Collaborating with UConn Health in Microsoft 365
UConn and UConn Health maintain separate Microsoft 365 environments. As a result, users from one environment are treated as external guests in the other and consequently, have limited access to resources and features. To reduce “external user” barriers, ITS and UConn Health IT are establishing a Multi-Tenant Organization (MTO) sync, where user accounts are visible across the two environments.
Once the sync occurs, collaboration in Microsoft 365 will be more seamless between UConn and UConn Health. There will be:
Smoother chat and meeting experiences
Easier scheduling across organizations
Better presence and people search
Timeline
The initial sync for a small test group on each campus takes place on Friday, 1/9/2026.
Both campuses will begin syncing all employees (faculty and staff) on Friday, 1/30/2026.
UConn Experience
UConn users will now be able to search for UConn Health users' email addresses in Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, etc., as if they were UConn users.
UConn Health users synced to UConn will appear in search results as “[Name] - UConn Health” to differentiate from internal (non-UConn Health) users.
UConn Health Experience
UConn Health users will be able to search for UConn users' email addresses in Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, etc., as if they were UConn Health users.
UConn users synced to UConn Health will appear in search results as “[Name] - UConn.”
Mailboxes or Accounts in Both Environments
Some UConn Health employees have mailboxes or accounts in both environments.
Scenario 1: Those who have two active mailboxes (they can send and receive mail at name@uconn.edu and name@uchc.edu) will appear twice in the search results in Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
Scenario 2: Most UConn Health employees only have one active mailbox (name@uchc.edu). However, they also have a name@uconn.edu alias that forwards sent messages to their name@uchc.edu mailbox. Due to this alias, their names will appear twice in the search results in SharePoint and OneDrive, but only their “[Name] - UConn Health” (name@uchc.edu) active mailbox will be visible in Teams and Outlook.
Account Selection Affects File Sharing
If you are sharing a file with someone with two entries in the Microsoft 365 app, please make sure to send the sharing link to their preferred mailbox. That way you can avoid access/authentication issues.
Example
If someone works for UConn Health but also has a UConn account and you share a document with their UConn email address, the sharing invitation will forward to their UConn Health inbox. However, when the recipient clicks on the link, they will be denied access because the link expects a UConn login, not UConn Health.
If you have two mailboxes, you can troubleshoot this issue by asking colleagues to send sharing links to the correct account or by signing out and then logging back in with your other set of credentials.
More Information