Multiple users sharing one inbox

[Steve Swift]

I have one of those email accounts where all mail for the entire domain is
delivered to the one inbox on the POP server.
On our PC we have separate userids.
Is there some way that I could filter the incoming mail so that mail for
other family members is moved into their inbox, which is, of course,
outside of my "Personal Folders". This has prevented me constructing a
mail rule.
I can see the "File", "Open", "Other user's folder" but that option is
greyed-out.
We're using Outlook 2003 as a simple POP/SMTP mail client; no exchange
server.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have one of those email accounts where all mail for the entire
domain is delivered to the one inbox on the POP server.
On our PC we have separate userids.
Is there some way that I could filter the incoming mail so that mail
for other family members is moved into their inbox, which is, of
course, outside of my "Personal Folders". This has prevented me
constructing a mail rule.
I can see the "File", "Open", "Other user's folder" but that option is
greyed-out.
We're using Outlook 2003 as a simple POP/SMTP mail client; no exchange
server.

First, I'd check to see if your ISP allows sub-accounts. If so, just create
a sub-account for each family member so that each has a distinctive address.
SBC Yahoo! DSL allows this, for example. Then each person uses a separate
mail profile to receive and send mail.

Barring that, I'd create a PST for each family member and use rules to move
the incoming messages into the appropriate person's PST, if there is some
distinguishing characteristic if the messages that identifies the actuial
recipient.. You can call the destination folder in each PST "Inbox" if you
like.

If there's nothing to distinguish the recipient, then why bother worrying
about separating the mail, since it will take a human to make the
determination in the first place?

One final approach employs a combination of humans sorting the mail and
private PSTs. Place the shared-account default delivery PST in a shared
folder on the computer, say "Shared Documents\Outlook". Then, in each
individual's mail profile, add a second PST located in that person's Windows
profile, say "My Documents\Outlook" or just in the usual place Outlook likes
to create a PST (i.e., %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook). Then, as each person runs Outlook, it will deliver
the incoming mail to the Inbox of the shared PST and the individual can
peruse that Inbox, moving all messages intended for him or her to the
private PST, leaving the remaining messages in the shared Inbox for the
other family members to sort out. This approach (and the one above with a
completely shared PST) does require family members to trust each other, but
what shouldn't be too difficult and if it is, you have bigger problems than
finding a way to coordinate Email.

"Other user's folder" generally requires Exchange.

 

[Swifty]

Barring that, I'd create a PST for each family member and use rules to

move the incoming messages into the appropriate person's PST, if there
is some distinguishing characteristic if the messages that identifies
the actuial recipient..

This was my original plan, but when I experimented with using rules to move
the message to another folder I could only select folders in my own
structure - I couldn't find a way to get out of my own tree.

Identifying the emails is easy - everyone uses their own, specific email
address.

 

[Brian Tillman]

This was my original plan, but when I experimented with using rules
to move the message to another folder I could only select folders in
my own structure - I couldn't find a way to get out of my own tree.

You can have as many PSTs in a single profile as you wish. Place them in a
Shared Documents folder so that all accounts can access them. One will be,
say, "Dad's Folders", one "Mom's Folders", etc. Each person will use a mail
profile referencing the shared folder files and all will have the same rules
so that the messages move correctly no matter who starts Outlook. Rules are
profile-specific, I believe.

Identifying the emails is easy - everyone uses their own, specific
email address.

Do you mean to say that the individual addresses are, in fact, not really
distinct addresses, but all aliases of each other to that no matter which
one is used, it's delivered to exactly the same account on the server or are
they, in fact, different mailboxes on the server? If the former, then I
think you have to take the shared folder approach outloned above. If the
latter, then each person should log into the mail server using his or her
own account and all can have distinct, private folder files.

Am I making any sense to you?

 

[Swifty]

Am I making any sense to you?
Oh yes. I was once a Lotus Notes/Domino specialist, so it is only the
precise workings of Outlook that I generally need help with.

There is only one ID at the server, all incoming mail is sent to the one
inbox, regardless of the recipients name. Shared PST files is the answer.
Since the person doing the distribution is an XP administrator, I don't
suppose it matters much where the other PST files are. File access rights
can be assumed.
I've only just started to grasp the concept of profiles, but I'm clear(er)
now.

Thank you.