A team mailbox can stay on the books long after its original project, process or owner has changed. That does not automatically mean it should be closed: it may still handle an important request, preserve continuity or support a team member who is away. A recurring review helps distinguish active work from unclear ownership or simple lack of visibility. Use the same questions for every mailbox, record what you can confirm, and assign follow-up where answers are incomplete. The goal is an accurate picture of how each address serves the team—not a predetermined decision about whether it stays.
The useful bits
- Record a clear business purpose and accountable team for each mailbox.
- Check current use with more than one source when possible.
- Assign an owner and a dated follow-up for anything unresolved.
Set a consistent review rhythm
Choose a recurring interval that fits how often your team changes its roles and processes, and use the same review window each time. Include shared addresses, such as a general enquiries inbox, as well as mailboxes tied to a function or project. Keep one inventory with the address, stated purpose, responsible team, named contact, review date and next action. If your organisation has an authorised workspace administrator, that person may be able to inspect mailbox and domain administration in /workspace; available controls depend on role, plan and provisioning state.
Agree who gathers information and who confirms decisions. A mailbox’s technical administrator may not know the business reason it exists, while the team using it may not have authority to change its configuration. Keep those responsibilities distinct.
Write down the purpose in operational terms
Describe the work the address handles, who relies on it, and what should happen when a message arrives. “Shared inbox” is a label, not a purpose. A useful description might say that the address receives supplier questions and that the purchasing team routes them to the right contact. Avoid wording so broad that it could apply to every mailbox.
Ask whether the purpose is still current and whether the mailbox is the right place for that work. If nobody can explain what it handles, record that uncertainty rather than filling the gap with a guess. The review is more useful when it exposes unanswered questions plainly.
Mailbox: orders@example.com Purpose: Receives order-change requests for the operations team. Responsible team: Operations Contact for this review: [team contact] Open question: Confirm who covers requests during team absences.
Confirm who is accountable
Identify a team that accepts responsibility for the mailbox and a person who can answer questions or coordinate follow-up. The named contact is an operational point of contact, not necessarily the only person permitted to access the mailbox. Confirm the arrangement with the team rather than relying solely on an old inventory entry or a former employee’s name.
If ownership is disputed or no current contact can be identified, mark the mailbox as needing an ownership decision. Route that question to the appropriate team lead or administrator under your organisation’s process. Do not treat access to a mailbox as proof that its users are responsible for its business purpose.
Look for evidence of current use
Check what you are authorised to inspect. Depending on your role and available account features, relevant evidence may include recent conversations, folders, search results or information supplied by the responsible team. Ask whether the address is still published on forms or used in a documented workflow. Each signal has limits: recent messages do not establish that the stated purpose is valid, and an empty period does not prove the mailbox has no continuing role.
If a mailbox alias is involved, distinguish it from an independent mailbox. An alias is not automatically a separate mailbox or login, so confirm what address and account the team actually uses. Record the evidence and its date, especially when different sources disagree.
Choose follow-up that matches the uncertainty
Use a small set of outcomes: purpose confirmed; purpose needs clarification; owner needs confirmation; current use needs checking; or information conflicts. For each unresolved item, write one action, a responsible person or team, and a date to revisit it. Examples include asking the team to confirm a workflow, checking whether a published contact address is current, or asking an authorised administrator to verify which mailbox is associated with an address.
Avoid turning a review into an automatic configuration change. If a possible change is raised, send it through the organisation’s normal approval process and consider who depends on the address before anyone acts. The review itself should document what is known and what remains to be decided.
Close the loop and keep the record useful
After follow-up, update the purpose, responsible team, contact and evidence date, or leave the open question visible with its next review date. Confirm completion with the person assigned: ask for the missing fact, check the relevant authorised record, and make sure the inventory reflects the answer. If the answer remains uncertain, preserve that status instead of marking the review complete without explanation.
At the next cycle, compare the new entry with the previous one. A changed purpose, team or use pattern is a prompt to investigate, not a conclusion by itself. This makes the process repeatable and gives the organisation a clearer basis for later decisions without presuming that any mailbox must be retired.
- Purpose describes a real task, not just a mailbox type.
- A current team and contact are identified—or ownership is flagged.
- Evidence, open questions, next action and review date are recorded.
About this guide
Prepared with AI assistance for the BITTU Mail editorial library. Check important details against your original messages and current account settings. Product access depends on your role, plan and provisioning state. Provider interfaces and requirements can change.
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