Title: Users may have been unable to see shared mailboxes in the Outlook desktop client
User impact: Users may have been unable to see shared mailboxes in the Outlook desktop client.
More info: Affected users may have been able to bypass impact by using the Outlook on the web connection method or by manually adding the shared mailbox using the following instructions:
a. Open Outlook.
b. Choose the File tab in the ribbon.
c. Choose Account Settings, then select Account Settings from the menu.
d. Select the Email tab.
e. Make sure the correct account is highlighted, then choose Change.
f. Choose More Settings > Advanced > Add.
g. Type the shared email address, such as info@contoso.com.
h. Choose OK > OK.
i. Choose Next > Finish > Close.
Final status: We’ve confirmed deployment of the fix has successfully completed. Additionally, we’ve verified in our internal environments and received confirmation from some affected users that impact has been remediated.
Scope of impact: Impact was specific to users who were served through the affected infrastructure and attempted to view shared mailboxes in the Outlook desktop client.
Start time: Monday, September 11, 2023, at 10:00 PM UTC
End time: Tuesday, September 12, 2023, at 8:15 AM UTC
Root cause: A recent service update, intended to resolve an unrelated issue, inadvertently caused a section of service infrastructure that facilitates the visibility of shared mailboxes to fail.
Next steps:
– We’re reviewing our update procedures to understand why impact to shared mailboxes wasn’t caught during the testing phase. This will allow us to drive service improvements proactively, identifying similar issues in the future and improve our update procedures.
This is the final update for the event.
