If enquiries go to one person's inbox, they can disappear from view whenever that person is on holiday, off sick or busy on a job, unless someone else has been given access. If they go to an info@ address that everyone can see, it's easy for each person to assume someone else is dealing with them.

This guide helps a small service team choose where enquiry emails should land, using the email platform you already have. It compares four set-ups by what each makes visible, what it leaves you to manage by hand, who can delete messages, and how cover works when someone is away. It includes a decision card you can copy.

Two notes before you start. The Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace details below come from their own help pages and were correct at the time of checking (October 2026). Features and plans change, so check the current pages and your own plan before you switch. And this guide covers only where enquiries land. Who owns each enquiry, handoffs and response times are covered in our guide to managing customer enquiries.

Four set-ups at a glance

This is editorial guidance, not a product ranking. "Dedicated tool" means any separate shared-inbox or helpdesk product. They vary too much to describe as one.

1. One person's inbox
Check	What to expect
Who can see it	That person, plus anyone they give delegated access to
How ownership is shown	Implied: it's in their inbox. Without delegated access, nobody else can see it
Who can delete	The mailbox owner, and anyone given enough access
Absence cover	Only what's set up in advance, such as forwarding or delegated access
Settings needed	None beyond the mailbox
Watch out for	When the person leaves, past enquiries and replies stay in their account

2. Microsoft 365 shared mailbox
Check	What to expect
Who can see it	Members you give permission to, using their own accounts. People inside your organisation only
How ownership is shown	Manual convention, such as a category, a folder or a note
Who can delete	Any member. Microsoft says you can't prevent this
Absence cover	Other members can already see it. Agree who checks
Settings needed	A Microsoft 365 business plan with email. Check your plan
Watch out for	Don't sign in to the shared mailbox directly or share its password

3. Google Collaborative Inbox
Check	What to expect
Who can see it	Group members, depending on the group's settings
How ownership is shown	Built in: take, assign and mark status, if permissions allow
Who can delete	Depends on the permissions the group's owners and managers set. Check them
Absence cover	Others can see conversations and reassign them, if permitted
Settings needed	A Google work or school account, Groups for Business, conversation history on
Watch out for	The features only work if members have been given the right permissions

4. Dedicated tool
Check	What to expect
Who can see it	Depends on the tool and your plan
How ownership is shown	Usually built in. Check how it works
Who can delete	Depends on the tool. Check for deletion controls and history
Absence cover	Depends on assignment and reassignment features
Settings needed	A new account, connected to your email address
Watch out for	Another system to pay for and maintain. Check how you'd get your data out

Microsoft 365 shared mailbox: shared access, manual ownership

Microsoft's guide to shared mailboxes describes them as a fit for addresses several people need to use, such as a company information address or a support address. At the time of checking, it said:

Members use their own accounts. People with the right permissions can send as the shared mailbox, or on its behalf.
Nobody signs in to the shared mailbox itself. Microsoft says to block sign-in for the shared mailbox's own account and keep it blocked. Don't share a single login among the team.
Only people inside your organisation can have access. You can't give access to someone outside your business, such as a contractor using a Gmail account.
You can't stop members deleting messages. If you need to restrict deletion, Microsoft suggests a Microsoft 365 group instead. A group works differently, so compare the two before you switch.

A shared mailbox is not a task-assignment system. Everyone can see a message, but nothing in the mailbox records who is dealing with it. You have to agree a convention and stick to it, for example:

a category with the owner's name, such as "Owner: Sam"
a folder such as "With Sam" or "Waiting for customer"
a short note in the reply thread saying who has picked it up

Write the convention down where the whole team can find it. Our enquiries guide covers the ownership rules the convention should support.

Google Collaborative Inbox: built-in assignment, if it's set up

A Collaborative Inbox is a setting on a Google Group. Google's guide to making a group a Collaborative Inbox explains that, with the right permissions, members can:

take a conversation they'll respond to
assign a conversation to another member
mark a conversation as complete, duplicate or no action needed
search conversations by status or by who they're assigned to

These features depend on the set-up. At the time of checking, Google said:

Google Groups must be available in your work or school account. If it isn't, your administrator needs to turn on Groups for Business.
Conversation history must be turned on.
Only the group's owners and managers can make it a Collaborative Inbox.
Members need to be given the right permissions to use the features. Google's group permissions reference explains what each one allows. For example, the permission to moderate content includes deleting messages and conversations.

If you skip those settings, a group can end up working much like a shared mailbox: everyone sees everything, and nobody's name is on it.

Deletion and absence cover: agree these in advance

Whichever set-up you choose, agree the following before something goes wrong:

Who may delete enquiries, and when? On a shared mailbox, any member can delete. Agree that nobody deletes an open enquiry on the spot. Finished ones move to an agreed folder instead.
How long do you keep closed enquiries? Moving an enquiry to a folder protects it from accidental deletion, but it still holds someone's personal details. Decide why you still need closed enquiries, who reviews them, and who is allowed to delete or anonymise them once they're no longer needed. The ICO's storage limitation guidance says you must not keep personal data for longer than you need it, and should be able to justify how long you keep it. At the time of checking, the ICO marked that guidance as under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act.
Who checks when the usual person is away? Name a person, not "whoever's free".
What happens when someone leaves? Remove their access promptly. If enquiries were going to their personal inbox, move the address to a shared set-up first.
Who manages access? Decide who can add and remove members, so access isn't left to whoever set it up.

When a dedicated tool may be justified

Start with what your current platform already does. A separate tool may be worth considering when you have tried a sensible set-up and still need something your platform can't give you. For example:

you need assignment and status tracking, and your platform doesn't offer them
you need to restrict who can delete, or keep a history of changes, and your current set-up can't
people outside your organisation need to work on the same enquiries

Our enquiries guide lists broader signs that software may help with handling enquiries. A tool won't decide who is responsible, so agree that first.

Use the inbox set-up decision card

Use the card to check the set-up you have now, then the one you're considering.

Copy the blank card into a document or spreadsheet.
Fill in one card for your current set-up and one for each option you're considering.
Check the details against your own plan and settings, not just this guide.
Record the decision, who owns it and when you'll review it.

Inbox set-up decision card (blank)
Question	Your answer
Set-up
Who can see new enquiries
How ownership is shown
Who can delete
Who covers absences
How long closed enquiries are kept, and who deletes them
Settings or plan needed (check your plan)
Watch-outs
Decision and owner
Review date

Illustrative example only: an invented three-person cleaning team, not a real business, a recommendation or a tested set-up.
Question	Illustrative answer
Set-up	Microsoft 365 shared mailbox for enquiries@, replacing one person's inbox
Who can see new enquiries	All three team members, through their own accounts
How ownership is shown	Category with the owner's name; "Waiting for customer" folder
Who can delete	Any member. Agreed rule: no deleting open enquiries; finished ones move to a "Closed" folder
Who covers absences	Second named person, who checks the mailbox each morning
How long closed enquiries are kept, and who deletes them	Operations lead reviews them on an agreed schedule and deletes those no longer needed
Settings or plan needed (check your plan)	Business plan with email; sign-in to the shared account blocked
Watch-outs	The category rule only works if everyone uses it
Decision and owner	Switch over. Owner: operations lead
Review date	One month after the switch

Choosing the destination is the first step

ScalePass works with small businesses to connect forms, inboxes and the systems they already use, around a way of working that suits the team. If you'd like help setting up where enquiries land, see how we approach connected systems.

In short

One person's inbox leaves enquiries hidden when that person is away, unless someone else has delegated access. A Microsoft 365 shared mailbox gives shared visibility, but ownership is a manual convention and any member can delete. Members use their own accounts, and sign-in to the shared account stays blocked. Google's Collaborative Inbox has built-in take, assign and status features, but only with the right account, settings and permissions. A dedicated tool may help when your platform can't do what you need. Whichever you choose, agree deletion, retention, absence cover and access in advance.