How to Configure a MS Teams Shared Voicemail

Description: The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the Shared Voicemail feature within MS Teams.  

Shared Voicemail is a feature in MS Teams that allows calls to be directed to a designated Office 365 group of users. When setting up an auto attendant or call queue, you have the option to assign them to this shared group, functioning as a collective mailbox that will receive all incoming voicemails.

To configure the Shared Voicemail feature, you should create a Microsoft 365 group.  

Create an Microsoft 365 Group

During this step, you should create an Office 365 Group and add the members who who will be recipients of the voicemail. 

To do so, go to Microsoft 365 admin center. 

Locate and select the "Teams & groups" option in the left-hand menu of the page to expand it.

Once the content is displayed, choose the "Active teams & groups" option.

After that, you will be taken to the "Active teams & groups" page, which displays a table of existing teams and groups.

To create a new Microsoft 365 group, simply click the "+ Add a Microsoft 365 group" button.

Following that, a new form will appear, allowing you to set the Microsoft 365 group. Within this form, there are five tabs of parameters that need to be configured.

• Basics Tab: here, you can set the basic parameters of the configured Microsoft 365 group.

There are two parameters that need to be configured here:

• Name: within this field, you should input a name for the configured Microsoft 365 group.
• Description: here, you have the option to provide a description for the configured Microsoft 365 group. This field is not mandatory.

Click the "Next" button to proceed to the following tab of parameters.

• Owners Tab: within this tab, you are able to assign Group owners to the configured Microsoft 365 group.

Group owners have unique permissions. They can add or remove members, delete conversations from the shared inbox, and change group settings. Group owners can also rename the Microsoft 365 group, update the description, and more.

On this page, you will find a table of assigned users. Upon the very first entry, it will be empty of records.

To add a Group owner, simply click the "Assign owners" button.

Upon clicking this button, a pop-up form will appear in the right-hand side of the window where you can find a list of users available to be assigned to the configured Microsoft 365 group as Group owners. 

You have to have at least one Group owner. We recommend adding two, so one can help out in the other's absence. 

For adding ‎Microsoft Teams‎ to this Microsoft 365 group, all Groups must have a license that includes Microsoft ‎Teams‎. 

You can use the Search bar to locate a particular user within the list. The "Teams status" column indicates whether the user listed has an active Microsoft Teams license. To assign a user, select them in the list and press the "Add" button.

The user you have chosen will subsequently be displayed in the table of assigned users.

Click the "Next" button to proceed to the following tab of parameters.

• Members Tab: within this tab, you are able to assign Group members to the configured Microsoft 365 group.

Group members have access to everything in the Microsoft 365 group, including group content like email messages, files, and a shared calendar. By default, Group members can invite guests to join your Microsoft 365 group, but they can't edit group settings.

On this page, you will find a table of assigned members. Upon the very first entry, it will be empty of records.

The necessity to include Group members can vary based on your Microsoft 365 group's configuration and the access privileges granted to its users. The primary requirement for Microsoft 365 groups is to have at least one Group owner.

If you want to add a Group member, simply click the "+ Add member" button.

Upon clicking this button, a pop-up form will appear in the right-hand side of the window where you can find a list of users available to be assigned to the configured Microsoft 365 group as Group members. 

You can use the Search bar to locate a particular user within the list. The "Teams status" column indicates whether the user listed has an active Microsoft Teams license. To assign a user, select them in the list and press the "Add" button.

The user you have chosen will subsequently be displayed in the table of assigned members.

Click the "Next" button to proceed to the following tab of parameters.

• Settings Tab: within this section, you have to set the email address for the configured Microsoft 365 group and its privacy settings.

There are four parameters that need to be configured here:

• Group email address: here, you can set a group email address that you will use later on the auto attendant which will direct to a voicemail.
• Privacy: upon clicking on this field, a drop down menu will appear. It contains two options:

• Public: public groups can be joined by everyone without getting approval from a group owner. Anyone can access the group content.
• Private: groups are not open for everyone to join them, and group owners are the ones who can add members to them. Only members can access the group content.

Based on your chosen design, you have the option to designate the configured Microsoft 365 group as either public or private. For the sake of simplicity in this user guide, we will proceed with configuring the Microsoft 365 group as public.

• Role assignment: this section becomes active only if you set the configured Microsoft 365 group’s privacy as private. 

To learn more about assigning roles to groups, read the corresponding article published by Microsoft. It is available via this link.

• Add Microsoft Team for this group: by checking this box, you indicate to the system that the configured Microsoft 365 group is intended for use within MS Teams. This action grants permission for the system to create a team for this group in MS Teams.

Click the "Next" button to proceed to the following tab of parameters.

• Finish Tab: the main purpose of this tab is to show you all the parameters of the configured Microsoft 365 group that you have set on the previous tabs. You can conveniently edit specific parameters by simply clicking the "Edit" buttons located beneath the respective sections, without the need to navigate back to the corresponding tabs in this form.

Click the "Create group" button to finalize the creation of the Microsoft 365 group.

After completing the creation of a Microsoft 365 Group, you can now assign this shared group to a shared voicemail within an auto attendant or a call queue. For additional information on configuring these entities, please refer to the following articles:

• "How do I configure an Auto Attendant in Microsoft Teams?" 
• "Creating and managing Call Queues. General Info Tab"