Connecting a Distribution list or Microsoft 365 group to Hiver Omni
This guide covers how you can connect your Outlook Distribution list or Microsoft 365 group team to Hiver to start managing conversations with your team together from a dedicated Shared Inbox.
Before you begin
Before you begin, make sure:
1. Hiver is authorized by your organization. Learn more about granting Hiver access in Microsoft Entra.
2. You are listed as a member in the Outlook distribution list or group with the following permissions:
- Member access
- Delegate access
Learn more about setting up distribution list or group permissions.
Good to know before you start
- Your account becomes the Source User in Hiver. When you connect an Outlook Shared, you sign in with a personal Microsoft account to authorize access. Hiver uses this account to sync incoming emails and send outgoing emails from the Shared Inbox. If the Source User leaves your organization or loses access to their Microsoft account, syncing and sending will stop until another user reauthenticates the inbox. Learn more about changing the Source User for an Outlook inbox.
- Your recent emails are imported. When you connect the inbox, Hiver imports up to 10,000 emails from the previous two weeks. Imported conversations appear in the Closed view and are unassigned with the Imported tag, making them easy to find and act on.
- Your Outlook folders are imported as Tags. When you connect the inbox, Hiver imports existing folders from the Shared Mailbox as Tags. Folders created afterward aren’t imported automatically.
Steps to connect your Distribution list or Microsoft 365 Group to Hiver
Step 1: Start setup
If you’re new to Hiver, you’ll see a setup guide after signing up. Follow the guide to create a Shared Inbox:
1. Enter your company name and phone number, choose your support channel, then select your team size. Click Continue.
2. Enter a name for your Shared Inbox, select the team that will use it, then click Continue.
3. Select Microsoft as your provider, then select Distribution List or Microsoft 365 Group.
Tip: This only sets the provider for this Shared Inbox, not for your whole Hiver account. You can connect more Shared Inboxes later using Google or another email provider.
4. Enter your distribution list or group address, then select Authorize.
Step 2: Authorize Hiver
After you select Authorize, sign in with Microsoft to give Hiver permission to access and display your email.
Sign in with your personal Outlook account, and make sure that your account:
- Is a member of the distribution list or Microsoft 365 group.
- Is added as a delegate, so you can send email from the address.
Note: When you add yourself as a member or delegate, Microsoft takes about 30 minutes to process the change.
If you run into an error while signing in, see our guide on troubleshooting Microsoft sign-in errors.
Step 3: Finalize setup
After authorization, your Shared Inbox is ready. Invite your team to start managing conversations together.
Access your newly created Shared Inbox
Your Shared Inbox appears in the left panel in Hiver with the same name as your distribution list or group. Click it to view all team conversations in one place, assign messages to teammates, add tags for organization, and track who's handling what.
Using email Aliases in Hiver
Email Aliases let your team send and receive messages from multiple customer-facing addresses (e.g., finance@, sales@, support@) while managing everything from a Shared Inbox. This ensures customers always see the correct “From” address in email headers, improving consistency and professionalism.
Alias support is available for User-type Shared Mailboxes (USMs) and Outlook Shared Mailboxes (OSMs) and Distribution Lists (DLs).
How Alias support works
Fetching emails:
- Hiver automatically fetches emails sent to the primary Shared Inbox address and all configured aliases.
Sending emails:
- Agents can reply or compose new emails from an alias address.
- Customers will always see the correct alias in the “From” field of the email header.
How to enable email Aliases
- Go to Admin Panel → Shared Inbox.
- Add the aliases you want to enable under the Aliases section.
Once added, aliases will appear in the From field for all users.
Important notes:
- Aliases become usable 24 hours after being added, as Microsoft may take that long to activate them.
- Ensure the alias exists in Microsoft Admin and that the Send from alias permission is enabled.
Next steps
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