Lots of school staff run more than one mailbox. Some use their own account alongside a role account for admissions or exams. Others work at two schools and have a separate login for each.
Switching between them all day gets tedious. Microsoft’s All Accounts view in new Outlook for Windows brings mail from several accounts into one inbox view.
What it does
Microsoft also calls it Unified Inbox. The mailboxes stay separate underneath. Outlook brings their messages together on screen.
From that view, you can read, delete, move, archive and mark messages across accounts. Microsoft describes Copilot support in the view too. Search currently covers your primary account.
The roadmap entry lists the feature as rolling out, with general availability listed as August 2026 on the worldwide cloud. If you’re using new Outlook for Windows, check what’s available in your installation.
The gaps
Cross-account search isn’t there yet. If you’re hunting for an email and can’t remember which mailbox it landed in, you’ll still need to check the other accounts individually.
Shared mailboxes aren’t included in All Accounts either. Microsoft lists both capabilities for later releases, without a date.
That second gap is the one that could catch a school office out. An admissions address might be a separate licensed account added to Outlook, or it might be a shared mailbox that colleagues open through their own accounts.
The first can appear in the combined view. Staff can still open a shared mailbox separately in new Outlook; it’s the combined view that doesn’t include it yet.
Watch the From address
A single inbox view is useful for triage. Before replying, check which address the recipient will see.
For someone working across two schools, that could mean a message to a parent leaving from their other school account. There’s a similar risk if a member of staff has added a personal account to their work installation.
Copilot support raises a related question. If someone asks for an inbox summary, check which mailbox the response draws on before copying it into a report. Seeing several accounts on screen doesn’t establish which messages Copilot can use for a particular request.
What to do next
- Check which version of Outlook your staff use. This roadmap item covers new Outlook for Windows.
- Find out whether your role addresses are shared mailboxes or separate user accounts. That tells you who can use the combined view.
- Review your organisation’s position on personal accounts in work Outlook.
- Put the From address check into staff guidance, especially for colleagues working across schools.
- If office teams ask about their shared inboxes, explain the current limit before they spend time looking for a setting.
For a colleague juggling two school accounts, this is an option to try. For someone who spends the day in a shared exams mailbox, the feature they’re waiting for is still to come.