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Distribution Lists Versus Shared Mailboxes Print

  • businessemail, business, email, deliverability, cpanel, imap, guide, howto
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Two ways to get mail to several people, suited to different purposes.

A DISTRIBUTION LIST

A forwarder sending mail to several addresses. Everyone gets a copy in their own inbox.

Good for: announcements, notifications, anything where everyone should see it but nobody needs to act.

Bad for: anything requiring a reply, because there is no shared record of who responded.

A SHARED MAILBOX

One mailbox several people open over IMAP. Everyone sees the same folders, the same read status, and the same sent items.

Good for: support@, sales@, anything where one reply is needed and it must be tracked.

Bad for: large teams, where several people working at once causes collisions.

CHOOSING

If the question is "has anyone dealt with this", you want a shared mailbox. If the question is "did everyone see this", you want a distribution list.

MAILING LISTS PROPER

For a list with subscribers who join and leave, cPanel's mailing list feature exists, but a dedicated provider handles unsubscribes and deliverability far better.


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