You can grant someone mail delegate access in Gmail to allow others to read and send mail on your behalf. People do not need to log into your account to access your inbox if they have mail delegate access.
For Google generic accounts, it is strongly recommended to set up mail delegation for every person involved, including the account's service contacts.
What a Mail Delegate Can Do
Delegates can:
- send or reply to emails that were sent to you
- When a mail delegate sends a message, their email address will show as a part of the sender. For example, the sender will show as "sent by johnsmith@gmail.com."
- read messages sent to you
- delete messages sent to you
Delegates can't:
- chat with anyone for you
- change your account settings
- change your Gmail password
How to Delegate Access
Note: You can only grant mail delegate access to Google accounts in the NCSU domain.
- On your computer, go to the Gmail site. You can't add delegates from the Gmail app.
- Make sure that you are signed into the account that you want to grant delegate access to.
- Make sure that you are actually signed into the account when trying to add someone. If it says Delegated next to the account, then you are only viewing it with delegate access and are not signed in.
- If you are trying to delegate access to a different account, such as a generic account, you can sign in by adding it as another account in Gmail.
- In the upper-right corner, select Settings > See all settings.
- Select the Accounts or the Accounts and Import tab.
- In the Grant access to your account section, select Add another account.
- You may be prompted to verify your account by signing in again or using Google 2-Step.
- Enter the email address of the person that you want to add.
- Select Next Step >>.
- Select Send email to grant access.
The person that you added will get a confirmation email. The confirmation email expires after one week, so they will need to confirm before then.
How to Access a Delegated Gmail Account
Note: It can take up to 24 hours for the delegated inbox to become available after confirming delegate access in the confirmation email.
- Log into Gmail with your NCSU Gmail address.
- Select the icon with your profile picture or initial in the upper-right corner of the page.
- Select the delegated account that you want to access. It should say Delegated next to the account.
A new tab or window will open with the inbox for the selected delegated account.
How to Remove a Mail Delegate
You can revoke mail delegate access at any time.
- On your computer, go to the Gmail site. You can't remove delegates from the Gmail app.
- Make sure that you are signed into the account that you want to revoke delegate access for.
- Make sure that you are actually signed into the account when trying to remove someone. If it says Delegated next to the account, then you are only viewing it with delegate access and are not signed in.
- If you are trying to remove delegate access to a different account, such as a generic account, you can sign in by adding it as another account in Gmail.
- In the upper-right corner, select Settings > See all settings.
- Select the Accounts or the Accounts and Import tab.
- In the Grant access to your account section, select delete next to their email.
- Refresh the page.