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How to Fix Permission Errors Forwarding Emails from Unlicensed Shared Mailboxes in Outlook
Question details
A user is receiving a permission error stating they cannot send on behalf of a specified user when attempting to forward emails from an unlicensed shared mailbox, despite another user being able to do so successfully.
- Product
- Microsoft Outlook
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Forwarding messages from an unlicensed shared mailbox in a corporate or group email environment.
- Observed behavior
- The system blocks the email forwarding attempt with an error message indicating that the user lacks the necessary send permissions for the shared mailbox account.
Ensure you have Microsoft 365 Exchange Administrator privileges, as you will need access to the Exchange Admin Center to review and modify mailbox permissions.
Grant 'Send As' or 'Send on Behalf' Permissions in Microsoft 365 Admin Center
Fix the permission error by ensuring the affected user is explicitly listed with sending rights for the shared mailbox.
Even if a user has 'Read and Manage' permissions to view a shared mailbox, they cannot forward or reply to emails from that mailbox unless they are explicitly granted 'Send As' or 'Send on Behalf' permissions.
Log in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center using your administrator credentials.
In the left navigation menu, go to 'Teams & groups' and select 'Shared mailboxes'.
Find and click on the unlicensed shared mailbox that the user is trying to forward emails from.
Under the 'Send As' or 'Send on behalf' section, click 'Edit'. Add the affected user to the list of approved senders and save your changes.
Wait for the server to sync the permission changes, then instruct the user to restart Outlook and attempt to forward the email again.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why can one user forward emails from a shared mailbox but another cannot?
This occurs because mailbox permissions in Exchange are assigned individually or via specific security groups. Even if both users appear to have the same setup, one user may be missing explicit 'Send As' or 'Send on Behalf' rights.
Do shared mailboxes require a Microsoft 365 license to forward emails?
No. In Microsoft 365, shared mailboxes do not require a separate license unless they exceed 50GB of storage capacity or require advanced features like in-place archiving.
What is the difference between 'Send As' and 'Send on Behalf' permissions?
'Send As' makes the email appear as if it was sent directly by the shared mailbox. 'Send on Behalf' shows that the email was sent by the specific user on behalf of the shared mailbox (e.g., 'User A on behalf of Support').
