> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://knowledge.goautonomous.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up mirror inboxes

> Create a mirrored inbox so Go Autonomous can develop against live mail without connecting to your production inbox.

## Overview

A mirrored inbox is a shared mailbox that receives a forwarded copy of every email that arrives in one of your real inboxes. Connecting a mirror inbox to Go Autonomous — rather than your live inbox — means you can:

* **Develop against real mail traffic** without any risk to your production environment.
* **Evaluate extraction performance** on actual customer emails before go-live.
* **Run UATs** in a realistic, live-data environment before switching on for real.

You will need to set up separate mirror inboxes for QA and Sandbox. Do not use the same mirrored inbox for both environments.

***

## Create a shared mailbox

The mirror inbox is a shared mailbox in Microsoft 365. Your Microsoft administrator needs to create one for each environment.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Go to the Microsoft 365 admin centre">
    Navigate to the [Microsoft Outlook admin page](https://admin.microsoft.com) and sign in with your Microsoft administrator account.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open Shared mailboxes">
    In the left navigation pane, go to **Teams & groups** → **Shared mailboxes**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a shared mailbox">
    Click **Add a shared mailbox**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name and create the mailbox">
    Fill in a name and email address for the shared mailbox. Use something descriptive that makes it easy to identify later — for example:

    * `orders-mirror-qa@yourdomain.com`
    * `orders-mirror-sandbox@yourdomain.com`

    Click **Save changes** to create the mailbox.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Enable forwarding (mirroring)

Once the shared mailbox exists, set up forwarding from the inbox you want to mirror so that all incoming mail is copied across.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Locate the inbox to mirror">
    In the Microsoft 365 admin centre, find the user inbox or shared mailbox that you intend to eventually connect to Go Autonomous in production.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open Email forwarding settings">
    Click into the mailbox and find the **Email forwarding** section. Click **Edit**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter the mirror inbox address">
    Enter the email address of the shared mailbox you created above. Save the changes.

    Mirroring is now enabled — from this point on, every email that arrives in the source inbox will also be delivered to the shared mirror mailbox.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Forwarding copies emails — it does not move or delete them. Your original inbox continues to work exactly as before.
</Note>

***

## What's next

Once your mirror inboxes are created, connect them to Go Autonomous via the [Microsoft connector](/knowledge-base/administration/connectors/ms-connector).