'Full Mailbox' Permissions, you must subscribe to the account via the process outlined in Microsoft 365 (Outlook for Mac) - Subscribe/Unsubscribe to an account.

What do I see in Outlook for Windows when an account is automapped?

By default, when you are have full-mailbox permissions to another account, Outlook for Windows will load the account automatically when your profile is opened:

outlook account listing.png

In this example, 'mesdjian' has full-mailbox permissions to "Bucky Badger" and PCS Support-O365 accounts. To view the contents of each of these accounts, expand the folder listing by clicking on the right-arrow next to the account.

What are some of the issues related to automapping?

Send-as

When you send an email where the from address is one of the other accounts, the email will be saved in the default configured account "Sent Items" folder instead of the "Sent Items" folder of the account you are sending as. In the example above, the sent mail would be saved within 'mesdjian' "Sent Items" folder. Note: For further details on "Send As" feature, see Microsoft 365 (Outlook on the web | Outlook for Windows/Mac) - Send as or Send on-behalf of another account.

If you want the message automatically saved within the "Sent Items" folder of the account you are sending as, perform one of the following actions:

Delete mail

When you have full-mailbox permission to an account, you have the ability to delete mail.

When you delete an email from another account, the email will be moved to the "Deleted Items" folder of default configured account instead of the "Deleted Items" folder of the account you are deleting the mail from. In the example above, the deleted message would be saved within 'mesdjian' "Deleted Items" folder.

If you want the message automatically moved to the "Deleted Items" folder of the account you are deleting the message from, perform one of the following options: Microsoft 365 (Outlook for Windows/MacOS) - Sent or Deleted item is not saved within the sent/deleted items folder of the account actioned from

Empty folders/calendar

When you have full mailbox permissions to an account and using Outlook for Windows, the folders may be empty (no emails or calendar events).

The steps below may fix this issue:

  1. Start Outlook for Windows.
  2. On the "File" tab, click Account Settings in the Account Settings list.
  3. In the Account Settings dialog box, click the "E-mail" tab and then double-click your Microsoft Exchange Server account.
  4. In the 'Change Account' dialog box, click More Settings.
  5. In the 'Microsoft Exchange' dialog box, click the "Advanced" tab.
  6. Click to clear the Download shared folders check box.
  7. Click OK two times.
  8. Click Next, click Finish, and then click Close.
  9. Restart Outlook.

Important: If this fixes this issue, it is recommended that you reset this to its original setting.

Client performance

When you have access to other accounts, Outlook may be sluggish.

By default, Outlook is configured to cache account information/data when it is loaded. As more accounts are automapped, and depending on many variables - size of mailboxes, number of emails, computer speed/memory, Outlook performance may be degraded. If this occurs, perform one of the following options:

Permissions

Unable to use permissions assigned to the automapped account(s).

Example: Outlook is configured using bbadger@wisc.edu which has full mailbox permissions to help@athletics.wisc.edu. But, help@athletics.wisc.edu has permissions to other accounts which bbadger@wisc.edu does not. In this scenario, even though help@athletics.wisc.edu is automatically mapped into Outlook, it will not be possible to access any of the accounts help@athletics.wisc.edu has permissions to. If you need to access the accounts which the automapped account(s) has permissions to, perform one of the following options:

What if I do not want an account automapped?

The steps below can only be performed by a domain administrator. Also, when this action is completed, all people who were previously listed within the automapping list will be removed. Note: There is no programatic way to see which users are within the automapping list of another account.

Note for administrators: In order to administer another NetID account in the Wisc Account Administration site, you must have administrative access over the account. To request administrative access over an account, follow these instructions. End users can also grant administrative access. Once administrative access has been granted, you can administer the account.

If you are requesting access to administer service or resource accounts, please follow steps outlined at Microsoft 365 - Request Group for Administrative Access.

Perform the following steps to clear out the auto-mapping list for a service account:

  1. Log into Wisc Account Administration site using your NetID credentials.
  2. Select or search for the account you want to manage.
  3. Expand the "Office 365" navigational menu.
  4. Click Permissions.
  5. Click Clear Automapping button.

    clear automapping action

  6. You will be prompted to confirm this action. Click OK.

    Important: This action will remove every account listed within the automapping listing. You should wait 30 minutes and restart Outlook to see this change. If an account needs to be added back to the automapping listing, remove and re-grant full-mailbox permissions.

If you have performed the above steps to clear out the automapping listing and still need to work on behalf of a service account you have full mailbox permissions to, you can configure the service account by adding it to your existing Outlook profile and when prompted, just enter your NetID credentials. Important: You may experience issues when you have configured multiple Exchange accounts within the same profile - please review the following doc before proceeding: issue that can occur.