Before the office holiday calendar fills up, ask a simple question: who will answer the messages that cannot wait until everyone returns?
For an Orlando business, the answer may involve a receptionist covering two inboxes, an office manager approving requests from home, or a small team rotating responsibility between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. A shared password or a blanket forwarding rule can seem convenient, but it leaves important questions about access, responsibility and records unanswered.
Use this Microsoft 365 holiday coverage plan to agree on the workflow before changing any settings. Have your administrator apply the permissions appropriate to your organization.
Start with the inboxes that need a person
List the addresses customers, vendors and staff actually use. Include reception, scheduling, service requests and any website forms that deliver to email. Check where each address ends up: an employee’s inbox, a shared mailbox, a distribution group or another application.
Then assign a primary owner and backup for each coverage period. Record when the inbox will be checked, what the covering person can decide and which requests need escalation. “Someone will monitor email” is difficult to test. A named owner with agreed working hours is much clearer.
Do not promise immediate replies in the coverage plan unless your team can deliver them.
Give delegates access through their own accounts
Microsoft identifies shared mailboxes as an option for addresses that several people manage, including reception and support. Its guidance says delegates should access them through their own licensed accounts, with direct sign-in to the shared mailbox blocked. That avoids passing around one mailbox password.
Ask your administrator to distinguish between reading messages and sending them. Full Access lets a delegate open and manage a mailbox; sending from it also requires the appropriate Send As or Send on Behalf permission. Choose the behavior customers should see and test it.
Keep the access limited to the job. Holiday coverage for one service inbox should not automatically expose an executive’s entire mailbox. Where an individual mailbox is involved, review the appropriate delegation options rather than converting accounts or widening access as a shortcut.
Test the complete customer exchange
A successful sign-in does not prove the handoff works. Run a short rehearsal using ordinary test messages, without customer or employee information:
- Send a message from an outside test address to the business inbox.
- Have the covering employee open it using the device and Outlook version they will actually use.
- Reply and confirm the sender name and address are correct.
- Check where the sent reply is saved and whether the next covering colleague can find it.
- Confirm how the team marks a request as assigned, waiting or finished.
If a website form or booking system feeds the mailbox, test that route too. Agree on a simple way to avoid duplicate replies. Existing categories, folders or your approved ticket system may be enough, provided everyone understands the same process.
Write useful automatic replies
Give recipients the dates that matter, expected response timing and a working contact route for genuinely urgent requests. Keep the message about business availability. It does not need to describe where employees are traveling or which person has administrator access.
Ask the administrator to check the shared mailbox’s automatic-reply configuration and test what an external sender receives. Internal and external messages may need different wording. Verify any phone number or alternate address before enabling the response.
Avoid automatically sending business messages to personal email accounts just to make holiday coverage easier. Use the organization’s approved access method and keep business records in the systems intended to hold them.
Agree on exceptions before people leave
Write down who handles a suspected account compromise, an inaccessible inbox or a request outside the delegate’s authority. Store those contact details somewhere the covering employee can reach if email is unavailable.
Also check the practical details with IT: mailbox capacity, applicable licensing, access from approved devices and any retention requirements. A holiday handoff should not include deleting old mail or removing licenses without checking the consequences.
Set a return date for reviewing the arrangement. Remove temporary permissions that are no longer needed, turn off outdated automatic replies and hand unfinished requests back to their owners.
Make the handoff part of your IT planning
CMIT Solutions West Orlando & Kissimmee offers managed IT services for Orlando businesses, including Microsoft 365 and cloud collaboration support. If your team needs help reviewing its email workflow, contact the local office or call (407) 610-6720 to discuss your setup.
Sources: Microsoft Learn, About shared mailboxes and Create a shared mailbox. Settings and licensing depend on your subscription and configuration.
